News Bahamas Confirm Their Commitment to Host the 2019 North Americans

Bahamas Confirm Their Commitment to Host the 2019 North Americans

Although hurricane Dorian devasted the northern islands of Bahamas last week, the Organizing Committee of the 2019 North American Championships hosted by the Nassau Yacht Club September 27 to October 4th in Nassau, Bahamas wish to reassure all the registered sailors, their families and officials that the championship is going ahead as planned!

The championship venue in Nassau is located on New Providence Island which is located some distance south of the most affected areas of Grand Bahama and Abaco.

The Organizing Committee is determined that Dorian will not in any way detract from this championship, which they are proud to be hosting. They look forward to welcoming all 164 sailors from 20 Nations (AHO, ANT, ARG, BAH, BER, BRA, CAN, CAY, ECU, IRL, JPN, MEX, NZL, PER, PUR, SUI, TCA, USA, URU, and ISV) to Nassau, Bahamas very soon.

Three Bahamian sailors and their Team leader are from the affected area. They are all safe but have lost everything. They look forward to being with their Optimist sailing family and friends. We are looking into fundraising efforts to help out where we can.

All of us in the IODA family send our positive thoughts to the many people of the Bahamas as they rebuild their lives and communities.

Vice President of Americas, Sigrid Beckmann comments, “we need to help Bahamas in this difficult time and come together as a sailing family and community.”  

As a result, Sigrid has identified with the Organizers of the 2019 North Americans the following areas that require our help:

  1. We are asking for volunteers amongst the teams´ parents who will accompany the sailors to help the organizers in several tasks
  2. We are looking for a few volunteers with medical background to be on call in case they are needed.  Most medical staff in Nassau have been flown over to the hardest hit areas to help, so we need medics and nurses.  If you are one, please let us know. 
  3. We would like to ask sailors coming to Bahamas to bring an extra sail, or any extra equipment that they can leave behind for the sailing teams and clubs that have lost everything. 
  4. We ask that you Donate Funds to help those in need.

The Organizing Committee has provided a link for donations called “Approved Dorian Donations”.  Please be generous!

http://www.approveddoriandonations.com