Rum Punch flowing like water…

Angostura Tobago Sail Week will soon be here, scheduled from Sunday 11th May – Friday 16th May 2008 in gorgeous Tobago. As close to paradise as you can get Tobago offers the bluest of waters and skies.

On Sunday 24th February Maritime Management, TTSA and Regatta Promoters, (host company for the Angostura Tobago Sail week) promoted what we cleverly decided to call a “Wet Run” to the Tobago regatta hosted in some months to follow.

After the Maritime Management race that day, crew from all boats poured unto land to the smells of roasted meats, such as pork, lamb, sausages, fish all cooked to perfection and free cocktails being offered…and so started our ‘Wet Run”

We mixed batches of rum punch with freshly grated nutmeg, lots of Angostura, Fernandes Black label rum and other Caribbean flavors, a special mix that only a few of us knew and will continue to keep secret for our Tobago regatta. A bit of a secret just like Angostura’s aromatic bitters, we couldn’t make enough.

There were also lots of margaritas with Cuevo tequila another gracious sponsor for the day. From horny margaritas to mango margaritas, icy and perfectly blended for the hot day, the tequila salt prunes were also a hit. Music flowed late into the evening and sailors and their families and friends ate, drank and danced into the night.

Just a slight taste to the excitement to follow at the regatta, live entertainment, lots of activities, free rum punch daily, cutters and great competitive sailing. Come and be a part of our fantastic culture and experience our perfect sailing conditions all hosted by a wonderful Caribbean people and the best rum in the world!!!

Angostura Tobago Sail Week…The Spirit of Racing!

By:
Kelly Ann Smith

“The Spirit of Racing”
2008 Regatta

Angostura really hosts a sweet regatta in Tobago and the 2008 Angostura Tobago Sail Week is scheduled for 11th to 16th May.

One thing Tobago Sail Week always has is breeze. The regatta provides races at varying levels of competitiveness from the Racing Class, at the extreme end, (which is highly taxing and requires a lot of skill and stamina), to Racer Cruiser to Cruiser to Charter class in diminishing levels of demand.

Half way through the regatta there is always a ‘lay day’ for enjoying a bit of fun and relaxation. If the rest of the week is about serious sailing, Lay Day is about real fun, it’s a family event with team games and socializing in the shade of the palm trees.

The Regatta is a gathering of the clans. Yachts hailing from Barbados, Antigua, USA, UK, France and of course Trinidad & Tobago made up the fleet this year In racing class there was a whole tribe of feisty little racing boats including a grappe of Beneteau First 10m, Melges 32’, Henderson 36’, all flaunting their sophisticated carbon accessories and 3DL sails. In the more sedate Cruiser Racing and Cruising class there are elegant designs like Sparkman & Stephens 34’, Santa Cruz 70’ and Oyster 66’ all reigned in under the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) rating system.

You would be hard pressed to find a more highly tuned fleet of racing yachts in the Caribbean than those registered at Angostura Tobago Sail Week.

Betty Davidson
Manager

Final Day - The Grand Finale

Another gleaming day in Tobago dawned on a fleet anxious to head out to the start line. With many places on the podium still hanging in the balance, and a lot of races to get through, no one could rest on their laurels. It was crucial for everyone to do their best in every race order to secure a winning position.

Even though Bruggadung II was in pole position on the score board, they had to fight hard to keep their lead bringing in a 3rd, 4th and finally 1st position in the 3 races. Once again they have conquered the racing fleet in Tobago with a total of 20 points followed by Storm with 46 points, and High Tension B Mobile with 54.

A surprising flurry came from outsider, Whistler, who pulled a rabbit out of the hat on the last day to cadge 1st and 2nd place in the first two races. Apparently the boys had run out of Bajan rum and finally switched to Angostura Black which made all the difference!

