(Barbados)- Skippered by Ian Mayers, the BANKS ESPERANZA J/24 team continued an
impressive run of form to completely eclipse the J/24 division of the Harris
Paints two-day regatta. It was another show of late-season magic from the
ESPERANZA crew, who also dominated and won the First Citizens Regatta earlier
in the season in Holetown.
In the Harris Paints event, which was also the 30th year of
sponsorship by the company, and which featured shifty winds on the southcoast,
ESPERANZA's slammed nine other rival crews to win three of four races. 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.
Our crew is in good form and we proved that we are capable of challenging the
top boats in competition,” said skipper Mayers. Impulse, skippered by
Neil Burke, finished second and HawkEye, skippered by Robert Povey, 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 J/24 Youth team also used last weekend's regatta as part of their preparation for the for BVI –Premier Cup International regatta which is being contested in Tortola on Saturday and Sunday( July 12-14).
Significantly, 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.
Despite their late season heroics, 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 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. “It was a very competitive season. Our main goal was to win the national championship this year and our crew made it happen. We came out with a mission and accomplished it,” said Robert Povey, skipper of HawkEye.
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 J/24 Club of Barbados and President Gregory Webster praised, sponsors, sailors and other partners for helping to create successful events and an outstanding season. For more J/24 Barbados sailing information
