Laser Sailor Thad Lettsome’s Pan Am Games debut delayed

Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
BVI Pan Am Games Media Contact

(L-R) BVI Sailing Federation Federation official, Tamsin Rand, Laser Sailor Thad Lettsome, BVI Olympic Committee President Ephraim Penn and Sailing Coach Alec Anderson in Paracas , Lima after the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games’ opening day races were called off for lack of wind PHOTO Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

PARACAS, Peru – Laser Sailor Thad Lettsome’s planned debut yesterday in the opening day of sailing in the 18th Pan Am Games sailing in Paracas, Peru was delayed because there was no wind.

With a noon start, two races were scheduled on opening day but by 3:45 p.m. when things hadn’t improved, officials called it a day.

“It was to be a 12 o’clock start. It’s a little delayed but it happens a lot,” said Lettsome who faced the same scenario during the ISAF World Youth Championships in Poland, July 13-20. “There’s breeze now but just waiting for it to be steady. Everyone is trying not to get anxious, don’t waste any energy and stay relaxed.”

Lettsome said he’s a ‘pretty relaxed person’ when asked how he deals with these types of situations. “I don’t even call it situations,” he said. “I’m just cooling. I’m chilling out. It’s just another thing you need patience for, no big deal.”

Lettsome said he came to sail and Monday’s scheduled reserve day, which will now become a race day, is normal for him and a lot of his colleagues.

“It’s not like anything else planned so it’s not really an issue,” he stated. “It would be nice if we have a full day off but if we have to sail, it’s no problem, just get ready for it the night before – do the same as you do every day. If it’s very windy the day after the rest day and the day of the rest day, that might change a little bit for you. I recover the day of the rest day, but it doesn’t really change anything much. “

He said he would have liked 9-10 knots of breeze to start the competition, relatively flat, and steady-ish breeze with some shifts. “No big breeze or anything for the first day,” he said.

As sailors, Coach Alec Anderson said, you can’t let the situation get to you. “This is the sport we play and you have to wait for the wind sometimes,” he said. “Keep cool, keep calm, stay in the shade, eat plenty of food, drink plenty of water and be ready to rumble when it happens. This is just part of the game.”

BVI Olympic Committee President Ephraim Penn and Secretary General Lloyd Black, took the three-hour trek from Lima to Paracas. “Well, it looks like the wind was not cooperating, but, it’s all good,” Penn said. “We got to see the guys and got to see the preparations, got to see the whole operation, how much it takes to get prepared and ready to go out there, so it’s an experience for me.”

Additional Pan Am Games reports and interviews with Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway, will be carried on CBN 90.9 FM at 5.00 p.m. through August 5th and then at 9.00 a.m., 2.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m., from August 6 – 11. There’s a 9 a.m. wrap up on Aug 12.

BVI makes splash in Pan Am Games opening ceremony

Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
BVI Pan Am Games Media Contact

Thad Lettsome (L) parade guide and Lindel “Chef” Hodge, prepping to parade into the stadium Photo: Alec Anderson

LIMA Peru—Although among the smallest of the 41 delegations, the British Virgin Islands made its splash during the 18th Pan Am Games opening ceremony in Lima, Peru last night, during an entertaining and colorful show.

Laser Sailor and flag bearer Thad Lettsome, Coach Alec Anderson and Chef de Mission Lindel “Chef” Hodge, were the territory’s reps marching in the ceremony that featured Peruvian history and culture.

As they marched into the national stadium, an image of the Baths was projected on the large rock backdrop which featured each country and later in the program the flags of all 41 nations, the BVI’s among them. “From time we walked out our apartment, everybody was watching us,” noted Hodge. “Everybody was in their suits and bland sweat suits and we had our pretty shirts with Be VI, it was an eye catcher. I wished we had more bodies, but we did what we had to do. Our shirts caught lots of eyes and everybody wanted to trade for our BVI pins after that.”

Lettsome, coming off participating in the ISAF World Youth Championships in Poland, July 14-20, said he was surprised there was so much space and the teams weren’t jammed up. “It was a fun, a good experience I won’t forget,” said Lettsome who’s making his games competition debut on August 3 and Paracas. “I’m pretty lucky I think to be doing this so young obviously, then holding the flag, so I’m trying not to take it for granted because a lot of people can’t do this.”

Alec Anderson captures Thad Lettsome as he prepares to enter the Peru National Stadium with the flag

Sailing Coach Alec Anderson said it was cool being able to represent the BVI in the opening ceremony. “I’ve always had a goal of going to the Olympics – though this is not quite the Olympics – it’s still a big opening ceremony with a lot of countries and a big crowd so it was pretty darn special to finally be able to walk through a tunnel, repping the BVI. So, I had a great time.”

