Feb. 19, 2002 – The British Virgin Islands' Mermaid II, a JN 41, finished first overall in a fleet of 47 boats racing in seven classes over the weekend as the 9th annual St. Croix International Regatta for the first time kicked off the Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle series.
Orion, a Melges 24 out of Puerto Rico, placed second, and St. Thomas's John Foster, skippering his Magnificent 7, was third.
Ditching four crew members in the water on the first race day when a lifeline broke barely slowed Foster's momentum in competing top of the pack in the event held Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A quick 360-degree turn on Foster's part enabled his sailors to climb back on board with barely a 2-minute time loss and ultimately maneuver the boat to third place overall in the hot spinnaker racing fleet.
The regatta made its debut as the kickoff for the CORT series, with Puerto Rico's Heineken Cup and the BVI Spring Regatta to follow, now that the Rolex Regatta has become a separate event.
Boats representing islands from Puerto Rico to Sint Maarten competed in the event formerly called the Mumm's Cup Regatta. In a twist on the Mumm's tradition, the winner — Mermaid II owner Bill Berardelli — received his weight in Cruzan rum, seven cases to be exact. "This is a great regatta, lots of hospitality," Berardelli said just before jumping on the scale.
Coming together as a crew, playing the shifts right, and sailing under deal conditions spelled success for Mermaid II, which retained the champion title it captured last year.
"We were a bit foggy this morning and headed out early to practice some jibes, because we knew the short courses would demand good crew work," Mermaid skipper Mark Ploch said. Ploch, owner of the Doyle Sail Loft in Clearwater, Fla., has been a frequent driver of the boat in past CORT regattas.
Going into the last day of competition, Mermaid II led in fleet over Orion, skippered by Efrain "Fraito" Lugo, and that's the way they finished.
"Conditions proved light and shifty" on Monday, the final day, Ploch said. "plus, the beat was only a half-mile on the short courses; so, it was critical to get control of the fleet right away and hit the line clean and fast." In the first race, he added, "we were sailing up the leg when one of the crew yelled that we were already on the lay line. We were right on it while the rest of the fleet kept sailing, and we gained a lot."
Of the eight St. Thomas boats competing, five collected prizes.
Foster in addition to being third in fleet placed second in the hot Spinnaker Racing Class A. John Haracivit's Beneteau 38, Tempest, won third in Spinnaker Racing Class B. Haracivit accepted his award in a red, white and blue Uncle Sam hat with matching socks on the Presidents Day holiday.
The largest St. Thomas contingent was in the beach cat class. "It's good to see so many boats out, but we miss racing as one design," Red Hook Agencies skipper John Holmberg said. Puerto Rico's Keki Figueroa sailed a Tornado to first place, and Holmberg and Terry Jackson on his new Tornado tied for second, with Jackson winning the tie-breaker.
Jackson's participation in the event was just one of many he'll sail in mounting an Olympic challenge in Tornado for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Bruce Merced's Rush, a Prindle 19MX, sailed well in this class until a ripped jib traveler on the second day took him out of competition. In the Non-spinnaker Beach Cat Class, Mark Chong and Ollie Witt handily won with a string of first place bullets, marred only by a second in the last race.
Top three finishers overall and in each of the seven racing classes were:
Overall
1. Mermaid II, Bill Berardelli, BVI
2. Orion, Efrain Lugo, Puerto Rico
3. Magnificent 7, John Foster, St. Thomas
Racing Class A
1. Mermaid II, Bill Berardelli, BVI (8)
2. Magnificent 7, John Foster, St. Thomas (22)
3. Lost Horizon II, James Dobbs, Antigua (26.5)
Racing Class B
1. Pipedream, Peter Haycraft, Tortola (10)
2. Cold Beer 3, John Schulthesiss, Tortola (18.5)
3. Tempest, John Haracivit, St. Thomas (22.5)
Racing Class C
1. Cora 2002, Carlos Skov, St. Croix (15)
2. Jersey Devil, Scott Stanton, St. Croix (17)
3. Don Q Cristal, Miguel Serralles, Puerto Rico (19)
Racing Class D
1. Orion, Efrain Lugo, Puerto Rico (8)
2. Crew Clothing, Peter Tarn/Andrew Thompson, BVI (18.5)
3. 2 Contact Carib, Fritz Bus, Sint Maarten (20.5)
Jib and Main
1. Compaijoo, Dario Herroro, PR (4)
2. Windflower, Stan Joines, St. Croix (9)
3. Harmony, Andrews Leider, St. Croix (9)
Spinnaker Beach Cat
1. Suzuki Tornado, Enrique Figueroa, Puerto Rico (10)
2. Village Ram, Terry Jackson, St. Thomas (15)
3. Red Hook Agencies, John Holmberg, St. Thomas (15)
Non-Spinnaker Beach Cat
1. Blame It On Rhea, Mark Chong, St. Thomas (9) 2. Love Never Fails, Bruce Andryc, St. Croix (22)
3. Dynamo Humm, Chris Schrieber, St. Croix (25)

Dilsa Capdeville, MSW, Program Director of Kidscope, Inc., will be the featured speaker at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Joseph E. Gomez Elementary School Parent Teacher Student Association meeting.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to attend this special meeting which will be held in the school cafeteria.

Dilsa Capdeville, MSW, Program Director of Kidscope, Inc. will be the featured speaker at the Joseph E. Gomez Elementary School Parent Teacher Student Association meeting.
The meeting will be held in the school cafeteria.

No classes will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Jane E. Tuitt Elementary School due to a Staff Development Workshop for faculty and staff.
Classes will resume on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the regularly scheduled time.

