All,

Carl and I have just spent the last week training in Barbados so I thought those of you that are going would like a little info and update on the place, so here goes.

Yacht Club

The Barbados Yacht Club is a lovely place on the end of a beach on a crescent bay. It has all the facilities we will need for the Worlds with easy launching into the sea. The sand is firm and easy to pull the boats over, plenty of fresh water to wash the boats with, restaurants, bars etc. They do not take cash, you have to set up an account (we are ahead of you all there!) and prices are very reasonable, beer US$3 for instance. Not that we had any, we were training after all.

Location.

The YC is in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados but at the eastern end of town and it is a 15 minute walk to the town center, best done along the beach. The town caters heavily to the daily visits from cruise ships so is a little touristy, but nice enough and once you get outside the town in the countryside it is lovely, beaches are amazing, the water clear and warm. There are lots and lots of hotels, ranging from questionable to stunning, we stayed at the Amaryliss Beach Resort, not bad and 10 minute walk from the YC but we looked at several that were better when we strolled around. If you stay close to the YC you would not need a car, we didn’t have one. Taxis are plentiful and very cheap.

Weather.

Wow. Perfect, 82 every day, sunny with bubbly clouds and very occasionally a short rain shower. The evenings cool down to a perfect 75 with a nice breeze always blowing. The sun is fierce so liberal quantities of sun block are needed.

The sailing.

Wind is generally out of the east although we saw it move around a fair bit as a trough moved through. In the 6 days we had 2 breezy days, 18-22, 2 days 14-20 and 2 at 10-15. The wind is offshore so as you get close to the shore it gets quite shifty and whether this effects racing will depend how far off the beach the windward mark is! There is a reasonable swell running making downwind sailing great fun and we did not come in once not thinking we had just had a fantastic day! The water is also very deep so if you do capsize (we did…) you are not worried about your rig. Incredibly when well inverted you can clearly see the rig deep down in the water. We witnessed this on one of our training partners boats… You will also occasionally get a flying fish land in the boat. Best to put them back in the water!

Should I go?

Well, let me just say we can’t wait to get back there for the Worlds and are pretty certain it will become a regular Worlds venue for the 505 and I am sure many other classes as word gets out!

Mike Holt
IO Integration, Inc.