Submitted by Sue Holloway
Twenty-three sailors in three sailing classes from Abaco, Nassau, and Grand Bahama competed in the 2019 Homer Lowe Regatta on March 16-17 in Hope Town. The two-day event was sponsored by the Hope Town Sailing Club, Abaco Rage Sailing Syndicate, and Hope Town Junior Sailing. The Sunfish class had all adult sailors, while the 420 and Optis class boats were sailed by junior sailors.
After a Friday evening welcome BBQ sponsored by the Abaco Rage Sailing Syndicate, the sailors woke Saturday morning to very light winds for their first race. After lunch, the wind picked up to complete the four planned races for the day. On Saturday evening Junior Sailors from three islands met for a pizza party aboard “Nomad”, the ARSS tender. On Sunday morning, two races were completed to round out the regatta, again with light winds.
Awards were presented by the Hope Town Sailing Club Race Committee at the Hope Town Inn and Marina during lunch. The trophies were beautiful duffels, backpacks, etc. donated by Hope Town Canvas, appropriately made from recycled sails.
The Homer Lowe Trophy for Sunfish was awarded to Andrew Wilhoyte from Hope Town for the third year, and the Hugh Cottis Trophy for Optis was awarded to Joshua Weech from Nassau. In the 420 Class Joey Gale and Blue Mertz took top honours.

Here are the complete results:
Sunfish Class:
Andrew Wilhoyte
Jeff Gale
Dwayne Wallis
Richard Woods
Dave Pahl
Otis Wilhoyte
Sabine Probst
420 Class:
Joey Gale, Blue Mertz
Matt McCoy, Frye McCoy, Blake Cash
Rhyse Major, Anna Scheffel
Summer Aberle, Katie Lederhouse
Opti Class:
Joshua Weech
Finley McKinney-Lambert
Jack Guinness
Jasmine Aberle
Maison Koepke
Dawson Thompson
Zachary Osman
Maxime Dormans