National Competition in Three Categories at the 28th Homer Lowe Regatta

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