#the very last prizegiving

[f1]

Verstappen felt he could not afford any mistakes after early unreliability | 2022 F1 season

Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen says he felt he “could not afford any mistakes” to have a chance of defending his title after the opening races of 2022 due to Red Bull’s unreliability. Speaking at a press conference ahead of this evening’s FIA prizegiving gala, where he will formally receive the world drivers’ championship trophy for the second time, Verstappen admitted his two mechanical retirements over the first three rounds of the left him feeling he had no margin for error over the rest of the season. “I think you know that when you have to fight for a title, you have to score points, basically every race as much as you can,” Verstappen explained. “That’s why, of course, at the beginning of the year it was very tough to have these DNFs. “I knew from that point onwards I could not afford any mistake from my side, in case we would have a retirement for whatever reason. So you always tried to be as clean as you can be and try to be as perfect as you can every single weekend. And that’s what I tried to demand for myself every time I jump into the car.” Red Bull improved the reliability of their car over the season and Verstappen did not suffer another mechanical-related retirement for the remainder of the year. He scored a record 15 wins and comfortably retained his world championship. Verstappen described how the feeling of defending his title compared to taking his first title last year. “The emotions are very different, but I think they should be different,” he said. “Your whole life you aim for one particular goal and that’s become a world champion in Formula 1. The first one is always very emotional one once you achieve it. “But this year has been very different. I do think we were more competitive this year and also I think more enjoyable with the way we were performing as a whole team. We won the drivers and the constructors. We had a lot of victories as a team. “So I would say this one is better and more rewarding, but the first one will always be more emotional.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 F1 season Browse all 2022 F1 season articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

#F1 #Verstappen felt he “could not afford any mistakes” after early unreliability | 2022 F1 season #Formula 1

[baxtervillarreal]

<h1>Endocrinologist In Krom River, Stellenbosch, South Africa</h1>

Being able to travel to such an incredible destination to view the birdlife, ocean mammals and southern ocean will be an unbelievable experience. The Marion Island journey isn't only worthy of profitable this competitors, it's worthy of being on the bucket listing of each single one who seeks a unprecedented once in a lifetime birding experience. At Kingswood we consider that the core perform of our junior faculty is to lay the foundations for learning and for life in general. Our smaller class sizes enable us to support our pupils on a one to one foundation and provide us with the time to care and to get to know our pupils individually. The federally qualified well being centers of at present may also be considered a localized well being hub of the long run.

The Flock to Marion reveals how these projects go hand in hand in attracting and promoting tourism each locally and abroad. Pain management is a department of medication using an interdisciplinary method for relieving the suffering and bettering the quality of life of these living with ache. The typical ache management team includes medical practitioners, pharmacists, scientific psychologists, physiotherapists,occupational therapists, doctor assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical nurse specialists.

While Makhanda could seem removed from the lights of South Africa’s larger cities, there are some quite wonderful advantages from being where we are. Once once more, the Eastern Cape delivered some superb alternatives for both fun and learning for our junior pupils by way of their recent grade excursions. Matthew Pritchard receives an Honours Award for Rugby. Mabogoame Gabaraane receives an Honours Awards for Basketball. Luke Kelly receives an Honours Award for Squash.

Everyone sins and is evil, together with Engela, her dad and mom and the individuals who bought and used her as a sex slave. We are all sinners because of the things we do wrong every day, not as a result of we stock dr gregory hough south africa the sins of ‘our forefathers’ which were handed on from generation to technology by the use of sex. Brothel owners are forever in search of new ‘blood’.

Our #WellnessWednesday blog this week comes from our learning assist specialist Ms Ghida Bernard. Ghida offers us with a number of examination suggestions and tricks to help during exam time. We also communicate to a few of our 2019 high achievers and ask what recommendation they can provide to our 2020 matric pupils. Lindsay is a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Government & Public Services apply. She supports state governments in health care (Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance program), public well being, human companies, and workforce development applications.

Kingswood College hosted St Andrew’s College in an enthralling encounter on Saturday. This tense derby was performed out in robust greasy conditions ensuring that the score would remain close throughout. Kingswood College opened the score to take a 7-0 lead late into the primary half after each teams kicked often in the wet. Last evening the 1st XI hockey women played a match in opposition to DSG.

On Saturday, after months of not with the power to gather, assist and cheer one another on, our Senior Pupils got here together for our Annual Athletics Sports Day on Gane Field. A few weeks in the past, at our Senior School Prizegiving Ceremony, Dr Colleen Vassiliou gave a speech as Head of the College. This 12 months has been a really totally different yr not only for our faculty, however certainly our country and the world at giant. The recurring message all through her speech was looking at how we've all adapted to this very troublesome yr and that we're actually and actually the “Hero’s of our personal story”. This morning, for the primary time ever, our little Grade R pupils held a Graduation Ceremony to mark their move from Kingswood Pre-Primary to the Junior School.

dr gregory

Fascinating on-board lectures, good entertainment, great employees, unbelievable surroundings, exceptional birding, scrumptious meals, and a unbelievable group of individuals. Literally top-of-the-line birding experiences of my life! Words can't do justice to the feeling of watching lots of of seabirds glide effortlessly across the boat, residing out their days in a part of the world most people will never have the privilege to get pleasure from. Being able to expertise that remote and infrequently visited region, observe incredible wildlife, and contribute to its future protection and conservation, made this essentially the most amazing journey.

Kayleigh Mildenhall has achieved her Academic Honours. This is the first time you may have logged in with a social network. The next two decades are certain to bring many changes to the Medicaid program. By peering into the longer term, nonetheless imperfectly, program administrators dr gregory hough south africa may be able to see possibilities that aren’t readily obvious when coping with day-to-day challenges. Managed-care organizations could not exist in the future; “wellness organizations” may rise of their place.

As a geographical focus space, the region into consideration is the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. This voyage into the Southern Ocean was very special indeed, the experiences will final a lifetime. From the second we set foot aboard the MSC Orchestra we had been in good arms, professional service, great leisure and a birding spectacle. We will be first in line after they announce the subsequent Flock. Well accomplished to Birdlife South Africa for making this journey so particular.

#dr gregory hough south africa #dr greg hough south africa #dr gregory #dr greg hough #greg hough #dr gregory hough #dr gregory images #dr greg hough images #dr gregory facebook #dr greg hough facebook

[drgreg]

Endocrinologist In Krom River, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Being able to travel to such an incredible destination to view the birdlife, ocean mammals and southern ocean will be an unbelievable experience. The Marion Island journey isn't only worthy of profitable this competitors, it's worthy of being on the bucket listing of each single one who seeks a unprecedented once in a lifetime birding experience. At Kingswood we consider that the core perform of our junior faculty is to lay the foundations for learning and for life in general. Our smaller class sizes enable us to support our pupils on a one to one foundation and provide us with the time to care and to get to know our pupils individually. The federally qualified well being centers of at present may also be considered a localized well being hub of the long run.

The Flock to Marion reveals how these projects go hand in hand in attracting and promoting tourism each locally and abroad. Pain management is a department of medication using an interdisciplinary method for relieving the suffering and bettering the quality of life of these living with ache. The typical ache management team includes medical practitioners, pharmacists, scientific psychologists, physiotherapists,occupational therapists, doctor assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical nurse specialists.

While Makhanda could seem removed from the lights of South Africa’s larger cities, there are some quite wonderful advantages from being where we are. Once once more, the Eastern Cape delivered some superb alternatives for both fun and learning for our junior pupils by way of their recent grade excursions. Matthew Pritchard receives an Honours Award for Rugby. Mabogoame Gabaraane receives an Honours Awards for Basketball. Luke Kelly receives an Honours Award for Squash.

Everyone sins and is evil, together with Engela, her dad and mom and the individuals who bought and used her as a sex slave. We are all sinners because of the things we do wrong every day, not as a result of we stock dr gregory hough south africa the sins of ‘our forefathers’ which were handed on from generation to technology by the use of sex. Brothel owners are forever in search of new ‘blood’.

Our #WellnessWednesday blog this week comes from our learning assist specialist Ms Ghida Bernard. Ghida offers us with a number of examination suggestions and tricks to help during exam time. We also communicate to a few of our 2019 high achievers and ask what recommendation they can provide to our 2020 matric pupils. Lindsay is a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Government & Public Services apply. She supports state governments in health care (Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance program), public well being, human companies, and workforce development applications.

Kingswood College hosted St Andrew’s College in an enthralling encounter on Saturday. This tense derby was performed out in robust greasy conditions ensuring that the score would remain close throughout. Kingswood College opened the score to take a 7-0 lead late into the primary half after each teams kicked often in the wet. Last evening the 1st XI hockey women played a match in opposition to DSG.

On Saturday, after months of not with the power to gather, assist and cheer one another on, our Senior Pupils got here together for our Annual Athletics Sports Day on Gane Field. A few weeks in the past, at our Senior School Prizegiving Ceremony, Dr Colleen Vassiliou gave a speech as Head of the College. This 12 months has been a really totally different yr not only for our faculty, however certainly our country and the world at giant. The recurring message all through her speech was looking at how we've all adapted to this very troublesome yr and that we're actually and actually the “Hero’s of our personal story”. This morning, for the primary time ever, our little Grade R pupils held a Graduation Ceremony to mark their move from Kingswood Pre-Primary to the Junior School.

Fascinating on-board lectures, good entertainment, great employees, unbelievable surroundings, exceptional birding, scrumptious meals, and a unbelievable group of individuals. Literally top-of-the-line birding experiences of my life! Words can't do justice to the feeling of watching lots of of seabirds glide effortlessly across the boat, residing out their days in a part of the world most people will never have the privilege to get pleasure from. Being able to expertise that remote and infrequently visited region, observe incredible wildlife, and contribute to its future protection and conservation, made this essentially the most amazing journey.

Kayleigh Mildenhall has achieved her Academic Honours. This is the first time you may have logged in with a social network. The next two decades are certain to bring many changes to the Medicaid program. By peering into the longer term, nonetheless imperfectly, program administrators dr gregory hough south africa may be able to see possibilities that aren’t readily obvious when coping with day-to-day challenges. Managed-care organizations could not exist in the future; “wellness organizations” may rise of their place.

As a geographical focus space, the region into consideration is the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. This voyage into the Southern Ocean was very special indeed, the experiences will final a lifetime. From the second we set foot aboard the MSC Orchestra we had been in good arms, professional service, great leisure and a birding spectacle. We will be first in line after they announce the subsequent Flock. Well accomplished to Birdlife South Africa for making this journey so particular.

[jupitersflytrap]

it’s my last ever day of school today……… wild.

#plant rant #the very last prizegiving #god this will be grim

[peopleagainstprisonsaotearoa]

Police Uniforms and Ball Gowns: Why the Police are Really Boycotting Auckland Pride

Last night was the inaugural ceremony of the NZLGBTI awards. The ceremony, organised by a subsidiary of an Australian magazine company, has been controversial in New Zealand's gay community, with 9 leading queer and trans community organisations refusing nominations and boycotting the event as a cash-grab. The New Zealand Police, and their queer and trans Diversity Liaison Officer Tracy Phillips, were given awards at the $200-per-head prize gala.

The prizegiving comes in the wake of the Police withdrawing their application to march in Auckland's Pride Parade, following a request from the Auckland Pride organisers that the Police not march in uniform. Auckland Pride made the request after a series of community consultation hui, in which takatāpui and transgender members of the community made it clear that Police violence was a pressing issue in their lives. However, people watching the prizegiving ceremony last night will note that the Police dignitaries present walked on stage not in their uniforms, but in civilian formalwear.

