The Tribune

By Elizabeth McKay & Sharnett Ferguson

Joshua A Weech began sailing in January of 2015 at age 9. His older brother, then age 12 was already sailing so Joshua was around the Nassau Yacht Club whenever his brother had sailing. Joshua expressed an interest in starting and the rest is history.

Joshua began sailing with coach Robert Dunkley at the Bahamas National Sailing School. Since the start of his career, he has been affiliated with the Nassau Yacht Club. Over the years, he has also travelled for training with international coaches which has been critical to developing his skill. With the development in recent years of the Royal Nassau Sailing Club and the Lyford Cay Sailing Club, Joshua has also benefited from joint local training clinics with international coaches as well as local coaches like Keir Clarke at the Lyford Cay Sailing Club. Joshua has participated in training clinics in preparation for major events in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Uruguay.

Joshua has competed in eight countries other than The Bahamas: Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos Islands, Antigua, Uruguay and the USA. International experience is a critical factor in development as a sailor. Joshua is grateful to the many supporters for sponsoring travel to international events. Over the years he has consistently received support from The Bahamas National Sailing School and the Nassau Yacht Club. More recently he has caught the attention of private and corporate sponsors including CA Christie Real Estate, Rip Curl (Bahamas), Bahamas Waste Ltd. and The TK Foundation.

Joshua lives to sail, it's that simple.

"Since I started I remember missing only one regatta and that's because my mom missed the email and I arrived late. I was really upset. It's never happened again, now I am usually the first sailor at the Yacht Club at the start of a major event. I will even skip big family holidays away so I can attend a two-day regatta. It's not always easy but I always choose sailing."

Joshua is very grateful to know at such a young age what he wants to do for the rest of his life. Of course, he has long ago informed his parents not to expect a lawyer, doctor or anything other than a sailor from him. Joshua already has his eyes on the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

He says, "I always have a goal, and then another goal, and another. If you want to be the best you need to set goals for yourself and then work at achieving them. And don't be afraid to set big goals, my mother taught me that what I think about is very important."

In his five years, Joshua has already amassed an impressive trophy count of 51, 24 of which are first place finishes, 12 floating, 11 second, 3 third and 1 top Bahamian (OPTINAM 2019). He holds four (4) national championships, one in the 1420 class and is also the three -time winner of The Geoffrey Holowesko - Bahamas Optimist National Champion trophy 2019, 2018, 2017. Joshua was named the 2018 Sir Durward Knowles Jr Sailor of The Year which was particularly gratifying as Sir Durward Knowles is his sailing hero.

Joshua is particularly proud to be the first Bahamian Optimist sailor to represent the country in the gold fleet at an International Optimist Dinghy Association event.

This was a goal he set for himself and accomplished at home in the 2019 Optimist North American Championship. He has also received national recognition for his accomplishments and was awarded The Government of The Bahamas 2019 Rising Star Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sports. His full bio is available at http://joshuaaweech.weebly.com.

Joshua fondly recalls his very first day in an Opti, he had difficulty event getting out of the marina at the Nassau Yacht Club.

His older brother Jonathan coached him through those first steps and early days. It wasn't long before Joshua was able to make the boat go in the right direction, from there he determined to master the Optimist Dinghy and become the best Optimist sailor in The Bahamas. He credits his enrollment in the Bahamas National Sailing School for his success and admits the school has played a major role in him learning and mastering the basics in sailing. From his coach, Robert Dunkley to his sailing mates over the years, Joshua says that he learned from very early that he has a natural talent for sailing and has developed a love for the sport.

His outlook on excellence in sports is simple - "find what you love, then live to do that thing. Be completely focused on being the best you can be in your sport. No matter how good you are there will be times when it will not be easy so you need someone in your corner to drag you along when things get really hard. My mom is that person for me, I remember a two day regatta where I thought I didn't have the strength to race on the second day since I had been in a week long clinic right before the regatta started. My mom woke me up, gave me a talk about what makes a person a champion and dropped me to the Royal Nassau Sailing Club with instructions to do my best. If you know my mom then you know I got in that boat. I think I slept for a solid 24 hours after that regatta, but we won and most importantly I didn't disappoint my skipper, Mr Dunkley".

His advice to his peers thinking about trying out sailing, try it you just might love it.