Photo: Voyage 44 – Imagine – the 2024 Women’s Team catamaran. Photo: Garth Steyn.
For the past many years, Fope Fine Italian Jewelers, along with island retailer Ballerina Jewelers of Front Street and the Harbour, has sponsored a Women’s Team for the Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race & Rally held first weekend in February every year – and this year is no different.
For 2024, the team will sail on Imagine – a Voyage 44 – contributed to the Fope Women’s Team effort by Garth Steyn of the Maritime School of the West Indies located in Cole Bay. The Maritime school recently acquired Imagine as a training vessel for those unfamiliar with operating a specialised vessel like a large cruising catamaran. The crew for 2024 will include female sailors, ages 21 to 80 years old. (The 80-year-old is Garth’s sailing Mom). In the spirit of Voyage being a training vessel, Garth will be aboard to provide leadership, safety and other supervision. And new this year will be that the women’s team is sailing in the two-year-old Rally portion of the CMC.
A wide age spread of the women’s team is nothing new. In the many years of Fope’s great sponsorship; a diverse age range was always the case.
To highlight Fope’s brilliant sponsorship, Ballerina will set up a pop-up shop showcasing Fope’s best products at the SMYC; the shop operating each evening after prize giving. All are invited to stop by and meet the Ballerina and Fope staff who will be there exhibiting and demonstrating the wearability of their product in active sports like sailing and tennis.