We find ourselves in an odd double-bind here. On the one hand, the Police has made it clear they MUST be allowed to wear their uniforms at Pride, or else they are under attack. On the other hand, none of the recipients of prizes last night seemed on the brink of tears because they were up on stage in a nice dress.

When the Police are asked to leave the uniform at home in acknowledgement of the racist violence it represents to many marginalised members of the rainbow community, they argue that the uniform is absolutely mandatory and lead a corporate boycott of the Pride Parade. When the Police are invited to a swanky gala where hollow praise is heaped on them for symbolically "inclusive" gestures, they are more than happy to turn up in ball gowns and tuxedos.

Why the contradiction? Because the uniform was never what made the Police so angry - it was the request made by Auckland Pride that the Police recognise the racist, transphobic violence that the most marginalised people in the queer and trans community face at their hands. Last night the Police demonstrated very clearly that they are more than happy to come to LGBTI+ events in whatever clothing is appropriate. What they are not willing to do is listen to criticism - even when that criticism is as mild as "please wear a different shirt". It seems the cops aren't insistent on having their uniforms at all: just a pair of rainbow coattails to ride.

- Emilie Rākete is a graduate student at the University of Auckland studying the political economy of New Zealand's criminal justice system. She is the press spokesperson for the People Against Prisons Aotearoa.

#people against prisons aotearoa

[peterthepanda-blog1]

so seniors last day for most schools was last week and i had no school on friday because my school had prizegiving and one of my brothers had school (he’s a sophomore) and as a end of year prank the seniors at his school brought a fucking goat to school sang their school chant to it and then the principle got the care taker to take it somewhere away from them and no one will own up to who’s goat it is and i have to say this is mighty good prank. if u do not understand because u r dumb it means “the seniors are the goats” aka greatest of all time it is very funny i think cause today is monday and they still don’t know who’s goat it is because someone snuck into the school at ab 6pm and stole it back.

[repmet]

Fic: Fucking Finally

So I literally haven't written anything in almost a year but of all possible fandoms, Final Fantasy XV is the one that has me now so here we are.

This follows Brotherhood canon with the exception that Prompto decided to get into shape first, without speaking to Noct.

On the inside of his wrist, messy but legible, is scribbled ‘hey there prince noctis im prompto nice to meet you’.

Or, a soulmate AU in which neither Prompto or Noctis talk to each other for far too long.

--

Noctis couldn’t have been much luckier when it came to his Mark.

He could have been like Gladio, who from age six has had neat, thin cursive across his bicep declaring, ‘my name is ignis scientia and i believe you are my soulmate’.

Other than that, not much.

It appears much later than most people’s, not unheard of but enough Noct worries he may not have one at all.

He’s overwhelmingly relieved when it eventually it fades in over a period of week when he’s fourteen, just starting his last year of junior high.

On the inside of his wrist, messy but legible, is scribbled ‘hey there prince noctis im prompto nice to meet you’.

--

There’s a boy in Noctis’ class called Prompto with whom he has never spoken.

Noct takes two days off school after his Mark comes in because he can’t quite deal with that right away.

--

He returns to school with a glove that covers most of his forearm and ignores the stares and speculation.

Marks are sacred, everyone knows it’s there but at least they'll never ask.

--

Prompto is blond and sometimes wears glasses.

He like photography and his smile could outshine the sun.

Noct can’t wait.

--

Prompto doesn’t talk to him.

Noctis has assumed, since his Mark seems to be a greeting that he would be waiting on Prompto to approach him.

It’s not like the other boy avoids him, he’s just painfully shy, and a little awkward but endearingly so (at least in Noct’s opinion).

He doesn’t talk to most people in his class.

Doesn’t talk to Noctis.

--

Noct sits on his bed and traces his Mark again.

It’s an introduction. He’s sure of it. Prompto is speaking first.

Noct pulls his glove back up.

He just needs to wait.

--

Prompto stands on the bench next to him one lunchtime and Noct’s heart stops in his chest.

He lifts his camera and quickly takes three pictures of a bird on a branch above them.

He turns to Noctis and- “Mr. Argentum, get down before you hurt yourself.”

Noctis and Prompto both jump and Prompto shoots him a grin before turning to apologise to the teacher.

He doesn’t say a word to Noct.

--

He text Ignis later to ask if it’s always wrong to punch a teacher and Ignis sends back a picture of his latest attempt at a Tenebraen tart.

He sends Ignis a line of hearts and receives a picture from Gladio of Ignis smiling at his phone.

The teacher confiscates his phone and his soulmate still won’t talk to him but at least there’s tarts to look forward to.

--

“I’m not sure at all why it couldn’t be a reply to your greeting,” Ignis tells him. “It’s perfectly plausible as a response.”

“It just... “ Noct struggles to find the words. “I just know, okay? ”

Ignis sighs.

“If you say so.”

Noct huffs and turns back to his homework.

Iggy’s somewhat disjointed but very clear and specific ‘did he say your name was ignis oh wow this might be weird but i think um how do i wait whats your last name’ loops around his calf as it has since he was five, starting just above his ankle.

So really, what does he know.

--

“What if I talk to him first and screw it up?”

Gladio groans.

“Like we’re meant to be soulmates but-”

“Look, some people say ‘hey there’ in response, okay? Like ‘hey man’, ‘oh hey there’.”

“It’s not ‘oh hey there though it’s ‘hey there’, like he’s getting my attention. And then he says his name and ‘nice to meet you’ like-”

Gladio’s reply is another swing of his broadsword, forcing Noct to warp across the training room to keep his head.

--

Noct doesn’t bring it up again that week.

It’s not like the conversation was going to lead somewhere it hadn't been in the last hundred times they’d had it.

--

When he was younger Noctis had traced the large looping letters of ‘oh im sorry i just needed some fresh air’ on his father’s shoulder and listened to stories about his mother.

He was happy when he talked about her. He had the same smile he only wore for Noctis when it was just the two of them.

Noctis thinks of Prompto’s bright, easy smile, his excitement when he lines up a good shot, or the unguarded way his whole face lights up when he’s happy.

Noctis really wants Prompto to smile at him.

--

“Just fucking talk to him.”

Noctis rolls out of the way of Gladio’s sword and doesn’t reply.

--

Noctis does not take several months to admit to himself that the real reason he won’t talk to Prompto first is the rare but real possibility that Prompto is his soulmate, but Noctis isn't his.

He doesn’t admit it at all because it’s not true.

Not in the slightest.

--

Prompto wins two awards at the school’s end of year prizegiving and smiles so brightly Noctis’ heart does a weird jumping thing in his chest.

Which Noct doesn’t think too hard about.

Instead he cheers loudly for him and the girl in the seat next to him gives him an odd look.

--

It’s the first day of high school and the day Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum has decided, once and for all, he’s going to talk to his soulmate.

Gladio might cry with relief.

He’s done waiting, whatever happens, he’ll deal with it.

--

A hand thumps him on the back.

“Hey there, Prince Noctis, I’m Prompto, nice to meet you.”

Noct’s brain grinds to a halt and he stares for far too long.

He had a plan.

Prompto looks awkward, then anxious, then somewhat upset, like he thinks he’s done something wrong.

He shuffles nervously and is about to say something further but Noct’s mouth decides that’s the moment it’s actually going to start working again.

“Fucking finally .”

#final fantasy xv #ffxvedit #noctis lucis caelum #prompto argentum #promptis #fanfiction #ffxv fanfic #i'm actually really happy to be creating stuff again #like gifs too #it's nice #soulmate au #no beta we die like men #but two people have read it and liked it so kinda a beta but i'm still dying here #also can I swear in fic titles #or is it like #bad etiquette #who even knows #not me #sorry children #cover thine eyes

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/12/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Thursday, December 5th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

AUTHORITY READIES MOVE ON ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS – One day after it was revealed that four illegal water connections were found on the premises of the now condemned Liquidation Centre, Minister of Energy and Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams says the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) will be cracking down on persons and companies who steal water. This morning Abrahams told Barbados TODAY that while he was not prepared to comment on the findings in the Bay Street building owned by Asha Mrs Ram Mirchandani, the issue of illegal water connections is a festering thorn in the side of the BWA. He noted that it has been the BWA’s policy in the past to show leniency to offenders, but this approach may soon change, and more muscular methods would be adopted. “We keep finding illegal water connections and we have been very decent with these people up to now. We have back-billed some of these persons for what they would have used but there has been no real prosecution taking place. I expect the Barbados Water Authority to start cracking down in a major way on people who persist in this behavior and if it has to involve the police then it has to involve the police because it is a criminal action,” said Abrahams, who made it clear that he was putting both commercial and residential offenders on notice. The Minister pointed out, “In the past if you didn’t have a title deed to the land or didn’t get permission from the landlord, you couldn’t get a water connection. So, there were some people who did what they thought they had to do in order to get water into their house for basic sanitary needs. The policy has now changed and anybody who is living on a piece of land can now apply for a water service, so there is no reason now to have an illegal water connection.” Noting that the issue of illegal water connections was quite a widespread problem, the Minister told Barbados TODAY that while it is well known that the state-owned water company is unable to account for 40 per cent of the water it pumps, many may not be aware that burst pipes and illegal water connections are the main culprits. “We have an issue with illegal water connections, and it accounts for a significant portion of our non-revenue water. We have about 40-60 per cent of our water that we can’t account for and while a significant amount is due to breakages in the system, a large amount is also as a result of illegal connections,” he said. Abrahams also explained that these illegal connections can pose a health risk to the water supply, as some of them were done in a very haphazard fashion and could allow for dangerous bacteria to enter and compromise the system. “It is not just simply connecting to the system and people who take it upon themselves to do these illegal connections are not just putting themselves at risk, they put our water supply at risk. If your connection is not a sound one or it is not properly done and stuff infiltrates the system because of the connection that you have made, then you are putting other people at risk. In many cases these connections are not just servicing one household, so that one source may put numerous people at risk,” he stressed. Last night Attorney General Dale Marshall informed the country that the Liquidation Centre, which has been compulsorily acquired by Government and is the subject of a legal battle, that the Water Authority discovered several illegal connections to the water mains there. He also revealed that the premises are vermin-infested and four Government agencies have condemned the warehouse as a fire hazard and a serious threat to humans. (BT)

