Banks Esperanza, skippered by Ian Mayers, continued an impressive run of form to capture the J24 division of last weekend’s Harris Paints two-day regatta.
It was another show of late-season magic from the Esperanza crew, who dominated and won the First Citizens Regatta two weeks ago in Holetown.
Esperanza slammed nine other rival crews to win three of four races which featured shifty winds on the south coast. They finished fourth in Race 4.
“We were looking to make a clean-sweep but we didn’t have a great start in the last race, although we made up some ground,” skipper Mayers said. “Our crew is in good form and we proved that we are capable of challenging the top boats in competition.”
Impulse, skippered by Neil Burke, finished second and HawkEye, with Robert Povey at the helm, finished third overall while also winning Race 4. Fourth was Die Hard, captained by Robbie Yearwood, and fifth, ISIS, captained by Nicholas Lashley.
The six-member Barbados J24 Youth team also used last weekend’s regatta as part of their preparation for the BVI Premier Cup International Regatta which is being contested in Tortola this weekend.
The Harris Paints Regatta was the last of six regattas making up the 2013 Jaguar/Landrover series in the race for the national championship of J24 racing in Barbados. For Harris Paints, it was their 30th year of sponsorship.
Esperanza were unable to deny Williams Industries HawkEye the championship as they pipped them by one point to secure the right to be called national champions.
After six regattas, HawkEye collected nine points while Esperanza finished the season on ten points, for second place in the Jaguar/Landrover series.
HawkEye, which earlier in the season won the Taylors Cycle Centre Regatta, were second in the Mount Gay Regatta in mid-May, and won the Lucky Horseshoe Regatta in early June.
Champions in 2012, Impulse finished the season third overall, on 12 points, while Fully Covered, skippered by Bruce Bailey, finished fourth with 16 points. ISIS, skippered by Lashley, were fifth overall on 26 points.
The Jaguar/Landrover series is organized by the J24 Club of Barbados and president Gregory Webster praised sponsors, sailors and other partners for helping to create successful events and an outstanding season. (BB)