Cruiser Racer class was won by Mr. President himself (TTSA’s very own Jerome McQuilkin) aboard Wayward. He was anything thing but wayward this week, buckling down first place in 6 out of 8 races to secure 11 points overall. The Bajans are never far behind the Trinis, and Rapajam came in a decent 2nd with 17 points keeping Huey Too at a comfortable distance with 28 points. Huey Too is celebrating 40 years on the sea which merited a special prize.

The Cruising Class fleet was in extremely close competition with Business Machine and Nirvana tied in second position at the end of racing yesterday. Both Lloyd De Roche and Marsha Farfan were determined to win today and go home with the prize. The decision was made right from the beginning when Business Machine suffered from a bad start and only managed to get Nirvana in their wake on the last two legs. Although Business Machine got line honours, Nirvana won on corrected time and Merlin came in with a very decent third place. The scores were 7, 9 and 10 respectively.

Even in Charter Class the favorites had to fight to keep up their reputation, with David Downie on Saga Boy coming in 1st with 6 points followed swiftly by Annie T with 9 points. Alimata 3 came in 3rd with 12 points just 1 point ahead of Ambrosia. A very close run thing indeed!

The committee were accompanied by Chief Judge Geoffrey Pidduck, Chris Martin his second in command, and Race Officer, James Benoit. The observer for protest was Dave Irwin from Ambition Sailing. All gentlemen are Gentlemen in every sense of the word, and it is no wonder that after the last race on the last day, the committee catamaran took off with all colours flying to the Bon Accord blue lagoon for a dip to relax. At dusk they returned to the bay to do the traditional lap of honour through the moorings as crews cheered and blew horns to congratulate them on a job well done. (Starting and finishing 27 races with impeccable timing is no mean feat!)

Having scrubbed up, primped and preened everyone came out to enjoy a final night of fun at the prize giving dinner, seated under the flamboyant trees, overlooking Store Bay. A more delightful ambiance would be hard to find – but we have found it here in Tobago.

The tranquility of a delicious, grilled mahi mahi dinner prepared by the Chart House chefs at Crown Point Hotel, was followed by a special live performance by Denise Plummer who geared the crowd up for a night of fêteing under the stars which lasted well into the wee hours.

Join us next year on 11th May for more sweet, sweet T&T.

Riding Rodeo

Race Day 3 of the Angostura Sail Week was not without incident.

The conditions out on the start line were blustery with wind blowing at between 15 – 18 knots and gusting to 20. The fleet galloped up and down the start line on lumpy seas as the Start Committee rose the delayed start flag.

The wind had started off from the NE which convinced the race officer to modify the course however a steady Easterly soon settled in and things returned to normal.

The course for all 4 classes were as Day 1. When the sailors reconvened at the bar it was quickly evident that some time needed to be spent in the protest room. This resulted in a few DSQ’s but nothing to shake up the favorites too much. The leaders were still holding the fort, most noticeably Bruggadung II the sprightly Beneteau run by Andrew Burke out of Barbados who took home the trophy last year. Rumor has it that he actually shaved the name off the side of the hull because the colorful paint job was causing drag and slowing him down!

The extra pep is obviously paying off! With 12 points overall he is way in the lead followed by High Tension with 34 points and Storm with 35. There are 3 races scheduled for the final day in the two more competitive classes, so things still hang in the balance depending on the final days’ performance. The Cruising and Charter Class have one sole race so there is no margin for error, for example Business Machine and Nirvana are currently tied in first place with 6 points, followed swiftly by Merlin with 8. The Charter Class, led by Saga Boy (4 points) is followed by Annie T and Ambrosia with 5 points. This should make for dynamic racing throughout the fleet as no one will want to relinquish their place on the podium.

Lay Day

We started the day on a blue Lagoon under the palms trees and finished the day in a cool blue pool under a saman tree. The rest of Lay day must remain confidential…

This is not Sailing in the Gulf!

Normally the host club Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) holds weekly races just off the beach from the club in the Gulf of Paria. It is a super setting, with islands dotted about the tranquil Gulf, but the races are blighted by notoriously light wind sailing conditions. This is reason TTSA were motivated to do an annual regatta in Tobago, because on the sister Isle, the wind conditions are anything but feeble.