BARBADOS ‘NO LONGER IN DEFAULT’ ON FOREIGN CURRENCY DEBT – Weeks after Government cemented a deal with external creditors, regional credit ratings agency Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS) today lifted its foreign currency sovereign debt rating out of default territory. In a release, CariCRIS said it had removed its CariD (Default) Regional Scale Foreign Currency Rating of the Government of Barbados and has assigned a rating of a CariBB-, with a stable outlook. CariCRIS said: “This rating action places the Regional Scale Foreign Currency Rating one notch below our current Government of Barbados Regional Scale Local Currency rating.” The local currency rating is currently at CariBBB. Immediately after the Mia Mottley administration came to office and announced a debt restructuring deal, CariCRIS had put the island on a “rating watch”. But today, the Port of Spain-based agency said its decision to upgrade the rating on the Barbados government’s foreign currency debt was driven by the successful closure of the exchange offer for external commercial debt. It said: “The [Government of Barbados] has indicated that the closure of the transaction allows it to immediately reduce its outstanding external debt principal by 25 per cent and accrued interest by 35 per cent, and to meet its debt-to-GDP target of 60 per cent by 2033/34. “In total, the GOB immediately benefits from the cancellation of just over US $200 million in debt and would generate approximately US$500 million in cash flow savings over the next five years.” CariCRIS declared that repayment of the restructured foreign currency debt should not harm either the foreign exchange reserves or its primary balance. The statement said: “We are informed that the new bonds consist of (i) a US $547 million, 6.5 per cent semi-annual (April 1 and October 1), 10-year bond, due October 1, 2029, and (ii) a US $32.5 million, 6.5 per cent semi-annual (April 1 and October 1), 3-year bond, due February 1, 2021. “The latter bond would be used to settle interest that has accrued since June 1, 2018, when debt repayment was suspended. The 10-year bond would be amortised but with a grace period ending April 1, 2025. “Additionally, a Sinking Fund for meeting repayments will be established. “The bonds will also benefit from ‘natural disaster clauses’, making their repayment structure more sustainable. “Participation in the exchange invitation was near universal, at upwards of 93 per cent; significantly above the 75 per cent required to give the government of Barbados the power to mandatorily replace all of the relevant debt.” As she addressed the Queen’s College prizegiving and award ceremony, Prime Minister Mia Mottley acknowledged the CariCRIS upgrade, saying she expected more to come. Mottley told the QC students: “Yes, we are solving the debt issues, and yes, by next week of the new bonds for external debt will be behind us, yes, we have gone from 176 per cent [debt to gross domestic product (GDP)], and by next week we will be around 114 per cent of debt to GDP. “Yes, we have investments to do and all of them are starting to unfold but all of that will come to nothing if we don’t get the equation right for you to be the future of this country to help us with future Barbados and for you to understand that as you do it the measurement of your success is not in scholarships and degrees along, but in the content of your character, in your ability to live good with one another and your ability to be able to manage conflicts.” CariCRIS said it would be releasing its full rating rationale on Barbados later this month. This is the third upgrade the island received in the last year, the first coming November 2018 when Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised its long and short-term local currency ratings for the island from selective default (SD/SD) to B-/B. S&P had also assigned a B- local currency issue rating on the domestic debt issued in the debt exchange a month earlier. Then in July, ratings agency Moody’s announced that it had raised Barbados’ foreign and local currency issuer ratings to Caa1 from Caa3, affirmed the foreign currency senior unsecured bond rating at Caa3 and maintained a stable outlook. (BT)

ARTHUR: OUT WITH OLD – Former Prime Minister, Professor Owen Arthur, says Barbados has to urgently build “a new economy”, warning that “the boat is pulling out of harbour and we are not on it”. Arthur, professor of practice at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill, said Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley kept him “very, very busy” helping Government on several matters, including the development of a new industrial policy, and the arrangements for next year’s United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15) quadrennial meeting here, October 15 to 23, 2020. He cautioned Government that Barbados could no longer rely on unique tax benefits and preferential trade arrangements, and instead must focus on technology and innovation. (DN)

CHANGES IN REGION’S TIES WITH CANADA – Former Prime Minister Professor Owen Arthur has expressed concern about a diminished bilateral relationship between Canada and the Caribbean. Describing the region’s relationship with Canada as one that was based on valuable attributes, shared development outlook and common interest and common objectives” dating back over 100 years, Arthur said the relationship “has demonstratively been our most valued relationship as regards to other countries”. However, Arthur argued that while the relationship between the North American country and the Caribbean continued to be a “rich” one, Canada’s interest had changed somewhat, and that country now had “a more global focus” to its international relationships. Singling out the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), bilateral trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US, which came into force in the early 1990’s, Arthur said it has had “severe implications for the Caribbean. One result has been the demise of the once flourishing textile industry. Stating that the region lost thousands of jobs as a result of the NAFTA agreement, Arthur said: “I would go so far as to say that the Caribbean industrial sector, which used to be dominated by textiles exports, has never fully recovered because of the absence of parity with Mexico.” “Canada still has a relationship like that of our other traditional partners with the Caribbean, but it has progressively sought to reduce its bilateral relationships with our countries and sought increasingly so to have relationship with us through regional programmes or multilateral programmes,” he said. “It is a matter that has to be of concern because the intimacy of our relationship with Canada was strong because it was largely bilateral but a large part of our relationship with Canada now is through Canada’s relationship with multilateral institutions of which we are in need. I would like to suggest that in certain respects it is making the relationship not as wonderful as it used to be,” he said. The economist said the reduction in the content and vibrancy of bilateral relations was not unique to Canada. He was addressing a Vice-Chancellor’s Forum at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination on the topic Evolving Canada – Caribbean Relations. Arthur said as a result of the reduced relationship, there has been “a financial void” at a time when it is strongly needed. “But mercifully for the Caribbean, and this has to be said without apology, that financial void that has in part been left by the diminution of our bilateral relationship with our traditional partners, has had to be filled by China and Venezuela,” said Arthur. Stating that people were now becoming “concerned” about the Caribbean’s financial relationship with China and Venezuela, the question should be asked “If those relationships did not take place what would have happened to our Caribbean at this time of the most dire financial need in our history?” He predicted that if the Canada-Caribbean relationship was not addressed there would be a deeper and deeper drift. Arthur suggested that the region “revisits” its relationship with Canada with the intention of moving beyond just market access arrangements. “We want to have development cooperation at the centre of it,” said Arthur. “We can no longer build an economy on preferential trade arrangements. We cannot build an economy on the unilateral tax benefits like arrangements we had with Canada. That is unsustainable. It is an economy that has to be rooted in something that is more substantial and we are now living in a world where more economic activity is being driven by technology and innovation, and the sooner we get on that platform the better,” said Arthur. In her presentation, High Commissioner of Canada to Barbados Marie Legault outlined the development of the relationship between Canada and the Caribbean over the years, while agreeing that there had been a change in the support the region received from the North American country. However, she said the change was in support of institutions that the Caribbean countries themselves have created. “It is true that in accordance to the OECD research and analysis, we have shifted our aid cooperation from bilateral relationship to regional relationship to make sure that we have a bigger impact. This has had some results,” said Legault, who said she disagreed that the shift had left a financial void. “We still invest quite a lot in the region every year especially in areas for which the region is vulnerable like public financial management, disaster risk management, crisis recovery after natural disasters, and also in new aspects like the blue economy and green economy. (BT)

BRITISH-EUROPEAN AID ‘STILL ON … FOR NOW’ – Barbados will continue to benefit temporarily from Britain’s pact with the European Union to provide aid to poor and less-developed countries, the Senate heard today, as they sought to amend an economic partnership agreement in anticipation of Brexit. The United Kingdom has agreed to continue contributing to EU-UK development cooperation until next year with its withdrawal from the EU. The changes to the economic partnership agreement between the Caribbean Community and Dominican Republic – CARIFORUM – and the UK are included in the Economic Partnership Agreement (Amendment) Bill, which was introduced by Senator Kay McConney. She told the Upper Chamber lawmakers: “[Development cooperation] was an important part of the EU/Cariforum EPA agreement. “It lends assistance to poor countries to help them develop. “This is usually administered through the European Development Fund. “The UK is the second-largest contributor with 5.8 per cent as part of the EU family. “The UK has agreed that [it] will continue until 2020 to contribute to the EU for development cooperation.” One other change of benefit to Barbados is the change in the wording of the agreement which allows the country to still be eligible for “preferential access”, she added. She said: “The new wording allows goods to transit Europe without having to change their origin. “There are certain criteria goods have to make in order to make their way to the UK. “It allows us to ensure that when our products have to transit through Europe before it gets to the UK and any of these processes have to be applied to them that they will still be deemed originating in Barbados and be eligible to the preferential access.” Making the case for the adjustment to the original EPA with the EU she said: “We need to care about our internal relationships as we would our domestic relationships.“When change happens internationally Barbados has to respond in a manner that safeguards our interest and where possible leaves opportunities open for our people and our businesses.” Senator McConney lamented the fact that the changes were not of Barbados’ or the CARIFORUM’s making but had to be made in order to respond to the “divorce between the UK and EU”. She said: “Barbados had no active part of the decisions or the outcome yet we are here seeking to pass legislation to deal with repercussions of actions taken by the UK. “We are not in this alone, [there are] other members of CARIFORUM who are party to an agreement pre-existing this situation. “We are here as a result of a divorce between the UK and the European Union.”   (BT)

FORMER DLP CANDIDATE SUES OVER DISMISSAL – A former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who was appointed by the last Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Cabinet to manage the Hilton Barbados Resort Hotel, is suing his former employers over his dismissal in April this year. Henderson Williams, who also unsuccessfully contested the City seat for the DLP in the May 2018 General Elections, appeared today in the High Court with his attorneys Neil Marshall and Hal Gollop Q.C., but the hearing was adjourned until January 30 because of a no-show by the Government team. According to court documents filed on November 13, this year – copies of which have been obtained by Barbados TODAY – Williams is suing Needham’s Point Holdings Limited, the first defendant and Needham’s Point Development Inc., the second, on 11 grounds. But the document first placed the history of the termination into perspective as the claimant sought to show how the actions of the defendants led to him suing the State. It claimed that by letter dated March 4, 2019, Williams was suspended with immediate effect pending disciplinary investigation into undisclosed “alleged conduct”. However, by letter dated April 30, 2019 and hand delivered by a messenger of the company, Williams was informed that his employment had been terminated with immediate effect for reasons of gross misconduct. The letter also told him he had the right to appeal, which he did. And by correspondence dated July 26, 2019, the appellate body of the board confirmed his dismissal. Williams is condemning the actions of the directors from March 4, 2019 to April 30, 2019 stating that the same people who charged him, were the same ones who suspended him, investigated him, adjudicated the hearing into the complaint as a disciplinary tribunal, found the charge to be proved and then fired him. He is therefore asking the court to rule that these actions amounted to an administrative act or omission that is unauthorized or contrary to law; an excess of jurisdiction and a breach of the principles of natural justice. The claimant’s request for a judicial review is also grounded in what he said is a failure by the company to satisfy or observe conditions or procedures required by law; that the defendants’ action was unreasonable, irregular and an improper exercise of discretion; and an abuse of power. Williams also claims that the company committed an act of fraud and bad faith actuated by improper purposes and irrelevant considerations. He sought to back up his claim of fraud in his affidavit filed in the High Court. Williams noted that on or about October 26, 2018 he had an unscheduled meeting at his office with company chairman Junior Waldron and his deputy Alfredo Weatherhead. The claimant stated that he was given two letters from the chairman addressed to him; one which was unsigned and dated October 26, 2018 with the caption “Termination of contract of employment as chief executive officer of Needham’s Point Holdings Ltd and Needham’s Point Development Inc”. The affidavit went on to say that the correspondence purported to have acknowledged and accepted “your letter of resignation dated October 26, 2018” and wished him continued success in his future endeavours. The second letter, also unsigned and dated the same date, purported to be written by Williams and addressed to the chairman, tendering his resignation as CEO of Needham’s Point Holdings Ltd and Needham’s Point Development Inc ‘with immediate effect’. “At no time did I ever write a letter of resignation to the first or second defendant and neither did I ever have a conversation with the chairman or any other person related to the first and second defendants concerning any possibility of my resignation from the employment of the first and second defendant,” the claimant said in his affidavit. He submitted to the court that “the unlawful actions of the first and second defendants left me financially embarrassed to the extent that, not only am I unable to satisfy my creditors, but I had been unable to properly retain legal counsel for the purpose of filing an earlier claim in this matter.” He revealed that since his termination he attended two interviews for employment and on both occasions the issue of his political affiliation, his past employment with the hotel company and the circumstances surrounding his departure have been raised as problems. “The issue of my political affiliation, exposure and involvement in the last General Election was given by one of my interviewers as the distinct reason for denying me an employment opportunity,” the unsuccessful DLP candidate stated in his affidavit. “I am of the view that despite my best efforts, given the current economic environment and the circumstances as they relate to my political affiliations, that I am unlikely to find gainful employment commensurate with my qualifications in Barbados in the near future,” Williams submitted in his court documents. He is therefore asking the court for relief in the form of damages, costs, and orders and declarations to quash the decisions of the company to fire him. (BT)

