|
Patton Elected BSA President
Veteran sailor Tim Patton was elected President of the Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) at the organization’s recent Annual General Meeting, succeeding Somers Cooper who served in that role for the last 3 years. Patton is no stranger to the position having previously been the BSA leader for a number of years before turning the reigns over to former President Dennis Correia 5 years ago. The BSA is the National Governing Body for the sport of Sailing in Bermuda and represents the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) locally.
Patton, a lifelong sailor, has multiple Bermuda Etchells Class National Championship victories, a Canadian National Championship title and was the international President of the Etchells Class for many years. He has represented Bermuda at the Etchells World Championships 20 times with a 4th place finish being his best performance. Patton is “looking to spread the load of the organization by inviting key members from the sailing community to take on additional responsibilities to enable the sport to grow and to insure continued dialogue and compliance with the Department of Youth and Sport, Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport, Bermuda Olympic Association and ISAF.” Patton also wishes to build on the strength of the Department of Education’s WaterWise Programme and to “create more sailing opportunities at the grassroots level”.
During the recent election, 3 new members were welcomed to the BSA Board. The new members include J24 Class stalwart Pete Ramsdale who is also Rear Commodore of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, Comet Sailor George Hayward, former Vice Commodore and current Sailing Chairman of the Mid Atlantic Boat and Sports Club and Malcolm Kirkland, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Bermuda Sloop Foundation. Also re-elected to the BSA Board were 2009 Board members Somers Cooper, Peter Bromby, Sacha Simmons and Leatrice Roman.
Gulf Oil Disaster Impacts Race
Newport-Bermuda Press Secretary Talbot Wilson wrote, the starting line for the Newport Bermuda Race will take on a new look this year. When the first warning sounds at 1:50PM on Friday afternoon June 18th, it won’t come from the deck of the US Coast Guard vessel Juniper, but from the deck of the 126-foot S&S Pilothouse Ketch Axia. Juniper had become a tradition for the race since Brenton Light was removed and the race start moved to within one-half mile of Castle Hill Lighthouse in the East Passage of Narragansett Bay.
Juniper has been called away because of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Bill Barton, Bermuda Race Organizing Committee (BROC) member in charge of the starting line operations, said, “It is unclear if the Juniper was actually deployed to the Gulf, or if she was called to duty to replace another vessel that went to the Gulf. Either way, the Coast Guard has since confirmed that they had no assets they could offer for the starting line boat.”
Axia was designed by another BROC member Bill Langan. She is owned by New York Yacht Club members George and Cathy Sakellaris. The New York Yacht Club Race Committee will start the 635-mile ocean classic with Tinker Miles as the Principal Race Officer. With a fleet of over 180 boats there will probably be about 15 classes again this year. The one dozen race officials will have their hands full with a start every ten minutes from 2:00 PM until the last class is on their way.
|