Today the racing was sponsored by Gulf Insurance Ltd and once more, we were treated to 14 – 16 knot winds and unusually mild current on the far windward mark, known as IFD. The race however was not without incident. Titian M called in prematurely, before we even heard the horn, because they had unfortunately lost their steering, and were forced to retire. Later, one of the racing favorites Crash Test Dummies were victim to a broken rudder and left the racing fleet short of a valuable competitor.

The Gulf Insurance Race was a longer race than yesterday’s (13 miles for the Cruisers / Charter and16 miles for the rest of the fleet) which gave those with favorable handicaps the opportunity to overtake their rivals, at least on corrected time. Some new names that have never visited the podium before made a stand and this is encouraging for the future, as fresh blood is exactly what is needed to keep a sporting event alive.

The prize giving was followed by a wild night under the flamboyant trees to Imij & Co who rocked the night away in preparation for tomorrows lay day fete on No Mans Land.

Race not want not

We goin’ Tobago to RACE !  exulted one enthusiastic sailor in the rich west Indian vernacular. And if racing is what they come for, racing is what they get!

Tobago caters to all levels of sailing stamina so there are four classes to meet all tastes:

Charter Class
Cruising
Cruiser Racer and
Racing

One can come and hoist a rusty tarpaulin on a fat old liveaboard and have a great regatta, however the majority of the fleet is condensed into the racing class where carbon and Kevlar are more in mode.

The committee does its best to satisfy and so on the first days racing although Charter and Cruising Class were content with one race each; Cruiser Racing had three races to deliver and racing kept going for four separate starts and finishes.

We were all out on the water by 8AM and some of the racers did not get back in to shore until after 4 PM. They got what they were after: Exciting starts, challenging courses and close finishes. The conditions were better then ideal -- they were superb with a feisty 14-18 knot wind blowing constant throughout the day and gusting to 20 in the afternoon..

Last years winner – Brugadung II came out in force, and showed that she would not let her title go without a fight. With Andrew Burke at the helm she screamed in with 3 bullets and a 2nd place in the last race. Another Bajan regular, Rapajam took the prize in Cruiser Racing, while in Cruising Business Machine squeezed past Nivarna to win by just 9 seconds CT. Ambrosia took advantage of some poor navigation aboard Saga Boy to steal the first place away from the favourite in Charter Class.

The long day at sea was celebrated with soothing jazz as the crews gathered on the grass by the Angostura bar to rehydrate and review the first day’s racing.

ANGOSTURA Sail Week Celebrates 25th Anniversary in Style!

The heart and soul of Angostura Tobago Sail Week has always been captured in the phrase ‘Where Friends Meet’ and how true that is!

At the Skippers Briefing last night the best of the bunch were on parade. After the last minute flurry of registration, the scratch sheet was given one final revision, signed off by the officials and the ceremony was officially opened. One by one the skippers went up to receive their bags and bow numbers cheered on by supporting crowd and crew.

Kevin Kenny welcomed the gathering of salubrious sailors on behalf of Title Sponsor Angostura. Jerome McQuilkin joined him on behalf of the host club: Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) and Geoffrey Pidduck the Chief International Judge from Antigua closed with a warning to keep him busy at the bar and not in the protest room.

Amongst the line up were: sailing icons Hugh Bailey from s/y Hugo (Antigua),
Andrew Burke s/y Bruggadung II,(Barbados), Ralph Johnson s/y Rapajam (Barbados), Rawle Barrow on s/y Petit Careme (T&T) as well as the more recent contenders on hot carbon boats like Les Crouch on s/y Storm, and Tim Kimpton on s/y Crash Test Dummies.

The entire gathering were in a festive mood at the steel band played under the flamboyant trees and we were once again reminded why we all keep coming back to Tobago: to see and sail with our friends.

25 Years Ago …..

Some 25 years ago, a couple of local sailors decided to have a Regatta in Tobago.  Some of them are still active sailors, some have left these shores and others have hung up their top-siders.   But regardless of where they may be we owe them for the vision and determination to make the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week what it is today.