REMAND FOR MAN ACCUSED OF STEALING – A 34-year-old unemployed St Michael man accused of breaking into two houses and stealing items worth well over $1,000 has been remanded. When Raymond Damian Cenac of Eversley Road, Brittons Hill appeared before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sergeant in the District ‘A’ Criminal Court this morning, he pleaded not guilty to those two charges as well as a third one of assault. Cenac is charged that on October 1, 2019, he entered the house of Lasaunta Cenac as a trespasser and stole a box of milk valued at $2.19; one bag of sugar that cost $6.75; a pack of soap powder worth $4.95; a tin of hot dogs priced at $2.09; two tins of corned beef valued at $9.00; one pack of drink mix for $2.15; two packs of macaroni which cost $4.78 and a pack of tea mix for $3.30. The items with a total value of $35.21 belonged to Lasaunta. Cenac is also accused of entering the house of Nathaniel Brathwaite as a trespasser between November 6 and November 8 this year and stealing three windows worth $1,161 and a door valued at $264. The third charge against him is for assaulting Destiny Johnson on November 25, 2018, occasioning her actual bodily harm which he also denied. The prisoner has been ordered to return to court tomorrow. (BT)

RESIDENT TESTIFIES IN ST LUCY MURDER TRIAL – A total of 23 state witnesses are scheduled to testify in a murder trial in which Jamaal Kamal Husbands of Husbands, St Lucy is accused of taking the life of former Broomfield resident Wayne Albert who was gunned down on April 24, 2015 while at Husbands Drive in the same parish. The case, which started last week, heard today from state witness Natori Bob, a resident of the area. Bob told Madame Justice Jacqueline Cornelius that he was awoken by a number of loud explosions while at his house on the evening of the shooting. He testified that he looked through his window from upstairs and saw “an individual” going towards the main road at a moderate speed. He said the person was wearing a “reddish” shirt and was of a slim build.However, under cross examination by defence counsel Safiya Moore, who is appearing in association with Kyle Walkes, Bob admitted that he could not clearly identify the person because outside was “getting dark” at the time. As the cross examination continued, the witness said he only saw the person for “a fleeting moment”. “I could not see if the person was holding anything in their hand,” he went on to tell the court under questioning by the attorney for the accused. After being shown a photograph of a strip of road taken by police on the day in question, Bob pointed out the part of the street where he saw the person. He said he saw a man on Husbands Drive close to the end of the same road. Bob also told the court that when he first looked through his window he heard his grandmother’s voice prompting him to go downstairs. He said when he got downstairs he peered through the window panel of his door and saw his grandmother and little brother standing outside of her house located within walking distance. In his evidence, the witness told the High Court that he soon afterwards called out to his grandmother and when she came to him she seemed scared and erratic. He said he spoke to her, but she did not say anything. Asked by the defence counsel if he had seen his uncle when he looked out his window on the day of the shooting, Bob replied “no”. When Principal Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney queried the nature of the relationship he had with his grandmother and with his uncle, the witness was adamant it was “good”. One of nine police witnesses was also called today. Acting Station Sergeant Trevor Stewart escorted the body of the victim from the scene in St Lucy to Two Sons Funeral Home. That was the extent of his involvement in the matter before the court. It was at this point that Delaney told the judge all three doctors in the case would be available to give their evidence tomorrow as well as to continue hearing testimony from the other investigators. Seven of the 23 witnesses are left to testify in the hearing which resumes tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. (BT)

ANTI-VIOLENCE PUSH – The Barbados Football Association (BFA) is so concerned about violence in society that last Sunday’s Capelli Super Cup final between Weymouth Wales and Ellerton was entitled Final Against Violence. President Randy Harris told NATION SPORT yesterday that the association used the platform of the climax of the inaugural out-of-season tournament at the Wildey Turf to highlight its campaign. “It is time to stop the violence against each other. We had a big final and we knew there would be some attention towards it.  “We thought we should try to do something to bring awareness to what is going on, especially in this time when as a people we should be really supporting each other rather than be looking to destroy each other,” he said. The long-serving football administrator said the BFA has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to violence in football and in general, with the launch of its Stop The Violence campaign in 2017, warning players, officials, clubs and supporters that they could face disciplinary sanctions, including expulsion from the BFA for serious offences. (DN)

PM ENCOURAGES MORE HUMAN INTERACTION – Prime Minister Mia Mottley wants there to be more intergenerational interactions across Barbados to deal with some of the emerging problems including the growing concern about mental issues among young people. Addressing the 2019 prize-giving and award ceremony at her alma mater Queen’s College in Husbands, St James, Mottley expressed concern that a lot of young people were spending more time playing video games and on their cell phones than getting involved in a sporting activity or interacting more with each other. Mottley, who dubbed her discourse The Pursuit of Truth and The Pursuit of Excellence, said her administration was keen on “creating a nurturing environment” for young people to succeed. Adding that she was worried there was less emphasis on team sports, Mottley disclosed that her administration was in the process of developing a “major initiative in cricket” that would create an avenue for young people to learn from older generations as they interact. “If we want to create the platform for intergeneration communication and intergenerational support and interclass support and all of the things that made us a balanced and safe society then we need to go back and create these institutions in our communities,” said Mottley. Reminding the boys and girls that the pursuit of excellence was “a journey and not a destination”, Mottley said while emphasis was often placed on individuals who did not excel, students that are exceptional in their capacity to learn and reason could also be “at risk” and they too should be encouraged. “I have been meeting with the fourth and fifth formers, and sixth formers where applicable, [to start that talk with them], because until we learn the heart of listening, until we share perspectives and understand where our children are and let them understand where we need them to go, and why certain values are important, we are not going to get anywhere,” said Mottley. “The conversations I find particularly enthralling as I move around this country and this region talking to persons under the age of 30 years old is their concern about mental health issues. I believe that a large part of it comes from not understanding how to negotiate and navigate success and failure,” she said. Mottley said while there was need for parental education and for teachers to help lead, families, communities and the wider society had to do a better job at talking with young people and not [talking]at them. Encouraging parents to become more active in their communities, the Prime Minister also called on young people to start using technology to their advantage and not to be limited by their geographic space. Noting that excellence was more than academics and extended to the ability to “manage people, manage relationships and manage friendships, Mottley pointed out that while economic issues were being addressed there was need to examine other areas. “All of that will come to nothing if we don’t get the equation right for you to be the future of this country, to help us with future Barbados and for you to understand that as you do it, the measurement of your success is not in scholarships and degrees alone, but in the content of your character, your ability to live good with one another, your ability to be able to manage conflict,” she told the large audience. (BT)

NO LONG TALK – Calling for an end to talk, an Anglican priest used the funeral of slain student Temario Holder to call for a national effort to quell violent crime that has claimed a record number of lives this year. As he delivered the sermon for the 16-year-old Frederick Smith student who was killed by a peer last month, Canon Curtis Goodridge called on Barbadians not to allow the teenager’s death, which sent shockwaves throughout the nation, to be in vain, but rather a wakeup call for action. He told a packed St Lucy Parish Church that Barbadians staying in their corners and worrying about the crime rate won’t resolve the issue. Canon Goodridge said: “The home, the school, the church, the Government, the private sector, all in the positions of authority, indeed all heads from the lowest to the highest must come together and seek the solution. “For I say to you, with God’s help, we shall come up with the solution. For God will provide us, once we put our heads together, with the wisdom, the knowledge and the understanding. “It must be arrested and arrested now. And I want to say to you this evening that if we are to deal with the violence in our schools we must first deal with it in society. “We must get to the root of this violence and those roots are spreading far and wide in this nation. “If it is to be dealt with in a serious manner, then the time for talk has long passed. “While we are talking, it is getting out of hand. We no longer need a lot of long talk; the time for action is now.” He said many of the nation’s children were in crisis and have been crying out for help and attention. He told the St Lucy’s congregation that Barbados could not afford to allow the future of the nation to fall by the wayside. He noted that all in society must play a role in rescuing them. Canon Goodridge said: “We all know that our country today is faced with many problems. “And no doubt, these problems are in some way impacting on the lives of our children. “ As a result, we have a lot of troubled, disturbed, angry and wrestles children with emotional problems. “And some seem to believe that the only way out is to act in a rash manner, to display deviant behaviour, a behaviour that was once foreign to this fair land.” The Anglican cleric also said that he believed the nation was suffering as a result of too many parents neglecting their parental responsibility and not taking their children to church. He charged parents to take the responsibility of raising their children more seriously. He declared: “Sometimes I wonder who is controlling who? Is [it] the parents controlling the children, or the children controlling the parents? There are some parents in this land who seem to be afraid of their children and instead of being in control; they are being controlled by the children. “Some parents are afraid to correct their children and that ought not to be. “Parents take charge of the children. Parents take charge of the home.” Canon Goodridge also criticised parents for rushing to their children’s defence even though they know they were in the wrong, describing it as a trend that should not be tolerated. He then advised the nation’s youth not to give others reason to speak ill of them. He advised: “Young people, don’t let nobody wash them mouth on you. Live a Godly life. Live a good life. “Your conduct must be impeccable. It must be of the highest standard. “If today’s young people would live out that advice given by St Paul, life in this country would be a lot better. “If only our young people would live out Paul’s advice to them, there will be respect for law and order in this country. “There will be respect for the sanctity of human life. “People will do to others as they would have others do to them. And believe me, brothers and sisters, we would have a little heaven down here.” Canon Goodridge also remarked that there were too many selfish people in society who only think about themselves and those close to them while remaining unbothered by what does not affect them directly. (BT)

