Quiet, calm, efficient, thorough these are adjectives that come to mind when the name James Benoit comes to mind. James comes to the 2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week as the Principal Race Officer. His responsibilities include ensuring that all the racing is conducted in proper manner and in-accordance with the Sailing Instructions.

James from Grenada began sailing in lasers in 1980 and still to this day is actively involved in the Dinghy Sailing program at the Grenada Yacht Club. He began his career as a regatta official as a CSA Measurer in 1982 and is today one of the Senior Caribbean Sailing Association Measurers. He also began doing Race Officiating at a local level in Grenada in 1990 and has since been quietly building a reputation as one of the best in the Southern Caribbean. At the moment he does seven regattas a year, the Grenada Sailing Festival, Bequia Easter Regatta, Tobago Sailing Week, Barbados Mt. Gay/Boatyard Regatta, Carriacou Sailing Series(November), Carriacou Regatta (August) and the Grenada Yacht Club Summer Regatta.

Needless to say that James is familiar with the boats and the competitors. He lists as one of his most difficult jobs the analysis and proofing of Sailing Instructions and being able to separate the individual regattas and their unique formats and needs. James says that he would like to see “race organizers assisting and supporting each other. In that way the sharing of experiences will ensure that competitors will get value and therefore ensure repeat participation”.

James will be the PRO for the second time at the 2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week and judging from the comments from the competitors last year, he did an excellent job. We welcome him and all the other regatta officials to the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – ‘The spirit of racing’.

James Benoit click to enlargen

Bruggadung the man is iconic to Barbados sailing. Over the last 20 years, no-one has been more visible flying the Bajan flag in Caribbean keel-boat racing other than Ralph Johnson.

The first yacht to have the Bruggadung name was the Burke 10m, designed and built in Barbados by the legendary maverick, Andrew Burke (of Nefertiti and Countdown fame), in 1984. She raced and won her class in her debut at the 1984 Cockspur Rum Regatta in Bridgetown. She was campaigned successfully throughout the Caribbean from Antigua and Petit St Vincent to Grenada and Tobago. One of the proudest moments for ‘Brugga’ was their record-setting passage in the 1987 ARC Rally from the Canary Islands to Barbados. Bruggadung’s arrival at 2:00am where she was greeted by a flotilla of yachts and escorted to the Port of Bridgetown to be greeted and cheered by hundreds of well-wishers, will always be something to be remembered.

Ralph purchased the Beneteau 10m “Reverie” from Martinique in 1987 and renamed her “Bruggadung II”. This is the boat that has been synonymous with Bajan yachting for the last 20 years. She was Caribbean Racing Yacht of the Year in 1996.

In the 2004, Ralph handed over the running of ‘Bruggadung II’ to his younger brother Paul Christo and is now actively racing his Beneteau 53f5 ‘Rapajam’ in the more gentlemanly Racer Cruiser Class. Paul has enlisted the support of Andrew Burke as helmsman and technical adviser and Shane Atwell (from Ninja, another Bajan Beneteau 10m) as tactician and stability adviser to form the core of ‘Team Bruggadung II’. This potent combination has breathed new life into the boat and she has become a force to be reckoned with. At present she is the Racing Class Champion of the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week and the Spinnaker 6 Class Champion of St Maarten Heineken Regatta.

Paul Christo Johnson says that the intention of ‘Team Bruggadung II’ is to probably put one more serious year into a Caribbean campaign in 2008 that will include the St Maarten Heineken Regatta, Antigua Sailing Week, Angostura Tobago Sailing Week and the Barbados Mount Gay/ Boatyard Regatta. Following which he hopes to re-join his older brother Ralph, to put together another campaign with a slightly larger racing boat, in the 38 to 42 ft range. Will we see the debut of another Burke racing machine from Barbados? Only time will tell.

Regardless of the boat, Ralph ‘Bruggadung’ Johnson and ‘Team Bruggadung’ will always be welcome at the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – ‘The spirit of racing’.

	Bruggadung II – Angostura Tobago Sailing Week 2006 click to enlargen
	Team Bruggadung II – St Maarten Heineken Regatta 2007 click to enlargen
	Andrew Burke making sure the competition stays behind click to enlargen
	Andrew Burke making sure the competition stays behind click to enlargen

Tim Kimpton is the owner and driving force behind team “Crash Test Dummies”. Tim has been competing in every Angostura Tobago Sailing Week Regatta since 1995 as an owner, co-owner or charterer. His first experience at the Tobago Sailing Week however was in 1987, crewing on a 26ft cruising yacht called “Magler”, this experience culminated in the dismasting of the boat on the Thursday of the Regatta. And from this dubious beginning Tim has campaigned a Soverel 30 “Entropy”, a Henderson 30 “Dynamite”, a Henderson 35 “Crash Test Dummies”, a Beneteau First Class 10m “Hooligan/Guardian Star” and now his present boat also called “Crash Test Dummies”, a Melges 32, at the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week.