In that first regatta, held in the waters off Great Courland Bay, there were boats that are still actively racing at the TTSA today.  In some cases the names may have changed, Dougie Meyers racing ‘Hooligan’ – Soverel 30.  This boat has been renamed many times but according to one previous owner, Tim Kimpton who says, “I’ve always said that more people in TTSA have had more fun on that boat over the years than on just about any other.”  This boat is now called ‘Breakaway’ and is skippered by Bastien Pouthier and his co-owners.

Another very memorable name is that of ‘Merlin’ and Rupert Grimshaw.  Rupert has managed to keep his Van der Stat designed Excaliber 36 competitive over 25 years of racing.  She has not been to Tobago in a couple of years but will be probably the only boat that raced in the first Tobago regatta that will be racing in this year’s 25th Anniversary Sailing Week.

Many sailors have been actively participating in the Regatta since its inception, some names are familiar and are almost synonymous with the Regatta.  Michael Rostant, Kevin Kenny, Tommy Gatcliffe, Rawle Barrow have continuously supported the Regatta since inception.  But maybe unknown to many there are other TTSA members who have been actively participating names like, Ian Mahon, James Arrindell, Mark and Gregory Loe, Peter Knox, Scott Clarke, Reggie Williams it is upon the shoulders of these younger members that the future of the Regatta rests.

2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – Racing like ‘dat.

The Sailing Instructions for the 2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week have just been posted and what a change from last year. In 2007 the racing class will face the starting gun eleven (11) times in four days, the racer/cruiser class will do eight (8) starts in four days.

The logistics of this can only mean the incorporation of a separate Start and Finish Line for all the classes. This way a class can be started on its next race as soon as all boats in that class have finished the previous race.

The courses have also been moved even further North of the race area that was used in 2006.

It is interesting to do a comparison with the number of races sailed in each Tobago regatta over the last couple of years. In 2005 the racing class did six (6) races, in 2006 they did eight (8) races, in 2007 they will do eleven (11) races (if all goes according to plan). This is almost double the number of races in two years. The Racer/Cruiser class will also get their fair share by sailing eight (8) races this year they shall double the number of races that they completed in 2006.

The shift towards multiple short races versus few longer races is fueled by the concept that mark roundings and starts provide more value for money for the racing sailor, rather than spending hours in the ocean racing against a clock rather than your competitors. Shorter races keep the fleet closer together and puts a premium on least number of errors committed.

However it turns out, the real winners will be those with the stamina and resilience to stay focused over the four days. The quality of the racing, racer-cruiser and cruising fleets is so deep that any mistake will cost you several places from the podium. And as has been shown so many times in the past, in Tobago it is consistency that pays dividends at the end.

2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week – Entertainment Schedule.

There is a full slate of entertainment daily to fortify the spirits of the competitors at the 2007 Angostura Tobago Sailing Week. After a hard day of racing what better than to know that you will be soothed by live music, good libation and excellent company.

On Sunday the entertainment begins with a live steelband from Tobago – the Tobago Pan Masters who will keep our feet chipping to the melodious sounds of Trinidad’s own indigenous musical instrument. After the skipper’s briefing the lively local rhythm of steel drums will get everyone in the mood to party.

Monday night; the Regatta Village in Crown Point will be soothed by the tones of a Tobago Jazz Band.

Tuesday night will feature the band Second Imij, featuring Joey Ng Wai and Michelle Xavier. This band has made several appearances at the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week and the crowd really appreciates the variety and quality of the performances by these accomplished local artistes. You can rely on this band to really get the place jumping.

Wednesday the nightly entertainment takes a break as the featured activities will all be occurring at the Lay Day at No Man’s Land.

Thursday night will feature the ever popular DJ Mario Kareoke night. This is the opportunity for all you extroverts to showcase your talents. Lots of excellent spirits will be on hand to help those that require a little encouragement.