TEARS FOR TEMARIO – Tears flowed this afternoon as hundreds gathered at the St Lucy Parish Church to bade farewell to 16-year-old Temario Holder, the Frederick Smith Secondary student who was stabbed to death at the Trents, St James institution on November 8. It was a difficult send off as Temario’s family and friends struggled to say good-bye. His distraught mother Sabrina Bishop cried out as she mourned the loss of her first born. Even before the service started, as scores streamed into the church, Bishop stood at the side of her son’s peach and white casket, in tears. For several minutes, she sat in a chair at the side of the casket grasping that final opportunity to look at his face. Students from Temario’s upper fifth year group wept quietly throughout the service, and several of them were supported by counsellors present. The tears continued to flow at the gravesite, especially as Temario’s casket was lowered. The teenager’s relatives hugged and supported each other. His hurting classmates huddled while teachers, many of them with tear stained cheeks, embraced their students. “I want him to come back,” one voice shouted amongst the tears. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw, several other Cabinet Ministers and leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Verla DePeiza, were amongst those officials who attended the funeral. Ministry officials, including Deputy Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson were also present. Temario was remembered as a caring son and loving big brother who was protective of his siblings. Those who gathered heard about how he took his role as a prefect seriously and that he proudly looked forward to graduation day. As he read the eulogy, Member of Parliament for St Lucy Peter Phillips shared some of the memories communicated to him by Temario’s family and friends. Phillips said he was told that Temario was the handyman of the house as he was talented and tried to fix anything that was broken and most of the time he was successful. “Another descriptive term that can be associated with Temario was fun-loving. His mom recalls those times spent together and in particular, visits to Flindt Restaurant. As they entered holding hands and enjoying their time together, Temario noticed that persons were staring quite intently and as if to read their minds, he said quite loudly, ‘don’t worry, she is my mother’. He loved his mom just as much as she loved him but he had one rule for her, that was no PAPP – no parental affection in public places, Phillips said. His dad Dane Miller recalled the times he and his son spent together and described Temario, a former student of Half Moon Fort Primary School, as a talkative individual who asked many questions. Miller pointed out that Temario was always willing to learn and had the ability to grasp things quite quickly as demonstrated when he was being taught to drive. Phillips said Temario’s grandmother and aunts reminisced about his culinary skills, especially his “mean” white rice and frizzled salt fish, and his ability to produce some of the “ugliest” but nice tasting bakes. The MP recalled that he met Temario six years ago at a popular liming spot in the constituency. “Today we’ve gathered to give thanks for the life of Temario or TeTe and we share in the pain associated with this moment with our tears, our words of comfort to his parents, relatives and friends. Let his life be a light and let this moment propel us to take time to care for our youth in particular and mankind in general,” Phillips said. Upper 5th year head Sandra Gilkes who delivered a tribute on behalf of Frederick Smith School said like a typical teenager, Temario had his days of following the crowd, but eventually became settled and started working steadfastly on his studies, particularly furniture making which was his passion. Gilkes said he was the life of his class as expressed by Principal Major Michael Boyce who taught him Career Guidance. She said his friends all spoke lovingly of him and they enjoyed his sense of humor. Gilkes explained that after showing an interest in bettering himself as well as his peers, Temario was selected to be a prefect. “Two weeks later, at the form level meeting, I told his mother that I was so happy and impressed by the changes I saw in Temario. She too was elated and expressed her gratitude to all the teachers who contributed to this turnaround. “During the meeting, I noticed the mutual love, respect and even playful banter between a son and his doting mother. At the end of the session, Temario said, “Mam, put down my name for graduation,” Gilkes recalled. One week later Temario was the toast of the school, having made it to the finals of the WorldSkills Barbados Juniors Competition in Cabinet Making even though he did not have much exposure to the use of the woodwork shop. “Yet another week later, Temario was taken from us,” Gilkes said. “I will certainly miss his goofy antics and his infectious smile. To his parents, your world was turned upside down and you unfortunately have to deal with all of this but you can be assured that you don’t have to bear it alone because the Frederick Smith Secondary School family will be there for you as we share your loss,” she added. Gilkes also remarked that even though the tragic situation “floored” her, she was hopeful that Temario’s death would be the catalyst for change in schools and will cause Frederick Smith Secondary, like the proverbial phoenix to rise from the ashes. “Come July 3, 2020 Temario will not be physically with us at our graduation but I will put his name and I am positive that his spirit will be there,” she said. Frederick Smith students carried Temario’s casket into the church. And the school’s choir rendered a beautiful tribute in song. It was a touching moment when Toni Hinds sang Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love of All. Delivering the sermon, Canon Curtis Goodridge asked those gathered to remember Temario’s close relatives and friends who are hurting.  “But we must also remember in our prayers the other family, for they too are hurting, they too are in pain and we must also pray that God will strengthen them. God will give them the grace to continue,” Goodridge said. (BT)

SIR WARRICK PASSES – Sir Warwick Franklin passed away last night. The 81-year-old held various posts within the Democratic Labour Party administration from 1986 to 1994 and was awarded the Knight of St Andrew in 2017 on the occasion of Barbados’ 51st Anniversary of Independence.   Sir Warwick served as Member of Parliament for St Philip North from 1981 to 1994 and held the ministerial portfolios of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Labour and Consumer Affairs and Trade. “I feel very privileged to be alive and to know that in some small way I contributed to my parish, my community and my country. I am very thankful for all of my supporters,” he said in 2017 when the honour was conferred. Sir Warwick was married to Grace for more than 50 years and had four children. (DN)

SENATORS WELCOME PRIDE OF BARBADOS AWARD – Senators were united across the party divide in giving their support to a new series of national awards – the Pride of Barbados – to recognise previously unsung heroes who have worked to improve the lot of people within their communities. In introducing the bill, the acting Leader of Government Business in the Senate Senator Kay McConney stated that the award, to be introduced as part of the We Gatherin’ 2020 initiative, empowers the Governor General to confer the award on the advice of the Prime Minister. The awards are to given throughout the year-long We Gatherin’ 2020 initiative, and thereafter each April 28 – National Heroes Day. Senator McConney announced: “There will be 20 awards per month, with ten people in Barbados and ten outside of Barbados in the Diaspora. “Any citizen of Barbados or person entitled to be a registered citizen of Barbados, or permanent resident of Barbados, who has worked diligently to make an outstanding contribution to community life, and the improvement of social and economic conditions in a particular parish of Barbados will be eligible.” She added that people living within the parish or who once resided within the given parishes will be able to nominate potential recipients who have contributed in terms of their humanitarian, social, religious or educational work. Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn praised the Government for establishing the award. He noted: “I have always complained that people in Barbados who really deserve honour don’t get it. “We have community practitioners who go out and spend their own money to do everything, and the only thing they get is a big funeral because everyone loved them; they are not recognised while alive.” Senator Franklyn, along with Senator Toni Moore, were of the view that such an award would inspire other Barbadians to go out and do more for their communities knowing that they would eventually get recognised for their work. The Opposition lawmaker recommended further perks for the awardees in addition to a badge or medal, suggesting “they should get some other type of special privilege, not necessarily a monetary reward, but perhaps a diplomatic or official passport”. Senator Moore said the recognition of these individuals would go a long way in rebuilding community spirit, something she said the country was presently lacking and was in urgent need of as the country rebuilds the economy. She told fellow senators: “The trade union and credit union movements were built on communities coming together, and this unity is what we need now more than ever to get where we need to go as a country. “This award has the potential to inspire others to follow in the footsteps of those being recognised. (BT)

CHRISTMAS CHEER . . . GG AND QEH OFFICIALS SHARE JOYS OF THE SEASON – Governor General Dame Sandra Mason today made her annual visit to the Pediatric Ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to spread Christmas cheer. Dame Sandra presented gifts to the young patients and took time out to chat with them and to give them a gentle touch and smile. Dame Sandra was accompanied by recently appointed Executive Chairman of the QEH Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland; Acting Chief Executive Officer Louise Bobb; and Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best, amongst other officials. Speaking to members of the media following the Governor General’s visit, which she described as a special occasion, Sutherland-Bynoe commented that this time of the year was usually difficult for some patients, particularly the elderly receiving long term care, who do not see or hear family or friends. As a result, the Executive Chairman encouraged churches, volunteers and people who are civic-minded to play a role in supporting these patients. “It may not seem like a lot, but take the time to spend it with someone, to read with them, to pray with them, to hold their hands and to show care is really important. At this time of the year, this kind of activity is particularly meaningful, but it is needed throughout the year,’ she said. The Executive Chairman announced that come 2020, QEH would be expanding its philanthropy and volunteer programme, which she said would go a long way in assisting the hospital staff to help meet the needs of all patients. “We are going to need a very strong volunteer effort. We are going to support and encourage volunteers much more actively than we have been, giving them rewards and recognition for their contributions. There are organisations [such as ] the League of Friends, Barbados Cancer Society, Cancer Support Services who every day in this hospital lend support to people,” she said. (BT)

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY FOR SCHOOLS NEXT WEEK – Public schools will close for the Christmas holidays next week. The last day of the Michaelmas term for students will be Thursday, December 12, and the following day for teachers. Three weeks have been allotted for the vacation, following which Term II (Hilary) begins for teachers on January 6 and students on January 7, 2020. The 12-week term will be punctuated with activities to mark African Awareness Month, in February, as well as the annual sports events, including the National Primary Schools’ and the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Athletics Championships. The second term ends on March 26, 2020, for students, and March 27 for teachers. (DN)

There are 26 days left in the year Shalom!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

[jaeyulliehyung]

I’ll Have What He’s Having - chapter one

The kid is sitting in the far corner of the cafe, eyes fixed on his phone across his drink. His lips are on the straw, but he’s not drinking, just frowning at his phone. He looks confused, a little bit frustrated, and goddamn adorable.

Well. Shit. It’s only Monday morning and already Tao’s found his crush of the week.

My lovely friend Sacha has very difficult assignments to write. She's going to get a chapter of this fic as a reward every time she needs an incentive to finish one.

XiuTao, first meeting, 1.5k (WIP)

The kid is sitting in the far corner of the cafe, eyes fixed on his phone across his drink. His lips are on the straw, but he’s not drinking, just frowning at his phone. He looks confused, a little bit frustrated, and goddamn adorable.

Well. Shit. It’s only Monday morning and already Tao’s found his crush of the week.

He eyes the kid all the way up the queue, until the cashier has to call a third hello in his direction to get his attention. Tao orders his peppermint mocha and retreats to the pickup counter to wait, still eyeing the kid. From this angle he has a better view of his profile, and he observes the slope of the kid’s nose, the pout of his lips, the curve of his jaw. There are no angles to his features - everything about him is gently rounded.

Watching him tap away at his phone, Tao amends his assessment: the kid isn’t just adorable, he’s positively beautiful.

His drink materialises on the counter next to him, and Tao murmurs a thank you to the barista. He glances back at the kid, then checks his watch and sighs. He needs to get to class.

He sends a silent whisper of thanks to the kid for gracing his morning. He’ll be thinking about that face all week - or at least until he spots someone else cute on campus.

-

By the end of his last class Tao is absolutely wiped out. His brain is six different kinds of scrambled, and he still has an essay and three hours of exam study to do.

He needs more coffee.

He’s halfway up the queue when he glances across the room and does a double-take. Not even three hours of Database Management could erase that face from his memory.

The kid is still sitting at the same table, still with his phone in his hand, still frowning at whatever’s on it. The only difference is that now he has two empty coffee cups beside the one he’s currently got a straw in.

What has the kid been doing on his phone that’s kept him glued to his seat all day? If it weren’t for the empty cups on the table Tao would almost believe he hadn’t even moved for the last eight hours. He looks more frustrated than he did this morning, and somehow even cuter for it.

Tao reaches the front of the queue, and the cashier asks him what he’d like.

“Whatever he’s having.”

The cashier follows his gaze, surprised when he indicates the kid.

“He’s had three of them today,” Tao reasons. “It must be good.”

The cashier shrugs and keys in his order. Tao pays - whatever the kid’s drink is, it’s a damn sight cheaper than a peppermint mocha - and steps over to the pickup counter to wait. The whole time, the kid keeps tapping away at his phone, the crease between his brows deepening as Tao watches.

“Here you are,” the barista says.

