CARIBBEAN SAILING ASSOCIATION

Last weekend the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place via Zoom. The group unanimously re-elected President Alison Sly-Adams to serve her third term. Fellow board members Michele Korteweg of St. Maarten, Karen Stiell of Grenada, Pat Bailey of the United States Virgin Islands, and Jaime Torres of Puerto Rico will continue to serve. Joining them as new members are Tamsin Rand of the British Virgin Islands and Brian Sylvester of Grenada.

Members from 17 countries attended the AGM from Trinidad and Tobago in the South to Puerto Rico in the North.

At the AGM and Conference, President Alison Sly-Adams said, ‘Although our organization was formed to create the CSA rating rule to ensure we can deliver fair racing in the Caribbean, which to this day, remains the heart of the association, our role grows every season. This year we continue to focus on supporting an increase in participation in the sport at the grassroots level. The CSA offers a forum for regattas, yachts clubs, sailing programmes, and member national authorities to work together on specific programmes to do this.’

The region is supporting two World Sailing initiatives in particular; a) gender equality and b) using virtual eSailing as a pathway into the sport.

The members agreed to support the new World Sailing event Steering the Course, which will deliver a Festival of Sailing showcasing women role models sailing right across the region. A separate presentation on VirtualRegatta, World Sailing’s virtual sailing platform, was presented by Mark Over, Commercial Director of World Sailing. As a sweet bonus, 30 free VIP Sailing passes giving access to the platform we gifted to the CSA.

Day two of the conference focused on the challenging environment for the upcoming season regarding the Covid-19 Pandemic. The region’s Organizing Authorities are committed to continue working together to simplify procedures, communication and protocols for competitors this coming season.

The OAs present all confirmed their intent to produce exciting racing in fantastic Caribbean conditions, albeit with modifications as required by their local governments. A link to the full 2021 Caribbean Racing calendar of the events is here.