Amid strong and gusty winds, Barbadian Jason Tindale prevailed in the Caribbean Dinghy Championships held last weekend in Falmouth Bay, Antigua.
Teams from Trinidad and Tobago, St Maarten, Antigua and Barbados competed in the Olympic Laser Standard, the Olympic Laser Radial, the Laser Pico, Zoom 8 and Optimist classes.
Tindale took an early lead on Saturday morning in the Laser Standard class, scoring three bullets in winds which clocked in the high 20s and gusting to 30 knots.
Fierce competition during the afternoon from Antiguan Phil Martin saw both Tindale and Martin tied on ten points at the end of the first day of racing. The winds on Sunday calmed to a manageable 17 to 18 knots, and Tindale easily scored another three bullets, making him the overall winner.
Amy Cox, sailing the Laser Radial, struggled in the high winds, but managed a second place in the third race on Saturday.
The first race on Sunday saw Cox cross the finish line in second place, but that was not enough for her to catch up, placing her in fifth overall with 29 points.
In the Zoom 8 class the battle was on between Scott Gittens of Barbados and Kelly Arrindell of Trinidad. Gittens was three points behind Arrindell after the first day’s racing but in the calmer winds on Sunday, Gittens scored two bullets. A protest in the eighth race knocked him down to third place overall.
Leisl Brewster and Kimberley Gittens, sailing the two-person Laser Pico, had a breakdown in the second race of the championships and were awarded redress, giving them average points for the second and third races.
The lighter winds on Sunday did not favour the pair, and they ended the competition in fourth place overall.
Newcomer Anish Persaud, competing in his first regatta in the Optimist Class for Under-12 participants, scored a total of 25 points after nine races to finish third.
In the end, the six-member Barbados team took third place overall with 98.2 points, just behind Trinidad (91 points). The overall team winners from Antigua scored 77 points.
The Barbados Sailing Association thanked the Barbados Olympic Association for its support. (PR)