“Thanks.” Tao doesn’t even look at her, just takes the drink and turns to the kid. He’s glaring at his phone now, his lips pressed into a thin line, the straw chewed flat between his teeth. He looks pissed as hell, but there’s still something magnetic about him - as Tao realises when he finds himself somehow across the room, pulling out the empty chair and sitting down opposite the kid.

“Hey.”

The kid glances up from his phone. There’s an air of incredulity to his frustration now as he runs an eye over Tao’s face and goes back to his phone. “Hey.”

It’s not much of a conversation starter, but Tao’s worked tougher audiences than this.

“Are you in first year?”

A smirk flickers into the corner of the kid’s mouth. “Uh, yeah.”

At least he’s gotten a smile out of him now. Foot in the door, Tao thinks.

“You’ve been sitting here all day?”

“Yyyyep.”

He’s still focused on his phone, which Tao thinks is a little rude now that they’ve established that the kid is a first year and Tao is clearly not. He would have expected the kid to show a little more courtesy to his elders. Perhaps he’s just shy.

“You’ve been on your phone the whole time?”

“Mhm.”

“Drama in the group chat?”

The kid raises his eyebrows. “No.”

“What are you doing then?”

“Working.”

“Oh.”

There’s a moment of silence then, while the kid taps furiously at his phone and Tao searches for something else to say. After a minute the kid takes a sip from his chewed-up straw.

“What are you drinking?” Tao asks.

“Iced americano,” the kid mutters.

“Oh, me too!” Tao holds up his own cup, then brings the straw to his lips and takes a sip.

Oh, what the-

“Eugh!” Tao shudders and recoils, just barely resisting the urge to spit out his mouthful of poison. “What is this?”

The kid bursts into laughter. He drops his phone on the table and leans forward, his shoulders shaking as he presses a hand over his eyes.

“What the fuck?” Tao glares at the cup. “How can you drink this awful stuff?”

“Very easily!” the kid hiccups, picking up his own half-empty cup. “Serves you right for letting a stranger choose your drink for you.” He’s still laughing as he toasts Tao with his cup and takes a long drag from the straw.

Tao glowers at the coffee. “This is disgusting.”

The kid shrugs. “I like it.” He sets his cup down and wipes the tears from his eyes with a giggle. “What’s your name?”

“Tao - Zitao.”

“Nice to meet you, Tao-Zitao. I’m Kim Minseok.”

“It’s a pleasure. I wish I could say the same for the coffee.”

Minseok grins and takes another gulp from his cup. Tao can’t believe he’s managed to drink even one of those, let alone three.

“What do you study, Tao?”

“Software Engineering. Third year.” Tao slides his Programming textbook partway out of his bag, and Minseok nods.

“Fun stuff.”

“Yeah, it’s alright. What about you?”

“Music,” Minseok says.

“Oh, cool. Is that what you’ve been working on today?”

“Yep.”

“Is it hard?”

Minseok shakes his head. “Not particularly.”

“Then what were you so annoyed about earlier?”

“Some idiot in the queue who wouldn’t stop staring at me.”

Tao opens his mouth to ask who that was, then snaps it closed again, his face flaming at the sight of Minseok’s grin.

“My bad,” he mutters.

Minseok just laughs at him.

“Anyway,” he says, “I gotta get going to my tutorial in about ten minutes, but I just want to finish this first.” He picks up his phone and unlocks it again, and Tao gets a glimpse of the screen. It’s a page of music, only half the staves filled, and as Tao watches Minseok taps a note from the bottom of the screen and sets it on the page - the tune is his own creation, Tao realises, then with a further shock notices that there are no headphones plugged in; Minseok is composing entirely in his head.

“Woah,” he breathes. “What kind of shit do they get you doing in first year music?”

Minseok smirks at his phone. “You’d be surprised.”

“Minseok!”

The shout comes from the front of the cafe, and Minseok’s head jerks towards the sound. Tao follows his gaze and sees a man he recognises from last year’s prizegiving as one of the music department’s esteemed graduate scholars, briefcase under his arm, nodding towards the door.

“Junmyeon!” Minseok shoves his phone into his pocket and jumps up. “I’m just coming! You get a headstart, I’ll catch you up.”

“Junmyeon?” Tao stares at him incredulously as he slings his bag over his shoulder. “What are you doing calling your senior by his first name?”

Minseok snorts. “Junmyeon ain’t my senior.”

Tao scrambles to follow him as he saunters over to the recycling to dump his empty cups. “What do you mean? I thought you were a first year?”

“Uh, yeah.” Minseok turns and smirks at him. “First year of my PhD.”

Tao’s jaw drops. “What? How old are you?”

“Twenty-eight.”

Tao would have bet his left shoe that Minseok was at least ten years younger than that.

“Anyway,” Minseok says, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have a tutorial to teach. Third years. They’re a good bunch of kids.” He grins up at Tao, glittering with wicked amusement. “I’ll see you around, Tao-Zitao. Enjoy your coffee!”

He skips away, leaving Tao standing there staring after him. In the doorway, Minseok pauses and turns, catches Tao’s eye, and blows him a kiss. Then he’s gone with a laugh, absorbed into the bustle of students outside. Tao blinks at the doorway for a moment, then takes a sip of his coffee.

“Oh, gross.” He pulls a face at the cup and drops it into the bin. “I don’t understand how anyone can drink you.”

As he heads for the library, he wonders what Minseok thinks of peppermint mochas.

#fanfic #fluff #romance #wip #xiutao

[albinohare]

Fastnet Race winners: Wizard claims overall prize while French crews dominate

American VO70 Wizard wins the Rolex Fastnet Race overall, while French JPK yachts dominate the IRC classes

The stars’n’stripes liveried American Volvo 70 Wizard has been confirmed as the overall IRC winner of this year’ Rolex Fastnet Race.

Brothers David and Peter Askew from Detroit finished in 1 day and 27 hours to score an unbeatable corrected time on their first attempt.

The victorious Wizard crew. Photo: Paul Wyeth/pwpictures

Wizard is the former Volvo Ocean Race-winning Groupama 4, and was sailed with a hugely experienced crew including Charlie Enright and Mark Towill, Rob Greenhalgh and navigator Will Oxley.

Wizard's amazing winning streak: 1st overall in the Rolex Fastnet Race

1st in the RORC Caribbean 600 1st in the Transatlantic Race 1st overall in the Rolex Fastnet Race These guys are on fire! Congratulations Wizard! Yachting World #RolexFastnetRace coverage in association with #Musto #TheInsideEdge

Posted by Yachting World on Friday, August 9, 2019

The Wizard crew were able to keep boatspeed up to stay with the bigger maxis during the light winds transition phase on the first night of the race, pushed the robust VO70 hard through the 25-knot plus conditions on the approach to the Rock, and finished within two hours of the line honours winners Rambler 88 to take the Fastnet Challenge Cup, the overall IRC prize.

The Fastnet trophy is the latest in an impressive winning streak for the Wizard programme, which has seen them take the RORC Caribbean 600 overall prize in February this year, and then win the Transatlantic Race last month.

David and Peter Askew’s Wizard has won the 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race overall

David said after the Fastnet finish: “[Our winning streak] can’t last forever – you just try to make it last as long as you can. That being said, we definitely have a formula. We decide what we want to do and then find the right machine and the right people to get it done.”

Navigator Will Oxley added: “The crew work was just excellent. Every manoeuvre was done really well. We used all the sails in the right order. We never had the wrong sail up. Charlie made an excellent call that we change directly from the masthead Code 0 to the J2, so we were under-wicked heading out to the Rock for the first hours, but then we didn’t have to do the change from the J1 to the J2.

“On these boats they are hanked sails and trying to get rid of the J1 and put the J2 up in those conditions is very difficult so that was another key moment.”

Apart from Wizard’s win in IRC Overall and Zero, and USA 25555 Rambler 88’s monohull line honours win, it has been a near clean sweep for French entries in this year’s race.

Jacques Pelletier took IRC 1 in his Milon 41 L’Ange de Milon, which he describes as a ‘prototype’ of the JPK 1010, also designed by Jacques Vader, who draws the successful JPK line.

Géry Trentesaux’s JPK 11.80 Courrier Recommandé took 1st place in IRC 1

Their win was the first of a near total command of the smaller IRC classes by the Valer-Jean Pierre Kelbert partnership. In IRC 2 Géry Trentesaux’s well-sailed JPK 11.80 Courrier Recommandé took 1st place, with three of the top four boats being 11.80s.

In IRC 3 their domination was even more complete. Jean Pierre Kelbert himself was sailing with Alexis Loison, overall race winner in 2013. The double-handed pair sailed the JPK 10.80 Léon to class win, with no fewer than six of the top seven boats in class in being 10.80s.

Léon fishing into Plymouth

The only exception was 2nd placed Henry Bomby and Hannah Diamond on their brand new Sunfast 3300 Fastrak XII. Léon and Fastrak XII were also 1st and 2nd respectively in the exceptionally competitive double-handed division.

The pattern repeated yet again in IRC 4, with JPK 10.10s taking the top two places and filling half of the top 10 in the 87-boat fleet. Noel Racine’s Foggy Dew added another trophy to the cabinet to take the class win.

Alexis Loison and Jean-Pierre Kelbert won IRC 3 and the double-handed division on the JPK 10.30 Léon. Photo: Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

But as crews await tonight’s Rolex Fastnet Race prizegiving, the stories of the race have been much more about the winners – the teenage crew of Scaramouche from Greig City Academy who pushed on despite shredding two spinnakers, Susan Glenny’s team on Team Tigress who had to sail almost the entire race with two reefs in after ripping the mainsail in the early stages of the race, and the beautiful classic yachts who have sedately arrived into Plymouth over the final days.

The Greig City Academy school team Scaramouche crossing the line. Photo: Paul Wyeth/pwpictures

Among the classics, Lulotte was awarded this year’s Sparkman and Stephens Trophy. Owner Ben Morris bought the S&S yawl a decade ago in the Caribbean, before sailing it across the Atlantic with no engine and battling 10 days of gales that blew out most of Lulotte’s sails before arriving in Dartmouth where she was lovingly restored.

“Going around the Fastnet Rock we have a little tradition – we have a family house on Heir Island overlooking the rock. As we rounded the Fastnet Lighthouse all of the wonderful crew enjoyed roast lamb,” said Ben, a veteran of eight Fastnets.

“Lulotte goes to windward well, but off the breeze with a mizzen staysail up you are having to work the wheel quite hard, but she looks after us and you never feel in danger. We hit 15 knots surfing down a wave coming home – she’s a Devon girl!”

Around 11 yachts are still racing, including the Rogers family on the Contessa 32 Assent, who have around  70 miles still to go on Thursday evening.

For all our Fastnet videos from Cowes and the finish in Plymouth, visit our You Tube channel.

The post Fastnet Race winners: Wizard claims overall prize while French crews dominate appeared first on Yachting World.

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from WordPress http://www.amansions.com/fastnet-race-winners-wizard-claims-overall-prize-while-french-crews-dominate/

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[rubicon3sailing]

Hummingbird’s ARC+ draws to a close until 2019!

And then there were nine. After six weeks and well over 3,000 miles, the intrepid crew of Hummingbird are starting to head their separate ways. This morning, we bade a fond farewell to our Italian admiral Rene, who clambered into the dinghy with a bag bigger than he was and set off towards new adventures in Martinique.

