Present for the announcement of the government subvention to the All Eleuthera Regatta Committee are seated from left Cephas Cooper, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government; Minister Gray and area MP the Hon. Damian Gomez. Standing are Cindy Gay, Officer –In-Charge of the Regatta desk; Frederick Decosta, Treasurer of the All Eleuthera Regatta Committee; Joe Ferguson, Family Island Administrator for the Governor’s Harbour District; Dr. Philip Rahming, Ministry consultant and Commodore Lionel Fernander, Chairman of the All Eleuthera Regatta Committee. The announcement took place on Monday, 18th May at the Ministry’s headquarters. (BIS PHOTOS/Elcott Coleby)
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It
was all smiles today at the Island Traders Building
on Bay Street when the Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources the
Hon. V. Alfred Gray announced that the government will assist the
All Eleuthera Regatta Committee this year to the tune of $45,000, the
single largest
public subvention to date for family island regattas. This year’s
regatta will
be held at Governor’s Harbour during the week leading up to the annual
Independence
Day celebrations.
“Let me say that regattas are very important to the
economic landscape of these family islands” said Minister Gray, highlighting
the government’s deepening commitment to this important cultural, economic and
historic event. Minister Gray promised that as the Minister with responsibility
for regattas, he will be “ensuring that this regatta be the biggest regatta in
the history of Eleuthera.”
Minister Gray also took the opportunity to appeal to
food vendors and restaurant operators to be especially sensitive to the financial
circumstances of the participants in these regattas, pointing out that the
allotted per diem for the boaters is around twenty-five dollars per day and the
pricing schedule of some of the restaurants and vendors is prohibitive which creates
challenges for the boaters.
Overall, few will argue that family island regattas have
become the dominant domestic tourism product, stimulating the economies of virtually
every major family island.
On hand for the presentation was Central and South
Eleuthera Member of Parliament the Hon. Damian Gomez who went further, stating
that the all Eleuthera regatta is part of an overall strategic plan to market
Eleuthera as a family oriented water sports tourism destination.
“It’s intended that we will be promoting Eleuthera as a
family water sports destination and regattas help to pass that message along and
that’s what we hope to promote from a water sports tourism point of view” said
Mr. Gomez. He also envisions a cultural component to this marketing strategy
with junkanoo and marching band competitions all as a prelude and build up to
the country’s 42nd independence celebrations on July 10th
of this year.
The committee for
the Mangrove Cay regatta was also on hand to receive their government
sponsorship of $5,500; their regatta begins this Friday, 22nd May.
With humble beginnings in Mangrove Cay, Andros more than
one century ago, family - island regattas have grown by leaps and bounds over
the years and with that growth and development was the creation of the three classes
of vessels. The All Eleuthera regatta attracts all three classes of vessels - the
‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ classes. The ‘A’ class comprises vessels of no more than 28
feet in length with a crew of 15; the ‘B’ class comprises vessels of no more
than 21 feet in length with a crew of 9 and vessels no more than 17’ – 2” and a
crew of 5 qualify for the ‘C’ category.
Pictured during the cheque presentation to the Mangrove Cay Regatta Committee are from left Cephas Cooper, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government; Cindy Gay, Officer-In-Charge of the Regatta Desk; Minister Gray; Commodore Larry Bastian, Chairman of the Mangrove Cay Regatta Committee and Dr, Philip Rahming, Ministry consultant. (BIS PHOTOS/Elcott Coleby)
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