Tim considers the very first windward leg sailed in Tobago by “Dynamite” where in her debut Regatta in 1997 she was the first boat to the Windward Mark in Storebay in the first race, as one of the most memorable moments of all the regattas that he has sailed in Tobago. Probably by sheer luck and straight line speed she out-sailed all of her bigger and more established rivals on that one leg, it all went downhill from there but the grins could not be wiped off their faces for the entire week.

Tim and his “Crash Test Dummies” team have competed very successfully in all the major Caribbean regattas from Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, St Maarten, Antigua, Trinidad and Barbados and including the 2006 Key West race Week in Florida. Based on his racing experience, his top three criteria for a successful Caribbean Regatta are consistent strong wind, good competition and good courses. The Angostura Tobago Sailing Week provides plenty of all three.

Tim’s emphasis on fleet handicap racing is slowly shifting to one-design racing and he would like to see a good one-design class in a fun but challenging boat. Tim says “I’ve been talking to a few people about several of us getting Melges 24s to race in Trinidad and that could be a lot of fun, so if anyone else reading this is interested in this concept they can see me in the bar in Tobago and I’ll buy them a beer and explain what I have in mind.”

You can be assured that the Race Committee at the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week will accommodate any good one-design fleet with their own class and starts once there is sufficient interest.

	Crash Test Dummies – Tobago 2006 click to enlargen
	click to enlargen

Kevin Kenny, the chairman of the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week Executive Committee will be retiring from this influential position at the end of the 2007 Tobago Sailing Week. Kevin has been a part of the organizing committee of this regatta since its inception in 1982, 25 years ago.

Kevin has been wearing many hats in his involvement with the Tobago Regatta, apart form being the Chair of the Organizing Committee, he is very closely affiliated with the primary sponsor Angostura and he is also a competitor; skippering Tommy Gatcliffe’s Petersen 34 – Sea Wyf in many of the regattas.

This has given him several different perspectives on this event. I had the opportunity to ask Kevin a few questions about the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – ‘The Spirit of Racing’.

When did you first compete in the Tobago Sailing Week?  Which boat were you racing at the time?

This was ‘Carnival’ - Swan 36 as foredeck for Esmond Farfan in the very first race week.
 
What has been your most satisfying racing experience since you have been competing in Tobago?

I suppose coming third a few times. I would think looking back that it was not a complete race week that was the best ever but there were many individual races where you start racing a particular boat and that when it gets exciting. Mayumi and Sea Wyf have had many such races in the past. Certainly the most unforgettable experience was when Tommy Gatcliffe’s 100% boat ‘Sea Wyf’  hit Tommy’s 50% boat ‘After Hours’ at the windward mark in a port starboard protest. I do not need to tell you that Tommy lost the protest.

What has been your most memorable achievement as Regatta Organising Chairman throughout your tenure in this position?
  
Without doubt the 2002 regatta which was the biggest ever and would have been the highlight/greatest achievement, with over 100 yachts in Store Bay. Every thing was pushed to the limit, how we made it through I will never know. But we did and no one knew how close we came to every thing falling apart. Getting Yachting World as a co sponsor was a major achievement that led to this milestone.
 
The ‘Spirit of Racing’ the regatta’s present logo – what does this infer from the point of view of Sailing, the Sponsor and what participants have come to expect?

We have been through all the various scenarios that fall between those interested in only partying to those only interested in racing. The truth is that it is a mix of both and the emphasis must always fall back to racing. The ‘sprit of racing’ embraces both objectives yet focuses us on the key foundation of racing. The sponsors always want to be part of the best event for the year, so growth, status of the event and visibility are very important to them. Different classes want different things. In the racing and racer cruiser class all they want is to win. They want good competition, good organization on the race course and the best possible handicap that will make up for the few times they make mistakes. The cruising sailor sailors also want to win but they want an interesting course, with good fun between a few boats, and great fun on shore. The charter class isn’t only fun, fun, fun on the water and on the shore. They too will find some boat that they are close to in terms of performance and will have great fun match racing
 
With 25 years of hindsight, where would like to see this event in the next five to ten years?
 
We now know that the venue has a maximum size of not more than 130 boats in the bay. I think we could handle some where between 75-90 boats racing. I feel every night we should have live entertainment in the village. I would like to see both hotels CoCo Reef /Crown Point participating in the event. Two or three additional international sponsors like Rolex, VISA to bear the cost. A permanent jetty able to comfortably hold 130 dinghy’s and one that allows large yachts to come along side to provision and take on water. We need Better Facilities if we are to attract better yachts... The racing class with some of the best racing boats in the Americas under 50 feet wanting to come to the event. Some of the big name racer cruisers coming for the partying and prestige of being at the event.   All of this would result in most of the better international sailing magazines wanting to come and cover the event. A new person that would have the same passion that I have had for this event for the next 25 years is essential for it to achieve these goals. It does not have to be the chairman but it has to be the individual that will drive the event.