Friday night will be the big awards banquet, fine food, fine drink, fine people and lots of prizes to award to the deserving sailors who worked so hard over the four days of racing. After dinner Denise Plummer will be serenading us with all her favorites and some of yours as well. Denise is one of Trinidad’s best known Soca Artistes and has been on the forefront of Soca Music for many years. We look forward to this fantastic musical conclusion to a great week of competition, camaraderie, and good fun.

The Spirit of Racing

The regatta is now just under a month away and excitement is building. As we celebrate our 25th Anniversary this year it is time to reflect on the history of the Angostura Tobago Sail Week.

The idea of staging a major regatta in the Southern Caribbean emerged in 1980 when five of Trinidad’s sailing enthusiasts put their heads together, no doubt over a couple of drinks. Rawle Barrow, Kevin Kenny, John and Sydney Knox and Michael Rostant put the idea to other regional yacht clubs, and Tobago was selected as the ideal venue.

Trinidad boasts one of the Caribbean’s largest racing fleets, and skippers were excited at the prospect of racing in Tobago. Gradually the event attracted more participants from other islands who were interested in serious racing. It soon became a calendared regatta in the Caribbean Racing Circuit and gained the reputation for striking the perfect balance between excellent sailing and fabulous on-shore fun.

The first year – 1982 –there was no jetty for dinghies to tie up to and had to come ashore in the surf. Rawle Barrow made the first Dingy Dock, affectionately known as “Rawle’s Snake”. Great improvements since then with a ferry service to and from the jetty, which is constructed every year to connect the boats in the Bay to the Regatta Village.

Dougie Myers who sailed “Leg acy” laid all the marks for each race until his death on 19th June 2004. There is a special mark for Dougie at the Regatta in Tobago and in Antigua each year.

Racing and Cruising yachts from Barbados have consistently supported the regatta and Bajan yachts have enjoyed great success in Racing Class with Bill Tempro’s venerable Swan 36 - “Morning Mist” winning in the first regatta in 1982, and Peter Burke’s Beneteau 10 meter - “Blazin” victorious for 2 consecutive years (1989 & 1990). Bruggadung II (another very sucessful Beneteau 10 meter), owned by Ralph Johnson and skippered by Andrew Burke, foiled a hat-trick for ‘Blazin” by winning the title the following year. “Blazin” and “Bruggadung II” have repeated their victories respectively in 2005 and 2006. Rawle Barrow, the one of the oldest racing yachtsman in the Southern Caribbean, was victorious for 3 consecutive years in his Beneteau First 38 “Petit Careme” (1992, 1993 & 1994) and is a proud owner of the Trophy. Another successful hat-trick was won by Tim Kimpton & Mark Chapman’s locally built Henderson 35 - “Crash Test Dummies”, skippered by Paul Amon (1999, 2000 & 2001). Yachts have come from afar with “Immigrant” (UK) winning in 1986 and “Australian Maid”- Cassidy 55 coming first in 1987 after competing in Antigua Sailing Week and most recently “Storm” Les Crouch’s Reichel Pugh 44 winning in 2004

The Regatta is held in May for three reasons:
1.The event is timed to coincide with the last few weeks of the local dry season; this ensures that we have strong to moderate Southeasterly winds and fewer to none of the Northerly swells. In fact this event is one of the few Caribbean Regattas that have had consistently good wind in the last couple of years, almost all the others having suffered from one or two light air days. The absence of the swells is also important to the Regatta because of the limited jetty infrastructure at the regatta venue. The dinghy dock is a temporarily constructed structure that cannot withstand the pounding of these vigorous swells.
2.It also coincides with the end of the Local Racing season; this gives the local yachts a final chance to earn silverware for the year and also the prestige of competing against visiting boats.
3.The Tobago regatta also fills the time slot between the Antigua Sailing Week at the beginning of May and the Barbados Mt Gay/Boatyard Regatta at the beginning of June.

