Impressive Performance By Youth Team Black Pearl IC24 at BVI Spring Regatta
Looking out for the next generation of BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival competitors is an important task, one that Royal BVI Yacht Club sailing coach Taylor Penwell obviously enjoys. Catching up with Penwell and the BVI youth team sailing on the IC 24 Black Pearl before they headed out for the final day of racing in this year’s Spring Regatta, Penwell noted just how well his young team had performed this week.
“The guys only jumped on the IC 24 around Xmas, so they’re very new to the boat,” Penwell said. “Their performance this week has been really impressive, I’m very proud of them. We’ve been focusing on not getting down about our performance and keeping spirits up – it’s been working!”
Stephon Ganga (15), Alex Rambarose (14), Thad Lettsome (14) and Jerome Parkins (11), all learned to sail in the youth program at the Royal BVI Yacht Club, on Optis and Lasers, and have now been sailing for several years. The jump up to the IC 24 has been a huge leap in learning but as Penwell pointed out, they’re quick learners.
“On Friday, our first day of racing, we were way at the back of the pack,” he said. “Yesterday we were mixing it up with the rest of the fleet.”
The boat the team is sailing on belongs to the Royal BVI Yacht Club, the young guys are responsible for helping with maintenance and cleaning – they did scrub the bottom of the boat and helped with small repairs before Friday’s racing.
Lettsome is driving upwind this week and has been working on good starts; Stephon drives downwind and has been focusing on keeping the kite filled to keep it flying; Jerome is on sheets – he’s been thinking about boat speed.
“This is very different to dinghy sailing,” Lettsome said. “You have a jib, a spinnaker and a team you have to work with…” The boys all looked each other and laughed.
Yacht Club Manager Tamsin Rand has also been on the boat with the boys this week, mostly to provide extra ballast because of the windier than expected conditions.
“The team is sailing in an incredibly experienced fleet of local IC24 sailors who have been doing this for years – that’s been a lesson unto itself for the guys,” she said. “We have a lot of great talent coming out of the islands, and more of our young guys are sailing on other boats this week – Sam Allen is on the IC24 Aeropost, and Nathan Haycraft is sailing on Pipedream, his dad’s Sirena 38. The kids here are lucky in that respect, they’re often included on the bigger boats we have in Tortola.”
The Royal BVI Yacht Club Youth Sailing Programme is open to children of all ages and capabilities, operating off the beach at Nanny Cay. Along with its thriving race team, it has a green fleet and beginners sailing programme. The program is supported by many local organizations, fund-raising and donations.
For information: http://www.royalbviyc.org/sailing/youthsailing.html
For more information go to: http://www.bvispringregatta.org/
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