While track and field officials will begin arriving in Lima tonight ahead of the athletes, Anderson and Lettsome will depart for Paracas on Monday morning to begin preparations for the Sailing competition that kicks off on Aug 8.

Additional Pan Am Games reports and interviews with Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway, will be carried on CBN 90.9 FM at 5.00 p.m. through August 5th and then at 9.00 a.m., 2.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m., from August 6 – 11. There’s a 9 a.m. wrap up on Aug 12.

Team BVI Podium Finishes in St Maarten and St Thomas

By: RBVIYC

Team BVI finish third at Caribbean Dinghy Championships with two class wins. Photo: Provided

Team BVI finish third at Caribbean Dinghy Championships with two class wins. Photo: Provided

Six teams fought it out for the title of 2016 Caribbean Dinghy Champions in St Maarten this weekend. Teams were made up of five sailors with their combined results in the Laser, Laser Radial, Optimist and RS Vision deciding the winners. As defending champions Team BVI were the nation to beat.

Nathan Haycraft achieved a clean sweep of first place finishes to secure a clear victory in the Optimist class whilst Alec Anderson in the Laser Radial also claimed the overall win with nine wins from the eleven race series. Fortunes were not so good for Mike Hirst in the Laser or Chris Haycraft and son Nici in the RS Vision, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Trinidad and Tobago emerged as overall winners with 88 points, Barbados finished second with 102 points and the BVI were third with 104 points.

Next up for Team BVI will be the St Croix International Regatta in November.

Over in St Thomas, teams from the BVI and Puerto Rico joined the ISV sailors for the 2016 Columbus Day regatta.

Winds were light for most of the weekend, occasionally sneaking above 10 knots, giving the sailors tricky shifty conditions on the water.

Samuel Allen took an emphatic first place in the Optimist Green Fleet with seven race wins in the 12 race series. Kael Chalwell finished in sixth place with consistent finishes throughout the weekend and best scores of third in races seven and eight.

Competing at their first away regatta, Victoria Rowlette finished in eighth place and Amanda Plaxton in tenth. Both sailors improved their scores on Sunday after a steady first day. Rowlette’s best finishes were second in race 10 and third in race 12 whilst Plaxton went out on a high with her best results a fifth in the final race.

The Championship fleet of 18 boats completed six races and the BVI’s Rayne Duff finished up in third place. A black flag in the final race was not the end he would have liked and saw him drop from second to third overall.

Max Reshetiloff finished in 14th place overall, saving his best until last with an eighth in the final race. Just seven points behind was white fleet racer Ryan Lettsome who finished up fourth in his age category and 16th overall.

Eleven Club 420s had a close contest throughout the weekend with the overall win going to the ISV’s Christopher Sharpless and BVI sailor Sam Morrell finishing second. Three race wins for Morrell and consistent top four results on his score card were not quite enough to take the overall win which he missed by just two points.

The BVI’s new Laser Team were racing at their first away regatta with four sailors competing for honours in the Laser Radial and one 4.7 sailor. It was a close tussle between Noah George and Stephon Ganga with George taking the win by just one point. Ganga achieved more race wins but George counted first and second place finishes in all races to come out on top. Alex Rambarose finished third and Jerome Parkins fourth.

The Royal BVI Yacht Club acknowledges the parents who got involved over the course of the weekend and thanks The Moorings for their support and providing a catamaran as team accommodation and transportationof the boats and equipment for the sailors.

Results
Optimist Green fleet
1. Samuel Allen
6. Kael Chalwell
8. Victoria Rowlette
10. Amanda Plaxton

Optimist Overall
3. Rayne Duff (3rd red)
14. Max Reshetiloff (6th red)
15. Ryan Lettsome (4th white)

Club 420
2. Sam Morrell

Laser Radial
1. Noah George
2. Stephon Ganga
3. Alex Rambaros
4. Jerome Parkins

Laser 4.7
1. Stephen Ganga

BVI Olympic Sailing Team – Car Raffle

CarRaffle

Photo courtesy of Anderson/Brockbank Sailing

By RBVIYC

If you haven’t already heard, the BVI Olympic Sailing Team is holding a car raffle for a brand new 2016 Suzuki Vitara! In addition, about a dozen other great prizes have been included in the raffle such as a two night stay at Peter Island Resort, dinner at the Dove and a one hour massage at Imagine Spa.

