(St Croix, USVI)- The J/36 PALADIN, owned by Stan Joines from St Croix, US Virgin Islands,
has been on a mission to introduce young sailors to offshore sailing.
Stan comments, “The crew of PALADIN is a mix of kids. Five of the crew
are from the St. Croix Yacht club; they are in Junior high school at
Good Hope Country Day private school, ages 10-13. They are also very
active in Optimist racing at the club. Another of the crew is my son,
age 8. Another four of the crew are from Central High, a public school
here on St. Croix, where I teach. We practice Saturday mornings. The
boat is sponsored by St. Croix Marine on St. Croix.
The
J/36 is a good fit because it is still competitive, but can sleep the
whole crew aboard when we are at away regattas on the different
islands! The fractional rig is great; with a masthead rig, the kids
would have to be handling bigger jibs and downwind sails that could
overpower them.This boat is J/36 #53 and she’s still going strong after much T.L.C.! We won nine out of nine in our local regatta (St. Croix International, St. Croix, U.S.V.I.) back in November. It was just non-spin; the kids are too small to manage a gybe with a spinnaker in less than 46 seconds. Plus, we raced with eight year old dacron. We look forward soon to the St. Thomas International and BVI Spring regattas!” Fair winds, Stan
|
