On Friday 13th July a team of sailors from the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club travelled to Tortola for the 14th Annual Premier’s Cup International Youth Regatta. As the reigning champions, Team Anguilla successfully defended their title as they defeated the 1st runner up, Bahamas, by 42 points. The young sailors won 12 of the 17 races while finishing no lower than 4th place.
Other teams participating in this year’s Regatta were Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands (with two teams).The expectations were high for Team Anguilla not only as the defending champions but also for the reputation they established at the Regatta over the years by placing 3rd in 2009, 2nd in 2010 and 1st in 2011.
Anguilla’s team comprised Ethan Lloyd, Kadeem Joseph, Derrick Carty, Romero Gumbs, Omari Hammilton and captain, Kendal Richardson. Head coach of the team and Director of the Anguilla Sailing Association, Mr. Paul Koeniger, praised the young sailors for their outstanding achievement. “These guys, they never stop. They want to win and we went to [Tortola] for one reason: to defend the gold medal and we came back with it.” He further noted that the team’s preparation for the Regatta was a difficult task as they only had access to a 2-crew member, ‘420’, sailboat in Anguilla, and at the Regatta they sailed a 6-crew member ‘IC24’ sailboat.
Mr. Koeniger attributed the team’s success to their quick starts and being the first boat upwind. He added: “A big advantage with us is that we returned 5 incumbent sailors from winning the gold last year into this year. These guys were familiar with the boat and they knew how to sail with one another and use each other’s strengths.” Mr. Koeniger also commended the team’s captain Kendal Richardson, for his good leadership throughout the Regatta in which he kept the crew focused at all times.
This year’s team was sponsored by the Rotaract Club of Anguilla whose representative, Mr. Harris Richardson, accompanied the team to Tortola and was highly impressed by their performance.
(Article Courtesy Arthur D. Ward)
