Training

 

The Barbados Sailing Association currently owns three fleets of dinghies, Lasers, Toppers and Echo 12s. The Lasers are available for BSA members to lease. The Toppers and Echo 12s are available to all BSA members for use during training sessions and regattas. In addition to these fleets, the Barbados Optimist Association (BODA) owns its own fleet of Optimist dinghies.

 

• Topper:

 

 

Designed in 1977, the Topper is considered by many as the most versatile of all sailing dinghies. To quote Topper International, “the Topper is simple, safe and sensational”.

 

In the summer of 1994, Topper International was very keen to increase the global spread of the class in an attempt to get it introduced into the Olympics. The Barbados Sailing Association took advantage of this and solicited sponsorship from local companies to purchase twenty brand new Toppers. Any company sponsoring a boat put the company’s logo on the deck and sail. Being easy to rig and sail, having only a mainsail, and being big enough to hold two students and virtually indestructible, the BSA still uses many of these dinghies for teaching sailing and for racing.

 

• Echo:

 

 

The two-man, Canadian built, Echo 12 dinghy is a boat for those who enjoy sailing and racing as part of a two man team, with children and adults alike being able to sail and compete in this class. Carrying three sails, these boats have the advantage over the Toppers in that sailors are able to learn how to handle a main, jib and spinnaker.

 

BSA has recently seen a renewed interest amongst its members in sailing these dinghies which were given a face-lift when their hulls were painted in bright colours.

• Optimist:

 

 

The Optimist dinghy is sailed by over 150,000 young sailors in over 110 countries throughout the world. It is described as the dinghy in which young people of the world learn to sail, and is the only dinghy approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under the age of 16 years. Today, the Optimist class is the largest and most competitive youth racing class in the world, and at the Beijing Olympics, 85% of medal winning skippers were former Optimist sailors.

 

Being just 8 feet in length, light in weight, very stable and having only a mainsail, children as young as five or six years can learn the art of sailing in an Optimist dinghy. Here in Barbados, thanks to the hard work of the Barbados Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA), an affiliate of the Barbados Sailing Association, many youngsters have been introduced to sailing in Optimist dinghies. Several of these young Barbadian sailors have progressed on to represent Barbados in the Optimist dinghy at various overseas events, including the Optimist World Championships.

 

• Laser:

 

 

After 15 years of age, youngsters who began their sailing career in Optimists usually graduate to the Laser. This class is split into two divisions, Laser Radial for the lighter weight sailors and Olympic Laser Standard for those slightly heavier in weight. Since there are no age restrictions, this class pits younger sailors against veterans in the sport, and the blend of youth and experience produces great racing, with younger sailors learning rapidly by competing against older competitors. The National Dinghy Championships, held from September to November each year, is Barbados’s major competitive event in developing Laser sailing skills amongst its sailors.

 

The Laser has proven to be the best chance Barbados has of sending sailors to the Olympics. In 1996, Barbados was represented in the Laser Standard class at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta by Rodney Reader. He was later followed by Greg Douglas who represented Barbados in the same class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Like many of the medal winning skippers at the Beijing Games, Greg began his sailing career in Optimist dinghies.