Sad though we were to lose him, there was a day's fine sailing to enjoy. Navigator Steve piloted us out of the anchorage in St Anne, waved his hand vaguely southwards, said "St Lucia's over there" and promptly fell asleep.

He missed a wonderful final passage, with Force 5 easterlies right on the beam zipping us back towards Rodney Bay with massive smiles on our faces. DJ Clare was in the house, supplying Gary with the rocking sounds of The Proclaimers and Queen that literally had him bouncing for joy on the big ball fender.

Safely back in the marina, we washed down the important parts on the deck, washed down the important parts on ourselves, and are now ready to head to Spinnakers Bar for our final crew meal. Clare has branded us all with anchor tattoos to commemorate our Atlantic crossing and we're definitely in the mood to have an evening we can't remember.

We had some prizes at dinner since we never won any at our 2 prizegivings. First award was our 'intrepid wanderer' which went to Stephen. Even the shortest trip ashore and Stephen Cape back with tales of trips to the other side of the island. Second prize of the night went to Liz as the 'crew mermaid'. Even the slightest hint of a swim and she was snorkelled up and diving off the pullpit! Next on the list was our 'safety prize'. Danny was our recipient who at one point was tethered to the boat by 4 safety lines, no one can still work out how that was even possible. Hummingbird's very own 'stud muffin' was next with Charlie showing his son how it should be done, chief whisky dispenser and almost last to bed every night was asked on numerous occasions "you need some company?" on his way back to the boat. A combined award of Chief washer upper, leader of the insomnia watch and coffee king was Gary, remarkably never been on a boat before but always an hour early for his watch even at 3am. Incredible! Our 'where the hell are we' award went to navigator extraordinaire and watch leader Terry who mastered the sextant and filled his head with many numbers from the celestial almanacs to impress his wife Jacquline with when he gets home. Finally Clare was awarded with the 'synchronised turtle swimming' award after her exploits in the Tobago Cays where the turtles enjoyed their lesson and now swim round incircles.

Farewell from us all...it's been an absolute blast.

For the final time, Hummingbird out.....

#hummingbird

[rnrmarineservices-blog]

Volvo Ocean Race confirm next race will be held in IMOCA 60s – but opinions are divided among crews

Volvo Ocean Race organisers have confirmed that the 2021 edition will be held in IMOCA 60 designs. We spoke to sailors and team organisers about what a change of class might mean for the race:

After months of speculation – Yachting World broke the story than the IMOCA 60 class were in the final stages of negotiation with the Volvo Ocean Race back in April – organisers have confirmed that the next edition of the crewed multi-stage round the world race will take place in IMOCA 60 class yachts.

In the very final days of the race, a confidential Educational Session for interested parties was held around the IMOCA Class Rules in The Hague last week. The announcement was only publically confirmed yesterday, after the prizegivings for the 2017-18 event had been held and the Volvo Ocean Race teams and sponsors dispersed.

At the session, sailors and team managers from the most recent Volvo Ocean Race and IMOCA events, along with yacht designers currently involved in construction of new IMOCA Class boats such as Guillaume Verdier and Juan Kouyoumdjian, discussed the changes.

Co-President of the Volvo Ocean Race, Johan Salen, presenting at the IMOCA 60 partnership information session in The Hague, 28th June 2018.

“This is a first step of many in preparing for the next edition of the race in 2021,” said Johan Salén , co-President of the race. “There is an ongoing co-operation process to put in place the elements we need to make the next race a success from a sporting and business point of view.

“This is a complex matter with many perspectives, and we are respectfully welcoming continuous input from all key stakeholders, from World Sailing to individual sailors, teams and partners. We are confident that this is the right way forward.”

Organisers are certainly likely to receive plenty of input – during my visit to the last stage of the Volvo Ocean Race, before the announcement was made, I spoke to numerous sailors about the possible choices of boat for future editions of the race and found almost no consensus.

Team Brunel skipper and eight-time race expert Bouwe Bekking was a big proponent of the IMOCA 60 plan. Peter Burling, helmsman on Brunel, speculated: “I'm not sure if the exact IMOCA rule would work well for the Volvo, maybe a variant of that rule. For me it's just got to be fast and modern, and I think they've got to make the race shorter as well.”

David Witt, skipper of Sun Hung Kai Scallywag, told me: “I think the IMOCA 60 would be a mistake. I have a feeling their [organisers'] motive is to try and get the Hugo Bosses and big corporates to come in from the Vendée Globe.” Witt was concerned the move might make the Volvo Ocean Race a second-tier event in the IMOCA calendar to the single-handed Vendée Globe.

Chris Nicholson, watch captain on Team AkzoNobel and a veteran of six Whitbread/Volvo races, supported using the one-design 65s again. He was among those that raised concerns about the robustness of the existing IMOCA design.

“A current IMOCA boat won't handle a crew of four or five, so that has to be a complete structural redesign,” Nicholson said. “I wouldn't sail around the world in an IMOCA boat with five of us Volvo-type sailors. If you had a race like we've just had, I don't believe it would handle it.”

Bruno Dubois, team manager for winners Dongfeng Race Team, felt that the race needed to modernise: “I think if we go with a boat with no foils we are in the Stone Age,” he said.

“We have to be at the forefront of what's going on. I think IMOCA are strong boats, they would have to be modified to sail with crew, but it is a way to go to get development.” Dubois also suggested using the 65s as a 'B' fleet, restricted by a gender, age or nationality rule. The future of the Volvo 65s is yet to be announced.

The current crop of IMOCA 60s more usually race single- or double-handed. 'Fully crewed racing', with four or five crew, is limited to a few events such as the Rolex Fastnet Race are. Photo Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

In yesterday's press release, organisers say a joint committee is being formed to draft a specific section of the IMOCA class rules for a crewed IMOCA 60, “respecting the spirit and intent of the partnership, which includes cost control, security and sporting fairness”.

The committee will have to consider factors such as whether any more components are made one-design to reduce costs, and any necessary structural modifications to ensure the boats' reliability – many have speculated that the race could once again be dominated by rig failures, after just two rig breakages in 14 circumnavigations by the robustly over-built 65s across the last two editions of the race.

Critically, the rule relating to crew numbers on board the IMOCA class is still to be determined and among the items under consideration. Organisers say they have “the goal of retaining an On Board Reporter role”.

One issue with the IMOCA 60 plan is that it is likely to greatly reduce the number of crew racing at any one time – although sailors may be rotated in a squad. This could put one of the biggest legacies of this race, the gender crew rule that saw 23 women sailors racing in mixed crews, in jeopardy, although organisers have said it is a trend they hope to continue.

“Moving the race into foiling monohulls under the IMOCA class will motivate more sailors, teams and the wider marine industry to prepare for the next edition,” Salén commented in the press release. “Partnering with the existing IMOCA infrastructure means the professional offshore sailing calendar becomes more unified and efficient, this helps the sport as a whole and helps to build a sustainable business model for teams and sailors.”

Tough audience? IMOCA designer Guillaume Verdier talks to sailors and team managers in The Hague.

Part of this plan is likely to involve extending the calendar of events beyond a single round the world race every three or four years. “It has been quite difficult, and also not sustainable, to build a boat that is not very well adapted to use for other events,” Salén told me by phone before the announcement.

“So we are trying to get more continuity for the teams. To achieve that the IMOCA class is a very attractive option because there is so much in place already. The teams can go to a sponsor with an agenda with events every year and a four-year cycle, much more continuity and a much better resale value for the boats.”

Salén says they are considering options that include a round Europe race to cover key sponsorship markets, as well as ocean courses, such as a transatlantic, but the current IMOCA calendar is governed by the next Vendée Globe, starting in November 2020.

Winning skipper Charles Caudrelier of Dongfeng Race Team has competed in the IMOCA class previously. “This change is very exciting,” Caudrelier said in the event press release. “The Open 60s are just amazing boats. I really enjoy sailing on these boats and I think when people see it, they will enjoy it. If the two best offshore races in the world are going to join the same class, to me it's good news.”

“I think as a sailor, this is very exciting,” said Bekking. “For the younger generation of sailors, they're all about foiling and surfing and going fast and you have to get the best sailors involved in the race. With the Open 60s, they've nailed it, because this is what the sailors want.”

“We're trying to make a boat for the future that is capable of doing both short-handed and fully-crewed races,” said the highly successful IMOCA designer Guillaume Verdier. “My opinion is that it is doable with a bit of compromise from both worlds to meet in the middle.”

Nick Bice, who has been running The Boatyard shared maintenance department for the Volvo 65s, is leading the development of the new rule.

“The process is just starting,” said Nick Bice, who is leading the project to develop the Open 60 rule for the next race. “We'll forward everyone's input to the joint committee and get started on developing the rules that will be used for Open 60s to participate in the next race. Our goal is to have this ready to go by the end of the year.”

We look at more of the questions surrounding the future of the race, including opportunities for female crew and possible future routes, in the August issue of Yachting World, out on Thursday 5thJuly. We also have a personal account from Dongfeng Race Team's skipper Charles Caudrelier and shoreside navigator Marcel Van Triest of how the final leg and overall race was won.

The post Volvo Ocean Race confirm next race will be held in IMOCA 60s – but opinions are divided among crews appeared first on Yachting World.

[droneracingleague-blog]

MultiGP Peachtree Cup — Region 2A Drone Racing Final

$1,200 in cash and prizes or more to the winners of the race, a raffle and other contests! (NOTE: based on sponsor and pilot participation)

The MultiGP Peachtree Cup is the pinnacle of the Region 2A racing series and the final racing qualifier for the much anticipated MultiGP National Drone Racing Championship to be held at the iconic 54th Annual Air Racing Championship in Reno, NV September 13th-17th, 2017.

The Peachtree Cup — Region 2A Final is about bringing the FPV drone community to together for a weekend of competition, adventure and fun. The weekend is designed for everyone passionate about FPV multirotors. It will be an experience that appeals to the curious, enthusiast, RC Modeler, FPV Freestyle Pilot, Drone Operator, Drone Racing Pilot and/or fan.

The participating MultiGP Chapters bring together enthusiasts in their respective communities. The Peachtree Cup takes this to the next level by bringing these communities together in an extraordinary event centered around the hobby we all love. The Chapters involved include:

DRC (Atlanta, GA)

South Atlanta FPV (PTC, GA)

Happy Quads (Columbia, SC)

Music City MultiRotor Club (Nashville, TN)

Rocket City FPV Racing (Huntsville, AL)

FPV South (Birmingham, AL)

Delta 5 (Daphne, AL)

It is also an event that has been designed to be fun for the entire family. Peachtree City, GA, famous for its 100 miles of multi-use golf cart paths, is a unique family friendly location with a rich set of family activities that will keep all ages busy.

Everyone is promised to have a good time and meet some of the best people from in town and out of town.

If you are a spectator or an enthusiast, please bring a chair and all the questions you have about the sport of FPV Drone Racing.

We hope to see everyone there!

Sponsorship & Vendor Inquiries: [email protected]

Open FPV Drone Racing Course Participants Requirements:

For best experience please have a 40 channel vTX capable of doing 25mw.

Pay Registration Fee

Region 2A Finals Race Requirements:

Must be Pre-qualified via one of the seven (7) region 2a qualifiers;

NOTE: There is a possibility of a “Last Chance” Qualifier dependant on unfilled pilot spots (35 qualified spots).

Pay Registration Fee

NOTE: Spectators are always FREE!

