St Lucia Yacht Club hosted the third St Lucia BMW J 24 Invitational Championship over the weekend in Rodney Bay. With teams from Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and St Lucia, six teams sailed eighteen races over the weekend to decide the winner.

Hosted in the “The Landings” private Marina with teams staying in five star luxury apartments and two beautiful BMW’s on show, this regatta was very much a five star event. Friday nights briefing and cocktail party was held on “The Landings” marina with the six J’s tied alongside made for a wonderful sight.

Racing started Saturday morning right outside the marina just off the beach with great viewing for those lazing on the beach or aboard the Endless Summers large cat. Courses were short Windward Leeward’s, with 20 minute races giving close exciting racing.

After the morning’s six races it was very tight at the top with the two St Lucian teams Trinidad and Grenada split by just a few points. Short lunch break and off again for a final six afternoon races with clear blue skies ten knots of breeze; you could not ask for better racing conditions. Again the sailing was extremely tight with many different teams up the front and positions changing minute to minute.

After a long day of racing, the six teams headed back to the Marina for a few well earned beers and to check how they ended up for the day. Again it was extremely close amongst the top five, with only three points separating Trinidad, Barbados, the two St Lucian teams and Grenada.

Sunday dawned with more blue skies and perfect sailing breeze and a few headaches after a night in Rodney Bay! The Trinidad team came out fast with four bullets to basically seal the regatta, while some of the other crews suffering from the night before took a little time to wake up and made some bad errors with over the line problems for Edgar in St Lucia One, plus a mixture of penalties for other teams. As a result, the Trini’s slipped away to an unassailable lead.

Second and fourth was a close fought battle right to the last race with again just a few points separating them all. The top three were Edgar Roe of St Lucia One in third; Robbie Yearwood (Grenada) in second; and Stephen Bushe with Andrew, Wesley and John (Trinidad) taking the trophy.

Again many thanks go to BMW “Prestige Motors” as the main sponsor along with the “Landings”, “St Lucia Distillers” and “Peter and Company” for prizes and the committee boat II Restless. All monies raised holding this event goes towards the youth sailing program held by the Yacht Club. www.stluciayachtclub.com