FEATURING
TRADITIONAL CAICOS SLOOPS
Come see A Class Caicos Sloops vie for the KPMG Trophy B
Class Caicos Sloops contest the PPC Trophy
Rotary Park Beach Access (West of Le Deck)
JUNKANOO to close daylight festivities, and begin Rake and Scrape Jam session around the Bonfire.
Food and Beverage Tents will be open throughout the night.
Proceeds to Benefit TCI Football Assoc's proposed community footballing facility, and the TCI National Trust's Summer Camp.
Sponsored by: KPMG, PPC, Heineken, Corona, Lite, Turks Head, Caicos Pure, IGA, Marathon, Texaco, et al
The date was Saturday 16th June 2001 and the event was the 11th annual Fools Regatta. This year saw the biggest Fools Regatta to date the proceeds of which are to go to the Turks & Caicos Islands Football Association and the Turks and Caicos National Trust. Hundreds of people gathered at the Rotary Park Beach Access next to Sibonne. The festivities began on schedule with Miss Turks & Caicos, Shireen Gardiner, sporting the traditional "Fools" hat, firing the gun to start the Caicos Sloops and kick off the rest of the days events. The three Middle Caicos boats were the first to go contesting the PPC B class trophies. They were quickly followed by three Provo and one North Caicos boat battling in the A class for the KPMG purse. Fifteen other boats of various classes were hot on the heels of the locally built vessels, and all of these boats sailed the same 11 mile course that ran the length of Grace Bay, outside the reef, and back to Regatta central to finish. Rory Stevens on a Hobie 17 took line honours.
George Dean on "Wild Thing" and Henry Williams on "Indigo" battled each other from the start in the KPMG A class race. "Wild Thing" proved consistently fast outside the reef coasting home to victory and a large trophy and $2500 check sponsored by KPMG. The TCI Tourist Board kicked in $1000 for the first A class sloop over line. "Indigo" was second and received a KPMG trophy and check for $1500, followed by Elbert Higgs who took home the 3rd place KPMG trophy and a check for $1000. William "Wing" Dean finished 4th in the A class and expressed resolve that he would finish in the money next year.
Three Middle Caicos boats battled it out in the Caicos Sloops B Class division which was sponsored by PPC. Marcus Forbes was victorious and won $1,250 of the PPC purse plus $1,000 from the TCI Tourist Board for being the first B class sloop over the line. The $750 second place winnings went to Carlon Forbes and third placed Dennis Been won $500.
While all this was going on fun was the order of the day on the beach. There was something for everyone: Hobie races, kayak races, tug-of-war competition, volleyball competition and sandcastle building competition, a raffle, food and drink, an auction, the Tourist Board's resort challenge race and after the presentation of trophies, junkanoo, rake & scrape and a bonfire!!
Results from the other races were as follows:
First boat over the line was Rory Stevens/Hobie 17
Bent prop (boobie prize) Simon WoodBeach Cats - 1st Rory Stevens, 2nd John/Yoav - Club Med, 3rd John & Sara RedmondMultihulls - 1st Minx/M.Robertson, 2nd Time Out/Chris Foster, 3rd Arielle/Preacher StubbsMonohulls - 1st Ocean Devotion/Gaetan, 2nd Radish/Hinderaker, 3rd Buffalo Gal/Sam SlatterySpecial mention goes to 2nd placed Radish/Hinderaker. Radish was the first SMALL Monohull to cross the lineHobie Kids Doubles - 1st Joe Jardine/Jeff Seffer, 2nd Kareem/Ben, 3rd Kathleen Wood/Clay Carleson/BenHobie Mixed Doubles - 1st David/Adam Douglas, 2nd Jim Browning/Steven Molldrem, 3rd Anthony Taylor/Leigh Proctor
The final boat race of the day was the Tourist Board's Resort Challenge. This race saw Hobie 13's from every resort from Parrot Cay to Beaches entered. A very entertaining calcutta was run by Jeff Rollings before the race to see who would bid the most for the jockeys/skippers representing each resort. The highest bid was $560.50 for Mike Bell who was sailing for the Sands! The race involved two laps of the specified course broken with a sprint up the beach for a quick glass of Turks Head draft.
The first three boats were: 1st Sam Slattery/Parrot Cay, 2nd Mike Rosati/Ocean Club, 3rd Doug Carlson/Beaches
As part of the occassion TCIFA donated two official England jerseys to be auctioned by their very own Charlie Cook. After an exciting auction, with several people bidding on both the goalkeeper and the #17 shirt autographed by Sol Campbell, the shirts went to James and Paul Slattery!
First and foremost KPMG, PPC, and the Tourist Board for supporting local boat building by sponsoring the A and B class trophies and prizes. All the Caicos Sloops who made it to the Regatta, and in particular to the Middle Caicos boats that traveled a long distance to get there.
To Shireen Gardiner, Miss Turks and Caicos, for starting the races in the traditional head gear and for presenting the trophies.
To IGA for food and bar support. To all our beer sponsors Heineken, Corona, Lite, Coors Lite and in particular Serge and Benoit for working like Trojans to keep up with beer demand to supplement the bottled beer with their wonderful Turks Head draft. (Humble apologies once again for leaving Caicos Pure/Turks Head off the T-shirts). To Texaco, Gilleys, and Glass Shack for tents. To Mike and Windsurfing Provo for bringing six boats and equipment. To Tom for providing a Regatta truck, setting the course, and running the crash boat for the day. To Wilma for running the Sandcastle competition and being generally organized. To Allison and the Provo Primary Steel Drum Band for providing music and handling PA. To Tom and the Sibonee staff for letting us build the circus in their backyard. To the Marine Biology Center for tables and chairs. To Tina and Wendy for ably running the cash. To Soheil, Judy, Cynclair, Mike, Sarah and others for feeding the masses. To Boogaloo for doing his thing. To Jim for helping run the races. To Ralph and Art for shepherding the boats around a difficult race course. To Morgan and Mark for running kayaks. To Mark and Big Blue for stepping in at the last minute and towing boats home. To Mike O'Rourke for running such a fun TOW.
To Terry/Tony for running volleyball. To Jenny for the IGA runs. To Gaetan for the firewood and Tom, Dave Pearson and their army for assembling it. To Greensleeves for donating and Brian O'Connor for handpainting trophies. To Signfast. To Lizzie for running a great raffle. To Maison Creole, Barefoot Cafe, Atlas Financial Group, Tiki Hut, Captain Hooks, IGA, Fairways, RE/Max, Sunshine Nursery, Serenity Spa, Mango Reef, Sharkbite, Hemmingways, The Terrace, Atabeyra, Misick & Stanbrook, Coyaba, Ocean Club, Cable & Wireless, Beaches, Anna Bourne, American Airlines & Parrot Cay for donating such generous prizes to the raffle. To Marathon for logo and design work. To Tanker, Correy, and the crews for post-regatta entertainment. To PPC for erecting our banner. To Becky, Melinda, Sally, Jimmy, plus many more for logistical support. To Jeff for running a successful Calcutta. To Charlie Cook for running a great auction and to TCIFA for donating England Jerseys to auction. To Willie and Louis for before, during, and after. To everyone who came to the Regatta to make it such a wonderful community event and to anyone else who helped us in any way make it the special day it was.
To Lizzie, Mike, Simon, and David for putting together all the pieces.