If you would like to support the BVI Olympic Sailing Team and enter your chance to WIN a new car and some great prizes, buy a ticket before time runs out. Our Olympic hopefuls will be in and around Road Town this week to sell you your lucky ticket!

If you would like us to drop by and deliver your ticket please call 540 1780 or 343 0106 and we can bring one to you.

Also, if you think your company might be interested in supporting a great cause and potentially winning a new company car, please feel free to call the numbers provided above or email the team at bvi49er@gmail.com.

If you don’t see the team soon, the raffle draw will take place at the Fish N Lime (West End) on May 7 so come join us for a great day. We will have food and drink specials from 12pm until the draw at 4pm and will be offering free rides on the Olympic 49er boats (weather permitting)!

Please be aware that YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AT THE DRAW TO WIN. We will call you to give you the good news, but we would love to see you down at Fish N Lime on Saturday if you can make it.


Anderson/Brockbank competing in 49er World Championship to qualify for Rio 2016

By The BVI Beacon

Alec Anderson and Chris Brockbank re currently competing in the 49er World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Photo: Matías Capizzano

Alec Anderson and Chris Brockbank re currently competing in the 49er World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Photo: Matías Capizzano

Alec Anderson and Chris Brockbank are currently competing in the 49er World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics.

The regatta is the second of three chances for the Virgin Islands sailors to qualify for the games. The regatta started on Monday and will wrap up on Saturday.

“Today was very much a learning day,” the sailors posted on Facebook after the first day of the regatta. “Three races, no keepers. Looking to get back on the horse tomorrow! Stay tuned!”

As of Monday, the top three teams are Croatia, Spain and Poland. Messrs. Anderson and Brockbank have been in Buenos Aires for the past three weeks preparing for the event.  They recently competed in the “warm up” event, the 2015 49er South Americans, where they missed qualifying for the Gold Fleet by just two points.

They sat in first in the Silver fleet after two days of racing.  Some of their best performances in the fleet included a fourth-place finish in the fourth race and several top 10 finishes.

“We have done a great job securing some top five races throughout the days leading up to Worlds, we need to limit our bad races to ones that we can keep the score, this will help us in achieving our best result yet at the 2015 Worlds,” Mr. Anderson said.

According to the sailors, the venue has been a difficult place to sail, with shallow brown water, very shifty conditions and steep choppy waves.

The World Championships feature 30 countries competing for just three Olympic qualifying spots. The sailors are some of the best competitors from around the world, including recently crowned International Sailing World Male Sailors of the Year: Blaire Tuke and Peter Burling from New Zealand. The duo took silver at the 2012 London Olympics.

After the World Championships, Messrs. Anderson and Brockbank will be back in the VI for three weeks to train before they head to Miami for the World Cup. This event will be the last chance for the sailors to qualify for the Olympics.

To follow the sailors’ progress, go to www.49er.org or visit Anderson/Brockbank Sailing on Facebook.

Newbie becomes youngest-ever Pro Am Champion

By Tom Leweck, Scuttlebutt, 
Virgin Gorda, BVI

Alec Anderson, youngest champion, Bitter End Yacht Club Pro-Am Regatta. Photo provided

Alec Anderson, youngest champion, Bitter End Yacht Club Pro-Am Regatta.
Photo provided

In spite of the fact that Alec Anderson had been named as a collegiate All-American in 2011, in 2012, and in 2013, many of the resort guests arriving at the Bitter End Yacht Club for the Pro Am Regatta were not familiar with his name. Well – they all know him now. Anderson has just become the BEYC’s 2013 Pro Am Champion.

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BVIOC presents Virgin Island 49er sailors, Anderson & Brockbank with Olympic Scholarship

(l-r) Mark Chapman, treasurer, BVIOC, presents Olympic Solidarity funding to Rio 2016 hopefuls, Christopher Brockbank, 49er crew, and Alec Anderson, 49er skipper.

(l-r) Mark Chapman, treasurer, BVIOC, presents Olympic Solidarity funding to Rio 2016 hopefuls, Christopher Brockbank, 49er crew, and Alec Anderson, 49er skipper.

Virgin Island 49er sailors, Alec Anderson and Christopher Brockbank have been awarded an Olympic Scholarship by the BVI Olympic Committee (BVIOC). The combined, fixed $2000 monthly subsidy will assist them in their preparation and qualification for the Summer Games of the XXXI Olympiad, Rio 2016.

The funding comes from the Olympic Solidarity programme that aims to promote universal representation at the Olympic Games. The programme offers National Olympic Committees (NOCs) the possibility to obtain financial and technical assistance for a limited number of elite athletes who are training, and attempting to qualify, for the Rio Olympic Games.
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