This year the classes will be:
Racing (Spinnaker)
Cruiser-Racer (Spinnaker or Double Headsail)
Cruising (Jib w/pole)
Charter

Chart of courses will be handed out at the Skippers Briefing on Sunday 13th May.

Betty Davidson
Manager

New Jetty for 2007 Angostura
Tobago Sailing Week

The Jetty began its existence as a plywood and barrel gangplank that connected a dinghy platform to the sand at Turtle Beach. Though functional it was lively in the surf and you were prone to sea-sickness if you stood on it for too long. After the event was moved from Courland Bay to Store Bay the Jetty was first constructed on the Northern side of the bay from the Crown Reef Hotel (now called the Coco Reef Hotel). Eventually it made its way to its present location at Crown Point. The present permanent landing on the cliffs above the Bay was constructed by Tobago Plantations as part of their sponsorship of the event.

Essentially the ‘Jetty’ consists of Scaffolding Tubes that are temporarily driven into the seabed to from a narrow walk way that takes you from the jagged coral cliffs over looking Store Bay out to an anchored floating platform.

One of the major hurdles to overcome with this structure are the occasional North West swells that cause the floating platform to surge towards the cliffs, putting tremendous stress on the connection between the fixed scaffolding walkway and the independently anchored platform. There have been several years when the operation of the ‘Jetty’ have been temporarily suspended due to unsafe conditions and many years when you could see the jetty crew scrambling madly to repair sections of the jetty after the swells have past.

A recent innovation has been the addition of modular floating dock sections to the original floating platform; this has resulted in more space for people and dinghies. However this has also put additional strain on the anchoring system.

There have been several versions of the floating platform; the original had the thatched roof. This mysteriously caught on fire and was destroyed just prior to the 2002 regatta. It was replaced by a ‘temporary’ platform which lasted until last year when it finally sunk whilst being towed to its storage area. In 2007 a new and larger floating platform will debut. This is currently under construction, with the fiberglass pontoons being fabricated by Donald Stollmeyer in Chaguaramas. These will be sent to Tobago to be assembled and finished by Richard Hadeed.

Whether it be the old jetty or the new jetty one thing is vitally important to remember. Not everyone can be on the jetty at once. Please organize your crew pickups so that people move expeditiously from the cliffs above the Jetty to the waiting tenders.

We look forward to seeing you at the Angostura Tobago Sailing Week 2007 – ‘The Spirit of Racing’, come catch the Spirit!

Angostura Tobago Sail Week 2007
13th to 18th May

For the 25th Anniversary celebrations, there are plans for a full schedule of parties following each of the four days of racing.

Place yourself in this scene by competing in the friendliest regatta on the sailing circuit, the Angostura Sail Week in Tobago. In its 25th year, this event captures “The Spirit of Racing”, with its perfect blend of offshore rivalry and on-shore revelry.

The Regatta Village is set up on the lawns of the Crown Point Hotel, and is the focal point for after race activities, making this regatta a very friendly affair.  It includes the race organizers offices, the Angostura and other bars, a food tent supplied by the hotel restaurant, various booths (bathing suits, chandlery goods, t-shirts, jewelry, cell phone supplier, Tim Wright’s photos, etc), a Disco, sail repair facilities, water supply, and ferry service to and from the jetty.

Participants begin their arrival from the Friday, and Customs & Immigration officials are on-site to process the visiting sailors. The committee desk and regatta office are officially open from 8.00 am on Saturday 12th May for registration and measuring, which continues on Sunday 13th May.

Held in the southwest of the island with strong current and winds fluctuating between 12 and 20 knots, conditions for competitive sailing could not be better. Each race lasts three to four hours with six different categories:

Racing (Spinnaker)
Cruiser-Racer (Spinnaker or Double Headsail)
Cruising (Jib w/pole)
Charter
Comfort Cruising (jib only)
MultiHull

Sailors come from the Caribbean Region – Barbados, Grenada, T&T and from Europe and Britain.  This year boats are expected from Martinique and with the introduction of a MultiHull class we are encouraging boats from more regional clubs to participate.