The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Having represented the Bahamas in three previous international events, Joshua Weech is excited to lead the team in the competition at the Optimist North American Championships at the Nassau Yacht Club next weekend.

Weech will be joined by Jasmin Aberle and Maison Koepke, two members from Hope Town, Abaco, who are coming to town after enduring the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in Abaco and Grand Bahama.

The other members of Team Bahamas are Kaemen Floyd, Craig Ferguson, Cameron Eldon, Finley Labert McKinney, David Huber, Zane Munro, Matthew Reid, Patrick Tomlinson, Saoirse Duffy, Amy McSweeney, Mary Jac Nash, Scarlett McCarroll and Conry Raine.

The Bahamas will host the championships from September 27 to October 6 when more than 160 competitors between the ages of nine and 15 years from 20 countries will participate in the largest youth regatta to be staged in North America and the Caribbean.

“No matter how we do, I know that this is going to be a great event,” said Weech, 13. “I’m proud of the team and myself and for the organisers for making this event possible.”

Weech, a home-schooled student of Capstone Academy, said the good thing is that the event is being held in our backyard.

“We have a great advantage sailing here at home,” he said. “We sail here four days of the week, so we know the waters. So I feel as though we have a pretty good advantage.”

For 14-year-old Aberle, the storm has not dampened her spirits.

“I feel great to still be able to do this event because it shows how we can push forward as Abaconians and the Bahamas to get through these times and continue on with our lives,” Aberle said.

As a student of the demolished Forest Heights Academy, Aberle will be making her international debut, but she’s confident that she will hold her own.

“I believe that I will do well. Even if I don’t, I will still try my best,” she stated. “We have rattled a bit, but it’s good that I’ve been able to come here where all the action is happening so that I can do all the practices and clinics. That’s been good for me.”

Aberle said she’s delighted that she can leave all of the distractions in Abaco behind her as she concentrates on getting ready for the championships.

“This is the one thing that is happening right now, so I want to focus on sailing,” said Aberle, who will also be making her international debut. “All of my team-mates have been helping me to get through it.”

Koepke, also a student from Forest Heights Academy, said there is so much going on in Abaco that he too was glad to have relocated to Nassau so he can focus on the championships.

“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “I think I can focus pretty well because everybody around me has been helping me to get ready for the regatta.”

With the regatta being staged in the Bahamas, Koepke said it gives them a lot more confidence to compete as a team and he’s convinced that they will all perform to the best of their abilities.

“We want to thank everybody for their support,” said Koepke, who noted that their home had some damages, but he’s even more thankful that they didn’t lose any lives in Hope Town.

Kaemen Floyd, a 10-year-old who attends Montessori Academy in Nevis, will be making his international debut, but he said the coaching staff has done a great job in getting them prepared.

“This is going to be really hard because this is the first North American event for me,” he said. “I feel pretty good, but I feel competing at home will help us out a lot.”

And Conry Raine, a 12-year-old student of St Andrew’s School, said he’s been training really hard and he expects that he and the team will perform very well in front of the home crowd.

This will be Raine’s first international competition, but he said he’s not going to let the jitter bugs get to him.