25 boats take off at Foreshore in Great Race

THE 56th edition of the Trinidad and Tobago Great Race will speed off from the Mucurapo Foreshore at 7.15 am on August 17 with 25 boats making the arduous journey to Store Bay, Tobago.

This year's event will be dedicated to Lennox Tang Yuk, the winner of the inaugural Great Race. Tang Yuk died of cancer earlier this year.

Tang Yuk was part of the Cam-Ena team, champions of the 1969 Great Race. Ten years later, Tang Yuk won another title with his 28-foot cutlass Blackmax.

It will be a staggered start with the vessels in the 50 mile per hour (mph) class the first to get under way at 7.15 am.

The G Class (60 mph), F Class (70 mph), E Class (80 mph), D Class (95 mph), B Class (120 mph) and A Class boats (130 mph) will all begin between 7.25 am and 8 am.

President of the TT Powerboat Association Jonathan Tardieu said on August 16, "Everything is in place as far as logistics goes. There are couple boats heading up the road to Tobago today to make sure that things are in place on the Tobago side...

"From the Trinidad side, the communication and everything is being sorted out. Just about ready for everything to take off tomorrow."

The teams have been competing throughout the season at the National Championships, which included five regattas. Those events help the competitors iron out any kinks they may have had with their boats ahead of the Great Race.

Mr Solo (130 mph), Tyrant (95 mph), Track Heatwave (80 mph), Extreme Measures (70 mph), Raw Knots (60 mph), Ghost Operation (50 mph) and Arrow (Spec Class) are some of the boats in the field for this year's event.

The Kraken team, who compete in the Spec Class, earned the most points during the season with 5,020 points to be crowned national champion.

Tardieu said all measures are in place to have a smooth event. "Safety is the main priority," he said. "As you all know, this a very long race. A lot of it is offshore, off the North Coast where it is not readily accessible to emergency services...

"We have ambulances that will be in place at certain points, along with tow boats and patrol boats to try and ensure that everyone is safe."

Tobago stakeholders have consistently supported the event, and Tardieu said it would not be possible with their backing. "The support from Tobago is very crucial to making the Great Race happen. Once we have the buy-in from the THA and Tobago entities, that is what makes this race the Great Race.

"This year we are seeing an uptick in interested persons from the Tobago side. Apart from the THA we have been contacted by the Tobago Tourism Agency, we have the Tobago Festival Commission and one or two businesses have been supporting us, like Jade Monkey (bar and grill).

"Of course we have our other sponsors like Carib and so on, but without the support of Tobago we would not be able to have the event we want."