By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

THE Bahamas Sailing Association is preparing to send off a number of competitors to compete in a series of international competitions, including the Team Racing World Championships and the Central American and Caribbean Games’ qualifier.

And, according to president Lori Lowe, the sailors have all been preparing themselves and are looking forward to participating in the various events.

Next week, the first contingent will be heading to the Team Racing World Championships in Rhodes Island. 

The competition starts on Thursday and runs through Sunday. Teams from Italy, Argentina, New Zealand, Bermuda, Greece, Sweden, Great Britain and the United States of America participated. “We’re all excited. It’s our first four-man team competition,” she said. “These boats have a lot more experience than we do. but we are looking forward to competing against them.”

There will be two boats, one captained by Spencer Cartwright and the other by Paul de Souza, both of whom have represented the Bahamas in the CAC Games. 

Other members include Lowe, Helena Wassitsch, Jacqueline Frode, Matteo Alliata, Blake Roberts and Jaxon Parker.

During the competition, the 12 teams will compete in a round robin and knockout format. There will be two boats per team, but the team whose boat finishes last will lose the race. There will be three-five persons per boat.

Lowe said there are a number of opportunities for the Bahamas to participate over the summer. The first one will be in Long Beach, California from June 12-15 in 

“In the laser, men and women sail the four and six and only the men sail the seven, Lowe revealed. “As you get bigger and older and stronger, you move up through the boats.

“A four is people who are 140 pounds or less, six is or those who are 140-170 pounds and a seven is 170-220 pounds. So for the youth boy, they won’t sail a seven until they are about 19. Norman is close to getting to compete at the seven.”

Heading to the Long Beach Olympic Classes in Long Beach California from July 12-20 for the qualifier for CAC Games, will be Paul de Souza in the ILCA 7.

Named to the ILCA6 Youth World’s Under-19 Championships in Cabrillo Beach, Los Angeles from July 28 to August 4th, are the following:

Eliza Denning, Sienna Jones, Mary Jac Nash, Norman Cartwright, Eric Jensen and Johannes Maritz. 

Going to the Junior Pan Am Games in Ascuncion, Paraguay from August 9-23 where the age limitation maximum is 23, are the following:

ILCA 7 - probably Joshua Higgins, otherwise Norman Cartwright.

This weekend, in a fun filled competition on Lake Cunningham, an International One-Metre Model Boat National Championships, organized by Stan Wallace

The competition will start at 11 am on Saturday and wrap up on Sunday, starting at 10 am. Lowe said the interesting thing about the competition is the fact that anyone can sail the boats, which are remotely controlled.