Additional details and participating pilot requirements:

Ground Stations: We will provide ground stations, so you need to be ready to plug and play with your goggles. This is optional but we are not responsible for video quality if you use your own equipment.

Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Membership: We will be requiring a valid current AMA membership for all pilots who wish to fly at any of our organized public racing events. Register HERE.

40 Channel vTX/Antennas: We require 40 channel compliant vTX’s for our races. You must have 25mw capabilities. Please come prepared to change your vTX and/or the channel/band and/or the power of your vTX as needed for each race. We also recommend having both RHCP & LHCP Antenna.

Trackmate Transponders: We will be requiring the use of a Trackmate Racing transponder in order to officially track lap counts and lap times. You can purchase it directly at http://goo.gl/2UAWjn or purchase ($50) or rent one ($12) at the race. You MUST have a servo lead soldered so you can plug in the transponder:

NOTE: Come prepared or you will not be able to race!

Register as a pilot for the race after you purchase your ticket:

Friday Practice: https://tinyurl.com/y9s2dyax

Saturday Practice: https://tinyurl.com/yajove7m

Race: https://tinyurl.com/yapqpnyh

Finals Track Open — Sat: https://tinyurl.com/yaa3zaok

Finals Track Open — Sun: https://tinyurl.com/y9u9xwc3

Open Track Racing — Fri: https://tinyurl.com/y87gwch3

Open Track Racing — Sat: https://tinyurl.com/y9dyejhm

“Pizza and Beer” Friday TinyWhoop: https://tinyurl.com/y9ff6387

Peachtree Cup Prize Giving TinyWhoop: https://tinyurl.com/y7o897hn

“Quads ‘n Carts” Scavenger Hunt: https://tinyurl.com/yblercfr

Event Schedule:Friday, July 28

Regional Finals Track:

11:00am — Practice open for Qualified Pilots

3:00pm — Practice open for Qualified Pilots and Late Qualifiers

4:00pm — Practice open for Qualified Pilots only

5:00pm — Late qualifiers (based on available slots)

8:00pm — Track closes

Open FPV Drone Racing Track:

12:00pm — Self serve “Buffet-style” 2.5min racing all day long

8:00pm — Track closes

Pizza and Beer social (Partners II Pizza):

7:30pm — “There is a Whoop in my beer!” Pizza social and LED lit track Tiny Whoop Partners II Pizza

Saturday, July 29

Regional Finals Track:

7:00am — Late qualifiers (if required) or practice for Qualified Pilots

10:00am — Practice for Qualified Pilots

12:00pm — Region 2A Finals Race

5:00pm — Finals track open to all pilots “Buffet-Style” 2min racing

7:00pm — Track closes

Open FPV Drone Racing Track:

9:00am — Self serve “Buffet-style” 2.5min racing all day long

7:00pm — Track closes

Prizegiving Dinner (Crowne Plaza Peachtree City):

7:00pm — BBQ and Burgers with prizes

7:00pm — Tiny whoop race

10:00pm — function closes

Sunday July 30

Regional Finals Track:

8:00am — Finals track open to all pilots “Buffet-Style” 2min racing

1:00pm — Track closes

Open FPV Drone Racing Track:

8:00am — Self serve “Buffet-style” 2.5min racing

1:00pm — Track closes

“Quads and Carts” Scavenger Hunt (starts at the Regional Finals Track)

10:00am — an outrageously fun Golf cart scavenger hunt around the scenic Lake Peachtree using FPV quads to uncover clues

12:00am — Prizegiving

Address: 176 Wisdom Rd, Peachtree City, GA 30269

Venue Layout: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1REUljUfZ3WqYtlZYEjCHEFmiqCU&usp=sharing

9.2 Format for Regional Finals

Best 3 out of 5 rounds. This allows for Championship Invites since everyone is racing on the same course with the same number of rounds. We can seed based on who completed the most laps in the least amount of time (very similar to UTT).

Completed Laps counted

Fixed time: 2 minutes

Finish last lap after timer sounds and count if finished

Ties are determined by lowest time

Heads up start (no staggered start)

9.3 Classes

Only 1 class is run: 4s Class

For more information & Source. Click here: https://goo.gl/hYcQMZ

#droneracing #drone

[albinohare]

Volvo Ocean Race confirm next race will be held in IMOCA 60s – but opinions are divided among crews

Volvo Ocean Race organisers have confirmed that the 2021 edition will be held in IMOCA 60 designs. We spoke to sailors and team organisers about what a change of class might mean for the race:

After months of speculation – Yachting World broke the story than the IMOCA 60 class were in the final stages of negotiation with the Volvo Ocean Race back in April – organisers have confirmed that the next edition of the crewed multi-stage round the world race will take place in IMOCA 60 class yachts.

In the very final days of the race, a confidential Educational Session for interested parties was held around the IMOCA Class Rules in The Hague last week. The announcement was only publically confirmed on July 2, after the prizegivings for the 2017-18 event had been held and the Volvo Ocean Race teams and sponsors dispersed.

At the session, sailors and team managers from the most recent Volvo Ocean Race and IMOCA events, along with yacht designers currently involved in construction of new IMOCA Class boats such as Guillaume Verdier and Juan Kouyoumdjian, discussed the changes.

Co-President of the Volvo Ocean Race, Johan Salen, presenting at the IMOCA 60 partnership information session in The Hague, 28th June 2018.

“This is a first step of many in preparing for the next edition of the race in 2021,” said Johan Salén , co-President of the race. “There is an ongoing co-operation process to put in place the elements we need to make the next race a success from a sporting and business point of view.

“This is a complex matter with many perspectives, and we are respectfully welcoming continuous input from all key stakeholders, from World Sailing to individual sailors, teams and partners. We are confident that this is the right way forward.”

Organisers are certainly likely to receive plenty of input – during my visit to the last stage of the Volvo Ocean Race, before the announcement was made, I spoke to numerous sailors about the possible choices of boat for future editions of the race and found almost no consensus.

Team Brunel skipper and eight-time race expert Bouwe Bekking was a big proponent of the IMOCA 60 plan. Peter Burling, helmsman on Brunel, speculated: “I’m not sure if the exact IMOCA rule would work well for the Volvo, maybe a variant of that rule. For me it’s just got to be fast and modern, and I think they’ve got to make the race shorter as well.”

David Witt, skipper of Sun Hung Kai Scallywag, told me: “I think the IMOCA 60 would be a mistake. I have a feeling their [organisers’] motive is to try and get the Hugo Bosses and big corporates to come in from the Vendée Globe.” Witt was concerned the move might make the Volvo Ocean Race a second-tier event in the IMOCA calendar to the single-handed Vendée Globe.

Chris Nicholson, watch captain on Team AkzoNobel and a veteran of six Whitbread/Volvo races, supported using the one-design 65s again [Ed note: it was announced in a second announcement in late July that the 65s will be also return as a second class for the next race]. He was among those that raised concerns about the robustness of the existing IMOCA design.

“A current IMOCA boat won’t handle a crew of four or five, so that has to be a complete structural redesign,” Nicholson said. “I wouldn’t sail around the world in an IMOCA boat with five of us Volvo-type sailors. If you had a race like we’ve just had, I don’t believe it would handle it.”

Bruno Dubois, team manager for winners Dongfeng Race Team, felt that the race needed to modernise: “I think if we go with a boat with no foils we are in the Stone Age,” he said.

“We have to be at the forefront of what’s going on. I think IMOCA are strong boats, they would have to be modified to sail with crew, but it is a way to go to get development.” Dubois also suggested using the 65s as a ‘B’ fleet, restricted by a gender, age or nationality rule – at the time the future of the Volvo 65s hadn’t been announced, but organisers have since said that the class will have a strong focus on youth.

The current crop of IMOCA 60s more usually race single- or double-handed. ‘Fully crewed racing’, with four or five crew, is limited to a few events such as the Rolex Fastnet Race are. Photo Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

Organisers say a joint committee is being formed to draft a specific section of the IMOCA class rules for a crewed IMOCA 60, “respecting the spirit and intent of the partnership, which includes cost control, security and sporting fairness”.

The committee will have to consider factors such as whether any more components are made one-design to reduce costs, and any necessary structural modifications to ensure the boats’ reliability – many have speculated that the race could once again be dominated by rig failures, after just two rig breakages in 14 circumnavigations by the robustly over-built 65s across the last two editions of the race.

Critically, the rule relating to crew numbers on board the IMOCA class is still to be determined and among the items under consideration. Organisers say they have “the goal of retaining an On Board Reporter role”.

One issue with the IMOCA 60 plan is that it is likely to greatly reduce the number of crew racing at any one time – although sailors may be rotated in a squad. This could put one of the biggest legacies of this race, the gender crew rule that saw 23 women sailors racing in mixed crews, in jeopardy, although organisers have said it is a trend they hope to continue.

“Moving the race into foiling monohulls under the IMOCA class will motivate more sailors, teams and the wider marine industry to prepare for the next edition,” Salén commented in the press release. “Partnering with the existing IMOCA infrastructure means the professional offshore sailing calendar becomes more unified and efficient, this helps the sport as a whole and helps to build a sustainable business model for teams and sailors.”

Tough audience? IMOCA designer Guillaume Verdier talks to sailors and team managers in The Hague.

Part of this plan is likely to involve extending the calendar of events beyond a single round the world race every three or four years. “It has been quite difficult, and also not sustainable, to build a boat that is not very well adapted to use for other events,” Salén told me by phone before the announcement.

“So we are trying to get more continuity for the teams. To achieve that the IMOCA class is a very attractive option because there is so much in place already. The teams can go to a sponsor with an agenda with events every year and a four-year cycle, much more continuity and a much better resale value for the boats.”

Salén says they are considering options that include a round Europe race to cover key sponsorship markets, as well as ocean courses, such as a transatlantic, but the current IMOCA calendar is governed by the next Vendée Globe, starting in November 2020.

Winning skipper Charles Caudrelier of Dongfeng Race Team has competed in the IMOCA class previously. “This change is very exciting,” Caudrelier said in the event press release. “The Open 60s are just amazing boats. I really enjoy sailing on these boats and I think when people see it, they will enjoy it. If the two best offshore races in the world are going to join the same class, to me it’s good news.”

“I think as a sailor, this is very exciting,” said Bekking. “For the younger generation of sailors, they’re all about foiling and surfing and going fast and you have to get the best sailors involved in the race. With the Open 60s, they’ve nailed it, because this is what the sailors want.”

“We’re trying to make a boat for the future that is capable of doing both short-handed and fully-crewed races,” said the highly successful IMOCA designer Guillaume Verdier. “My opinion is that it is doable with a bit of compromise from both worlds to meet in the middle.”

Nick Bice, who has been running The Boatyard shared maintenance department for the Volvo 65s, is leading the development of the new rule.

“The process is just starting,” said Nick Bice, who is leading the project to develop the Open 60 rule for the next race. “We’ll forward everyone’s input to the joint committee and get started on developing the rules that will be used for Open 60s to participate in the next race. Our goal is to have this ready to go by the end of the year.”

We look at more of the questions surrounding the future of the race, including opportunities for female crew and possible future routes, in the August issue of Yachting World, out on Thursday 5thJuly. We also have a personal account from Dongfeng Race Team’s skipper Charles Caudrelier and shoreside navigator Marcel Van Triest of how the final leg and overall race was won.

The post Volvo Ocean Race confirm next race will be held in IMOCA 60s – but opinions are divided among crews appeared first on Yachting World.

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