Ahead of tomorrow’s official opening ceremony and junior prize giving event at the Barbados Yacht Club, spectators are being encouraged to fully support the activities of this year’s Barbados Sailing Week.
The call has come from Anies Jordan, Commercial Director, Mount Gay Distilleries.
As usual, the highlight of the week will be the Mount Gay Round Barbados race on January 21.
“Speaking of that inclusive spirit, as with every year, spectators will again be able to enjoy both races from several stunning viewpoints across the island. These include La Cabane, Bikini Beach and The Animal Flower Cave.
“At some of those locations we’ll have some special activity and some very special Mount Gay cocktails as well, and we encourage everyone to come out, enjoy the atmosphere, and support the sellers as they compete,” Jordan said.
Sports manager at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. Kamal Springer, hailed the long term impact of the event.
“My responsibility is to generate visitors and visitation and Barbados Sailing Week is a fantastic opportunity for us to do so. It’s now my third year of Barbados Sailing Week and it’s been incredible seeing the growth and the sustainability over that period of time,” he said.
Springer also praised the organizing team for the continued growth of the event.
“We’ve seen some growth over the last three years for the visiting yachts and it’s fantastic for us to be able to see that. Given where we were three years ago, to see that we’ve increased to having more visiting yachts than local yachts, is a fantastic accomplishment.
“It’s a really important part of our sports tourism strategy to grow events that were historically quite important, and Barbados Sailing Week is one of them,” Springer noted.
He said 2026 was shaping up to be a very active year for the BTMI, with growth in several major events, including next month’s Barbados Surf Pro.
“That’s expected to see significant growth coming up in February this year, so we’re going to see a lot more people coming in a little earlier. Barbados Ninja Throw Down broke records last year, similar to Barbados Rally Barbados, which also broke records. We are trying to see if we can further grow those events at different levels, similar to what we’re doing in Barbados Sailing Week,” Springer said.
The BTMI Manager said he expected the upcoming Roger Boyce Classic and the Caribbean Premier League finals scheduled for later this year to have a major impact.”
