The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Spencer Cartwright, Paloma Cartwright, Tahj Ramirez, MaClean Goodfellow and Alvin Lewis emerged as champions in their respective categories of the Bahamas Youth Olympic Regatta in Montagu Bay over the weekend.

The regatta, hosted by the Bahamas National Sailing School and the Bahamas Olympic Committee, attracted a total of 58 competitors, including two from Abaco, 21 from Harbour Island and 35 from New Providence.

In a keenly contested Laser Class, Spencer Cartwright pulled off four of the seven races and was second in the other three to accumulate a total net of eight points for his victory, despite throwing out one of his wins. Alande Forbes got second with 15 points after adding a victory in the last race to a pair of second, third and fourth. Branden Sands, who had five third and two fourth, was third with 19 points.

“It’s always good competition down here because the same guys are here pushing me,” he said. “We all pushed each other so that we can compete at our very best. You really couldn’t take a rest because it was very competitive. I think I did very good. It was tactful. I may have made some minor mistakes and some of my competitors took advantage of it.”

As for Forbes, a 15-year-old student of CI Gibson, the experience is one that he cherished.

“We had some friendly competition out there,” said Forbes of his performance. “It was amazing racing with them. They were some of the best that I’ve ever competed against. So it was good to come out and race against them. I’m really sailing my best and they are sailing their best, so it’s just amazing.”

Sands, a 14-year-old student of Forest High Academy in Abaco, said the competition was good, although he expected more competition.

“It turned out to be a very good competition among those who were here,” he said. “I was really happy with my performance. I’ve been improving and these are the type of regattas that will only help me to get better. I just need to work on my body movement in the boat.”

Paul de Souza only competed in three races, taking two of them and getting a second in the other. He missed the other races that featured five other competitors because of his confirmation in the Royal Catholic Church.

“It was good. It was some very close racing. It was very competitive. I would have loved to have done some more racing, but I thought it was still very good with the amount of races that I got in,” de Souza said. “The other competitors have been doing better than they have ever done, so it made it very competitive.”

Ryan Mender, a fifth place finisher in the Laser Class with 31 points, said it was competitive.

“We were able to push each other,” said Mender, the 17-year-old student of St Andrew’s. “I was looking at how I could improve on my skills and get better, so I was very pleased with my performance. It was better than I expected. I was right up there with the field.”

Although she competed in the Sunfish Class, Paloma Cartwright had the most dominating performance over the weekend as she ended up with a clean sweep of all seven races. Her class competed with the Laser class and she was right up there in the top five combined in all of the races.

“I had a really good regatta,” said Cartwright, the 14-year-old student of NGM Major. “We had a lot of nice wind and nice waves, but I enjoyed sailing with the boys. It’s a lot more competitive than what I’m used to in Long Island. It was tough, but I enjoyed it.”

She was followed by Luke Browning, second in all but one of the races when he came in fourth in the fourth race, which he threw out to clinch his second place with 13 points. Another female, Daisy Tinkler, came in third with 18 points with two second, two third and three fourth, one of which she threw out.

A total of 11 competitors participated in the class.

The most surprising performance came in the Optimist Gold Class where Taghj Ramirez bounced back after losing the first race to secure the next four, only to lose out in the final two for his net total of eight points. His nearest rival was Cochise Burrows, the winner of the first and last two races, for 13 points for second. Ben Derbyshire was third with 21 points in the field of nine competitors.

“Since the wind is pretty light and I’m not that heavy, it worked out perfectly for me,” said Ramirez, a 14-year-old student also of St Andrew’s. “I knew I was going to do well, but I was surprised. After the first race, I thought I was going to do well. After the first race, it was pretty easy for me.”

Melisha Higgins was the top female in the Optimist Gold Class. She placed sixth with 34 points.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was,” said Higgins, a 13-year-old student of Harbour Island All-Age. “At the beginning, I thought it was going to be competitive, but since I’ve been here competing before, I knew what to expect, so I just went out there and did my best.”

In the Optimist Silver Class, MaClean Goodfellow was the most consistent in the field of 12 with five first places, a second and a third, which he threw out for his net of 7 points. Joshua Higgins was second and Isaac Fox was third, both with 19 points after they threw out their worst finishes of seventh and eighth respectively.

And in the fleet of 12 in the Optimist Green Class, Alvin Lewis got three first, a second, a third and two fourth, throwing out one of the latter for his net total of 12 points for the win. George Delafe was closely behind with 14 points, but he didn’t complete the final race. Delaney Goodfellow came in third with 16 points.

BOC president Wellington Miller said for his first appearance on the boat at one of the sailing regattas, he was quite impressed with what he saw.

“Sailing is in good condition. When you look at those young guys like Paul de Souza, Spencer Cartwright and Cochise Burrows, you can see the future in the sport,” he said. “This shows that the sport is expanding throughout the Bahamas, the coaches are dedicated to building them up and the sailors are committed to the programme.

“Whenever you see a sport like this giving the youngsters the opportunity to learn, it’s a good thing. I’m just happy for what people like Robert Dunkley and Jimmy Lowe and others are doing with this programme. We’re just proud to be able to sponsor this event, which serves as a prelude to the Youth Olympic Games in China in July.”

For Dunkley, the regatta lived up to its advanced expectations.

“We have a trio in Spencer (Cartwright), AJ (Alande Forbes) and Paul (de Souza), who started out sailing together in the Optimist sailing, are now pushing each other,” Dunkley said. “In the Opti class, Tahj Ramirez had an exceptional regatta and he’s one of those competitors we expect to see move up the ranks with Cochise Burrows. So is it competitive? Absolutely. Harbour Island had a very strong field of competitors and they all sailed very well. So we had a very good regatta.”

Melvin Higgins, who headed the field of competitors from Harbour Island, said the performances were just an indication of the work that they are putting into the programme.

“We had some of the competitors who came down and won their fleet,” Higgins said. “We have the top Opti female competitor in Melisha Higgins and she is doing quite well. We had some competitors who came here for the first time and they got their feet wet. They are doing very well.”