Squally winds reaching 30 knots from the northeast made for magical sleigh-ride, record-breaking conditions in the 82nd Mount Gay Round Barbados Race. While the lively conditions in big seas proved too much for many of the 34 entries in the 60nm sprint around the Island of Barbados, for others it couldn’t have been more thrilling. In total, seven records were broken – the largest ever number of records broken in the history of the event. Among the young sailors taking on the challenging course was Jason Tindale (27) in College Funds. He and his team from Barbados Yacht Club once again demonstrated their skill by sailing a tactically sound race. Having established the J/24 record in 2015 and bettered their time in 2016, they’ve done it again with a time of 8h 18m 9s. Commenting on his epic sail, Tindale said, “It was, without doubt, the worst conditions I have ever seen at North Point. We had squalls of 30+ knots with gusts, but by then we had no option other than to carry on. I think the most wonderful part was sailing on one tack down the east coast. Basically, you can’t get much better than that. It was, to coin a much-used phrase ‘Champagne sailing.’ I think we also had a bit of luck because, on the approach to the finish line, the eyelets pulled out of the spinnaker pole. Had that happened further up the coast, we would have lost the record for sure because we would have been under jib only.” For further event information, visit http://www.barbadossailingweek.com.
International Class Association