	Kevin Kenny – Lay Day 2006 click to enlargen
	Kevin Kenny at helm of Sea Wyf click to enlargen
	Sea Wyf going to weather click to enlargen
	Sea Wyf rounding the Leeward Mark click to enlargen

Bernie Evans-Wong and his Cal 40 ‘Huey Too’ will be making the journey south from Antigua to compete in this year’s Angostura Tobago Sailing Week.

Bernie began sailing as a child ( some 50 years ago) at the Demarara Rowing and Sailing Club in Georgetown, his father sailed Snipes and represented Guyana at the Pan Am Games in 1957. He moved to Trinidad in 1976 and was soon a regular participant in the TTYA events in both keel boats and dinghies.

During a cruising trip from the Grenadines back to Trinidad he was beaten by the Cal 40 “Huey Too”, then owned by Dougie Myers, despite having left before Dougie and having “Huey Too” stop in Grenada on the way. Bernie says “I knew then , I just had to own that boat !” He finally acquired Huey Too in 1982. With Dougie moving onto the first of his Soverels, the Soverel 30 “Hooligan”.

Bernie and Huey Too have just returned to Antigua fresh off their success at the 2007 Heineken Regatta in St Maarten where they were class winners in Non Spinnaker 2 and overall Champion Boat of the 2007 Regatta. The copy on the St Maarten Regatta website reads “With three straight wins to capture the Non-Spinnaker 2 class, veteran campaigner Bernie Evans-Wong's Cal 40, Huey Too, was named Boat of the Regatta for the 2007 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Evans-Wong, from Antigua, was sailing the venerable design first introduced by designer Bill Lapworth in 1967. Evans-Wong sailed it to perfection to win his class, and the prestigious prize for 2007”. Bernie was completely overwhelmed at the prizegiving and in his own words “I never in my wildest dreams believed I could achieve this award in a 40 year old, very basic boat ,with dacron sails etc. ! In fact I was speechless, when it was announced and literally couldn't say anything , nothing would come out of my mouth on stage when we went up to receive the Trophy” Let us hope that when he takes the stage in Tobago, he has something to say.

Bernie has been very active the last couple of years campaigning his Melges 24 “Huey” and has also been a regular participant at quite a few one-design Regattas in the Northern Caribbean.
He is trying to get in as much competitive sailing while still physically able, and sees racing in the ‘One Design” Fleets where the standards are very high, as the way to improve one's racing skills. He has participated recently in the North Sails Cup in St Maarten and the IC 24 Worlds in Tortola.

Huey Too and Bernie Evans-Wong will surely set the benchmark for the non-spinnaker boats in the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week 2007 – ‘The Spirit of Racing’.

	Bernie Evans-Wong at the Helm of Huey Too – St Maarten Heineken Regatta 2007 click to enlargen
	Bernie Wong at the Helm of ‘Huey’ – Melges 24 at Antigua Sailing Week 2006 click to enlargen
	Huey Too – Boat of the 2007 Heineken Regatta – St Maarten click to enlargen
	Bernie Evans Wong and Huey Too Crew with the Prize Giving Ladies at 2007 St Maarten Regatta click to enlargen

Les Crouch is no stranger to Tobago Sailing Week. He has been competing here since 2000 when he came to the Caribbean with his Bashford 41 ‘Twister’. Hailing from the West Coast of the US, Les began sailing at the ‘young’ age of 40 in San Diego, California.

He has participated in many Caribbean Regattas but makes sure that in the second week of May he is in Store Bay for the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week. Les says “We all feel Tobago Race Week is presently the best regatta in the Caribbean. Tobago Race Week has not forgotten, as have many other regattas, that the idea of Caribbean racing is fun and friendship. The races start and finish at a reasonable time leaving time for both fun and friendship. The races are well run as are the parties. Both are important.”

In the many years that Les and his crew have been attending this Regatta, many significant friendships have been developed probably none more significant than the relationship with Paul Amon of Soca Sailboats. When Les was looking for a replacement for his Bashford 41, he turned to Paul and his custom fabrication team to build ‘Storm’, a Reichel Pugh 44 which was launched in 2003.

This boat stormed though the racing circuit over the next couple of years, winning Class at Key West Race Week, Class at Antigua Sailing Week among many others. Even with these credentials ‘Storm’ has found it tough going in the Racing Class in Tobago, she has triumphed once in 2004 and is always in the running. Les and ‘Storm’ will be returning to Store Bay in May, to participate in the 2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – ‘The Spirit of Racing’.