San Pedro Optimist sailors took five of the top 10 places in the final standings of the 87th Annual Baron Bliss Regatta held at the Belize City Harbor on Saturday, March 7th and Sunday, March 8th. The regatta saw the participation of sailors from San Pedro Racers (SPR), Belize Sea Scouts (BSS), Belize City Sailing Club (BCSC), San Pedro Junior Sailing Club (SPJSC), Placencia Sailing Club (PSC), Corozal Bay Sailing Club (CBSC) and Caye Caulker Sailing Club (CCSC).
The Optimist race was divided into two categories: the green fleet for the beginners and white fleet for the advanced sailors. SPR’s 13-year-old Kevin Velasquez won the championship for the Optimist White fleet, placing 1st with a final score of 8pts. 12-year-old Trent Hardwick of BSS was 2nd with 16pts, while 14-year-old Antonio Ricardez Jr from the BCSC took 3rd place. SPJSC’s 14-year-old Blanca Velasquez, who was voted Best Sailor of 2014, was 4th with 28 pts. In 5th was SPR’s 13-year-old Mitchell Sersland. 11-year-old Peter Joo from PSC was 6th with 39pts, SPR’s 10-year-old Caroline Sersland was 7th with 42pts, CCSC’s 13-year-old Ronaldo Bo was 8th with 43pts, SPR’s 13-year-old Christian Lopez was 9th with 45pts, and BCSC’s 13-year-old Nashira Ricardez was 10th with 50pts.
PSC’s 12-year-old Diana Carlin won all five races among the beginners’ Green fleet for a perfect score of 5pts. 9-year-old Christian “CJ” Ferrell Jr also of PSC was 2nd with 13pts. 10-year-old Adyaneiri Susie Teck of CBSC ranked 3rd with 18pts. PSC’s 11-year-old Adner Lopez and 10-year-old Cianna Garbutt were 4th and 5th respectively.
Winners of the other races held included: Leonard Myers, Kent Myers and Austin Welch, who crewed the “Sandra” to win the sailing dory race; while the “Heather”, crewed by Liston Myers, Imar Welch and Kent Myers took 2nd prize. Keith Hardwick captained the “Seagull”, and with his crew of Dion Cooper and Felix Cob, won the Bosun’s class sloop race. Peter Maullin won the single-handed Laser sloop race and Antonio Ricardez Jr won the open race for all-comers. Captain Leonard Usher and his crew sailed Maheia’s “United” to win the sand-lighters race against the “Radio”, captained by Robert Jeffery.
Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley joined Governor General Sir Colville Young SR in presenting trophies and medals to the winners at the BTL park bandstand on Sunday afternoon after the last race.
The Belize Sailing Association presented trophies and medals to the winners at an award ceremony at the Ex-Services League Headquarters, followed by a reception with food and refreshments on Sunday evening. They also presented indefatigable sports photographer William Ysaguirre with a medal as an honorary member of the Optimist Green fleet, for his consistent reporting of all BSA races, and the first time ever television coverage of the 2014 harbor regatta on Channel 7.
Next on the sailing calendar, the San Pedro Racers will host a training clinic for “Laser” class sloops from March 28 to April 7, and the Caye Caulker Sailing club will host the Caye Caulker regatta on April 4th-5th.
