Colin Rathbun’s LIME won the 2009 Royal BVI Yacht Club Commodore’s Race on Saturday before collecting the Best BVI Club Helm award during the evening’s dinner, where prizes were doled out for the season.
Alec Anderson, a Roger Williams University freshman who also bagged the Best International Competitor award, followed Rathbun on Grey Ghost. Dave West’s Jurican – winner of the Most Improved Yacht award – was third.
Kevin Rowlett’s Rushin Rowlette was followed by Peter Haycraft’s Pipe Dream with Commodore Simon Wood rounding out the competition on Kats.
“It was a good race and there was interesting wind direction coming from the south,” Rathbun said. “There was a permanent shift to the right, which made the two races quite different. It was also an interesting course that took us over to Peter Island and back along the coast of Tortola, so it was good fun.”
Rathbun described his 2009 season – which included winning the BVI Spring Regatta’s IC-24 Class – as one of his best ever. He said it was a lot of hard work on the boat and a lot of time spent on the water. His crew worked hard and stayed on top of their game, he added.
“They were really the contributing factor,” he said. “They should have been the best crew of 2009.”
Coming into the season, Rathbun said while he wanted to win every race, the goal was to be consistent. He didn’t want to come out, win one race then be second to last in the other. He said that he always wanted to be in the top three if it’s a small race and in the top five in a much bigger regatta – which is something he was able to achieve.
“I tried to stay on the podium and practiced a lot,” he said. “When it comes down to it, some people are better sailors than others, but I have a lot of practice at it. We took that approach, spent a lot of time on the water, so it has been really good.”
In outlining his 2010 goals, Rathbun said winning one of the major regattas after winning the BVI Spring Regatta this year is among his aims. His plans includes competing in the Puerto Rico Heineken International Regatta and seeking a victory in St. Thomas’ International Rolex Regatta.
“Personally, I want to do a bit more match racing so I might be doing a few other events that I don’t normally do,” he said.
Commodore Simon Wood said his hat goes off to Rathbun.
“Colin has won absolutely everything under the sun this year, he goes out there and he trains,” Wood said. “He’s out there every weekend, he races and he trains every Friday. And guess what? You can’t expect to do well unless you train. You have to practice. Practice makes perfect, and he’s out there practicing all the time and he wins. For the youth, that’s what you need to take away from this: practice and you’ll win.”
Royal BVI Yacht Club 2009 Awards
Latitude 18 Halyard Challenge: Guy Elridge; Virgin Queen Pursuit: Colin Rathburn, LIME; Cruising: Rascal, Adrian Sinton; Anegada Race: Oliver Alsop; Manhattan YC, RBVIYC: Pete Shields, Colin Rathbun, LIME; Pussers Peg Legs Round Tortola Race, Racing: Triple Jack, Richard Wooldridge; Cruising: Shamrok, Tom Mullings; Quantum Sails IC-24: Sea Hawk, Robbie Hirst. Best Club Helm: Colin Rathbun. Best International Competitor: Alec Anderson. Most Improved Yacht: Jurican, Dave West; Most Improved Dinghy: Matthew Oliver.
Stoute clears 6’10″ in Connecticut high jump
Versatile Keron Stoute added four inches on to his high jump personal best with a leap of 6-foot-10 on Friday at an indoor meet in New Haven, Conn., to come out on top of the pile. Stoute’s performance is the best by a BVI athlete in the event since 1998, and also places him equal with Raymond “Cat” Solomon among BVI Juniors all-time, trailing only the 7’1″ performance by Sam Noel.
Stoute’s performance Friday ranks him 95th among the world’s juniors (Under-20) in this event and makes him the third BVI athlete this year to be ranked in the top 100 juniors in their event.
Versatile Chantel Malone is ninth in the long jump, 21st in the triple jump and 32nd in the 400, while Samantha John is 56th in the 800 and 60th in the 400 meters.
Track and field development series begins on Tortola
The BVI Athletics Association held a development meet, where several athletes contested the 60, 300 and 100 meters. Another in the series will be held on Jan. 6 at 4 p.m.
Here are the results of the first meet:
Girls 60 meters
U-9: 1. Gia Malone, 10.56, 2. Sheneal Dabreo, 11.85. U-15: 1. Ashley McCall, 8.31. 2. Shanice Hucey, 9.15.
Girls 1,000 meters
U-15: 1. Shanea Richards, 3:37.90. 2. DJe’Moyia Smith, 3:57.34. 3. Deya Erikson, 3:57.99.
U-17: 1. K’Deja Crabbe 4:08.33. 2. Shanakay Wheatley, 4:21.14. 3. Chenaki Samuels, 4:22.62. 4. Kelisha Huggins, 4:22.84. U-20: 1. Kaetia Maduro, 4:20.02. Open: 1. Jackhel King, 4:20.53.
Boys 60 meters
U-11: 1. Diamante Gumbs, 8.82. 2. Dekembe Parsons, 9.20. 3. Djimon Gumbs, 9.45. 4. Kachife Bradshaw, 9.60.  U-13: 1. Deshawn Douglas, 8.23. 2. Jomoiri Dagou, 8.54. 3. Akeem Bradshaw, 8.82. 4. Tahj Malone, 9.12. U-15: 1. Jamori Blaize, 7.84. 2. Tyler Lewis, 8.11. 3. Tarique Moses, 8.42. 4. Dequan Leonard, 8.42. 5. Akimo Davis, 8.87. U-17: Shamoii Dagou. 7.71. 2. Royce Davis, 7.73. 3. Joseph Smith Jr., 8.21. Â
Boys 300 meters
U-13: Yohance Smith, 2. Stepphen Gilbert, 3. Deshawn Douglas, 4. Kyron McMaster, 5. Jomoiri Dagou, 6. Tahj Malone, 7. Akeem Bradshaw. U-15: 1. Jamoiri Blaize, 39.61.  2. Brandon Andrew, 40.99. 3. Tyler Lewis, 41.26. 4. Tarique Moses, 41.58. 5. Dequan Leonard, 44.39. 6. Akimo Davis, 48.68. U-17: 1. J’mal Alexander, 38.22. 2. Shamoii Dagou, 39.90. 3. Richard Francis, 40.16. 4. Kenton Todman, 40.63.  5. Royce David, 40.90. 6. Shaquoy Stephens, 41.71. 7. Joseph Smith Jr. 42.71. Open: 1. J’moi Penn, 36.21. 2. Khiry Creque, 37.31. 3. Alliston Blyden, 37.90. 4. Ackim Lewis, 38.50. 5. Akil Nickie, 39.40. 6. Teymahl Huggins, 40.53.
- Dean Greenaway is a Daily News correspondent based on Tortola.
