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by pltm
(PLTM) - Three highly skilled and experienced young sailors from the British Virgin Islands wrapped up 2016 with a trip to Miami, where they competed in the 2016 Orange Bowl Regatta from December 26-30.
Thad Lettsome, who participated in the Laser Radial Class, completed ten races, with top ten finishes in six.
His category saw participation from 84 boats in total, but he managed to qualify for Gold Fleet and went on to finish in sixth place overall.
Thad’s younger brother, Ryan Lettsome raced in the Optimist Fleet along with teammate, Nathan Haycraft.
The fleet saw a total participation of 255 boats, split into four flights. This proved to be a challenging experience for the local team, who both found themselves with black flag starting penalties on day one.
Ten races were sailed in the series, but competitors were only able to discard their worst score, so a starting penalty really hurts and more than one is almost impossible to recover from.
Ryan received a black flag in the first two races, but managed to steady himself and complete the regatta without further mishap. He finished 94th in the Silver Fleet.
Unfortunately, things did not go so well for Nathan Haycraft, who, despite some top 20 race finishes, received further penalties and finished the regatta in 125th place in the Silver Fleet.
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