Feb. 18, 2002 – Educator and writer Elizabeth Rezende will speak at the V.I. Cultural Heritage Institute on St. Thomas Thursday about Free Gut, a free-black community on St. Croix founded long before the emancipation of slaves in the Danish West Indies.
The public is invited to the 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, presentation at the Institute in downtown Charlotte Amalie, No. 5-6 Kongens Gade ("Education Street"). Call 774-9537 for information.
In the social stratification of the Danish West Indies, explains a release from the Institute, existed a class of freed or free-born black and mixed-race persons called at that time "free coloured." They had gained their freedom through self-purchase, manumission, or by birth to free parents.
They had fewer social and economic rights than the white European residents, but more than the slaves. Their privileges, opportunities, restrictions and limitations are explained in detail in Isaak Dookhan's book, "A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States."
The communities were more prominent and more active on St. Croix, Doohkan said, because St. Thomas, a major commercial and trade center, had fewer economic problems.
In a 1775 proclamation, for example, free-blacks were forbidden to bear the name of the master who granted their freedom, which had been the custom to that time. And they were not permitted to build houses in town center, but were restricted to a free-black neighborhood communities, such as the one known as Free Gut, or Free Gutt, as Florence Lewisohn termed it in her history, "St. Croix Under Seven Flags."
Rezende will speak on Free Gut, a representative free-black neighborhood. These communities played a major role in advancing the economic, social and political rights of black Virgin Islands, said the release, and Rezende will speak on the birth, growth and significance of Free Gut.

Nursing Division to Coordinate Teleconference on HIV/AIDS
The Virgin Islands public is invited to attend a voiced teleconference lecture on "HIV/AIDS and the Education System Response" by Michael Kelly, professor of Education at the University of Zambia. The lecture, coordinated locally by the UVI Nursing Division, will be broadcast at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 25 in the Chase Auditorium (Room B110) on the St. Thomas campus and in room EC401 on the St. Croix Campus.
Kelly, who has done extensive research and lecturing on HIV/AIDS, will be lecturing from the Jamaica campus of the University of the West Indies, which is sponsoring the teleconference.
Free Income Tax Preparation Offered
The UVI Financial Aid Office will offer free income tax preparation to members of the UVI community and the general public, on Thursday, Feb. 21, between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Financial Aid Office in the Roupp House Building. Individuals are asked to make appointments by calling 693-1090.
SBDC Seminars on Wills and Trusts
UVI's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and the Human Resources Department will present morning and evening seminars on the subject of wills and trusts on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the SBDC Nisky Center Training Facility. Admission for UVI faculty, staff and students is free. To pre-register, call 776-3206.
Attorney Linda Baxter will present "The ABCs of Wills and Trusts," from 10 a.m. to noon, and "How Wills and Trusts Help Your Business and other Legal Hints," from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Admission is $20 per seminar. Pre-registration and payment of fees is required at least two days prior to the seminars.
Launch of UVI Carnival Troupe Set
Everyone is invited to come out and join the fun at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center Friday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m., when the university's Community Engagement Committee launches its entry for the 50th Anniversary Virgin Islands Carnival Parade.
See the costumes and hear the music, join the troupe. The troupe's theme is "UVI Celebrates 40 Years of Learning." For details call 693-1200.
Tickets Available for Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico
Tickets are still available for Saturday's performance by the Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico at the Reichhold Center. Show time is 8 p.m. Ticket outlets include: the Reichhold ticket office, Krystal Gifts, the UVI Bookstore, Modern Music locations and Parrot Fish on St. Thomas and Connections on St. John. For details contact 693-1550.
For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the website atwww.uvi.edu.

The Rotary Club of St. John will meet at Westin's Resort Beach Cafe on Friday with two guest speakers, Police Chief Novelle Francis and Deputy Chief for St. John, Angelo Hill.

Feb. 18, 2002 – The Rotary Club of St. John will meet at 12:30 p.m. at Westin's Resort Beach Cafe with two guest speakers, Police Chief Novelle Francis and Deputy Chief for St. John Angelo Hill.

Dear Source,
I am an avid reader of St. Thomas Source, and was quite interested in your recent U.S. Postal Service luncheon coverage "Postmaster: USPS Will Help to Get Goods Mailed.
I mailed four boxes of cereal to my mother in St. Thomas from the Washington, D.C., area on Dec. 18, 2001 (quite a small package). It was quite discouraging that the box was just delivered Feb. 2, 2002.
Since the USPS will be vigilant in getting vendors to ship to the Virgin Islands, do you think they would be just as vigilant in processing shipments more rapidly?
Posting [these experiences] may be the only way to get the word out. It happens a lot. This is the third year in a row I've mailed things to the Virgin Islands in December and they arrive in February. At least this year, we were thinking, "well, maybe the anthrax." But then, we had no viable excuses for the past two years.
Thank you for your assistance.
Lybia M. Callwood
Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net

Dear Source,
I am an avid reader of The Source, and was quite interested in your recent U.S. Postal Service luncheon coverage "Postmaster: USPS Will Help to Get Goods Mailed."
I mailed four boxes of cereal to my mother in St. Thomas from the Washington, D.C., area on Dec. 18, 2001 (quite a small package). It was quite discouraging that the box was just delivered Feb. 2, 2002.
Since the USPS will be vigilant in getting vendors to ship to the Virgin Islands, do you think they would be just as vigilant in processing shipments more rapidly?
Posting [these experiences] may be the only way to get the word out. It happens a lot. This is the third year in a row I've mailed things to the Virgin Islands in December and they arrive in February. At least this year, we were thinking, "well, maybe the anthrax." But then, we had no viable excuses for the past two years.
Thank you for your assistance.
Lybia M. Callwood
Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net