Belize sailors feature in Bart's Bash

Bart's Bash in Belize © Forrest Jones

Provisional results of the Bart's Bash world wide sailing race are up. Venues could choose to race on Saturday or on Sunday, September 17 or 18. The event organizers in San Pedro chose Sunday to hold the race for Belize's field of 22 boats. All the well-established and known-to-be-organized clubs have now reported in. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, here, still unofficially, but quite encouragingly, is how the Belize sailors fared.

Lasers

In the worldwide field of 174 Laser Radials, San Pedro's Andy Milner is ranked 3rd overall. Among the Belizean sailors still of formal age for Laser Radials, Antonio Ricardez, 16, of Belize City is right behind Andy in 4th; Andy's former cadets in San Pedro - sixteen-year-olds Sarah White and Blanca Velasquez - finished 5th and 6th respectively. Antonio's sister Nashira joins the others, finishing 10th in their class.

Optimists

In the worldwide field of 196 competitors aged 8 to 15 sailing Optimist Dinghies in Bart's Bash, Kevin Velasquez, age 15, from San Pedro and the 2015 Belize National Champion, is atop Bart's Bash Optimist class leaderboard - in first place and ranked number one. out of 190. San Pedro's Caroline Sersland, age 12, who took 3rd in Belize's last National Championships, is in 7th place, Nicholas Lausan of San Pedro finished 9th. Out of 196, they are all in the top 10!

Hobie 18s and Hobie Waves

Eighteen year-old David Verralls is in first place in the small field of 3 Hobie 18s, ahead of two UK sailors.

Hobie Waves comprise a small class of 12 entries this year; never the less, adult San Pedranos occupy the top three spots. Cindy Vigna and crew Lara Goldman are first; Leanne White and co-skipper Joanne Sayer are second, and Jorge Sanchez is third.

Bart's Bash in Belize - photo © Forrest Jones

Significance

Thee results appear on the front pages of each boat class' results on the Bart's Bash web site. As the thousands of participants around rthe world (7311), and their families, friends, and supporters, study these results, it will instill immense curiosity about Belize as a sailing venue well worth visiting, and worth visiting for training purposes.

The purpose of the race is to have fun and raise money for the Andrew (Bart) Simpson Foundation. This year's Bart's Bash donations to the foundation total almost $80,000.00 and are specifically earmarked to encourage and facilitate sailing among people with special needs, especially children. Sailing has proven to be a highly therapeutic activity. The event organizers in San Pedro have had such a program in place for over a year and provide sailing weekly for a small number kids whose families have enlisted them in the program.

Overall Results:

• Laser Radial Class
• Hobie Wave Class
• Hobie 18 Class