Prime Minister Perry Christie's Remarks - Best of the Best Regatta 2016

Mon, Dec 5th 2016, 12:20 PM

To the many visitors who have travelled from countries around the world to participate and witness the splendour of the first ever Best of The Best Regatta here at historical Fort Montagu Bay I warmly welcome you to The Bahamas and Fort Montagu.

It is especially pleasing to extend warm greetings to Mr. Michel Niklaus, Co-Founder and President of Star Sailors League (SSL), and welcome its members and their families. Thank you, once again, for choosing The Bahamas for this fourth year as the host country for the finale of your world tour championship.

It is indeed a prestigious opportunity for The Bahamas to receive 50 world class sailors, comprising 16 Olympic medallists, 6 Olympic champions, 2 America’s Cup Winners, 2 Volvo Ocean Race Winners, 2 Louis Vuitton Cup Winners and 1 Match Race World Champion.

What is most remarkable about this Regatta is that the entire 2016 Rio Olympic Laser Men’s medallists will compete with 4 other medallists from the 2016 Summer Olympics in the beautiful waters of Montagu Bay.

With the realization of this Regatta, The Bahamas can boast of hosting internationally recognized sailing events such as the final leg of the Star Sailors League World Tour Championship.

The successful launch of our “Best of The Best Regatta” this week-end is evidence that we are committed to Sport Tourism. It is an area of our touristic experience that will further develop as it has the potential to play a vital role in the economic advancement of our country. Moving forward we embrace the challenge to show the world that this small nation, The Bahamas, has much potential.

As you would all appreciate, we are a small nation but we have set our sights on using sports as a means of enhancing and diversifying our tourism product so that when people think of The Bahamas they will also think of this destination where champions come to practice or compete in their specific fields of activities.

As many of you would know, my Government through the Ministry of Tourism and the National Sports Authority is keenly interested in Sports Tourism and our involvement in recent years have included hosting a number of large sporting organizations, inclusive of FIFA, the PGA Tour, LPGA, NCAA Division I Basketball and American football, inviting NBA teams to hold practices.

Next year, 2017, in addition to being the proud host of the FIFA Beach Soccer Competition, we will play host for the second time around for the IAAF World relays which was held here in 2014 and 2015. In July of 2017 we will host the Commonwealth Youth Games.

And this week, we play host to the Best of the Best Regatta. It cannot get much better than this!

The Best of The Best Regatta is unique in that The Bahamas, for the first time, will host a sailing event where two styles of sailing will be taking place simultaneously and viewed live via prestigious sailing websites around the globe to a viewing audience of over 400,000 sailing enthusiasts.

The world will witness, via live-streaming, the distinctive sailing skills of our Bahamian sailors who begin their races with the pulling-up of the anchor. I am advised that this starting method astounded the international sailors, who after witnessing it, are eager and willing to test their skills on Sunday (4th December, 2016) as they sail our native sloops.

This Regatta also marks a proud moment in the history of sailing in The Bahamas where One hundred and fifty (150) of our very own sloop captains and sailors, who having competed in Regattas through-out the year and won in their particular classes, were qualified to compete for the coveted prize – of “2016 Best of The Best Sloop Sailing Champions”.

The winning of such the prestigious title of “Best of The Best” will be an honour and a testament to the skill and dedication to sloop sailing in The Bahamas.

I am certain that this “Best of The Best Regatta” will act as a catalyst that will propel our youth sailors to take Bahamian sloop sailing to another level and to seek to once again make Olympic history by winning an Olympic medal in the 2020 summer Olympics.

As many of you are aware over the course of these past twelve (12) months October, 2015 to October, 2016 The Bahamas experienced two (2) devastating category 4 hurricanes: Joaquin and Matthew. Nevertheless, in the face of this, the Government of The Bahamas agreed that the hosting of this event was an opportunity to celebrate the resilience of our people, the strength of our nation, and the honourable heritage of our country.

I am also advised that it is hoped that this Best of The Best Regatta will be the blue-print for all Regattas going forward.

So as we are about to embark on four days filled with unmatched sailing competitions, and four nights of pageantry and vibrant energized cultural entertainment, let us pray for all things good and if I might be permitted the use of a nautical term which is familiar to all, I wish for you nothing but “fair winds and following seas” as you compete for the glory of this wonderful sport.

May God continue to bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Source: Bahamas Information Services

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