ST. LUCIA female laser radial, sailing competitor Stephanie Lovell is currently in Oman taking part in the world championships which commenced yesterday.
According to Lovell, this is an Olympic Games qualifier where the top four nations who have not yet qualified will gain spots into the games.
She said: “I have been here for five days and I am getting used to the conditions and also getting over jet lag. I am now eight hours ahead of St. Lucia”.
At present Lovell is training with some sailors from Canada and the Caribbean. She is also getting some coaching from the Canadian coach Chris Watters.
Lovell said that the conditions in Oman comprise mostly very choppy water and light to medium winds. Six races sailed over three days will make up the qualifying series followed by a lay day. The fleet will then be split into two halves with the top half in gold fleet and the bottom half in silver to race the final series over the next three days with another six races.
The first race every day begins at 1200 hours and is immediately followed by the second race of the day. Each race is scheduled to last around 60 minutes. Lovell said “I am feeling good about racing and I can’t wait to compete against the best in the world”.
To date St. Lucia has two qualifiers for Rio 2016, high jumper Levern Spencer and Jeannelle Scheper.