PERSONS who travelled to Guyana for the fifth International Nereid’s Yacht Rally were on Thursday treated to another warm welcome by the Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin and other Bartica officials at a launch and welcome reception at the Hurakabra River Resort, in Essequibo.

The rally was hosted by the Ministry of Business in collaboration with the Department of

Tourism and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
Co-owners of the resort, Kit and Gem Nascimento, were also in attendance, as were China’s Ambassador to Guyana H.E. Cui Jianchun and his wife and Commander of the Coast Guard, Colonel Orin Porter.

During his remarks at the simple ceremony, Gaskin showered praise on the organisers for continuing the event, given the possibilities it opens up for Guyana as a tourist destination.
“I want to express my gratitude to the people who have kept it going for the past five years. It’s still in its infancy, but it’s very important to maintain the continuity,” Gaskin said.

He also spoke of the plans to see a marina built for yachts as the event continues.
This year the event saw seven yachts coming to Guyana. An eighth yacht that was hoping to make the journey broke down while in Trinidad. The number of yachts was only half of those that came when the event was held yesterday.
Nascimento revealed that the number of yachts that came represented a significant decrease of the number that were originally scheduled, the reason being that several persons were deterred from coming after a mishap with the captain’s fee.

“We discovered that the captain’s fee for yachts coming to Guyana suddenly went from US$25 to US$100 overnight. When I discovered it I called the minister responsible for sport, the Minister responsible for Finance and I called the GRA. In the space of three or four days the fee went back down. The average of that fee throughout the Caribbean is US$20. But what it did was that it got abroad first and some yachts got discouraged. We might have had maybe three or four more yachts if that had not happened,” Nascimento explained.

Nascimento emphasised that the yacht rally was great PR for Guyana’s tourism industry, as the yachters were “tremendous communicators” who always go on to share their experiences.
In addition to taking in the Hurakabra resort, the yachters will be also be visiting the Iwokrama Rainforest, and the Kaieteur Falls. They also visited the Marshal Falls, and had a warm reception in Bartica as well.

The Nereid’s Rally was born as an idea of Italian sailor David Matelicani, who had retired from business in Australia. In sailing up the Essequibo River in 2011, he met with the Nascimentos, who, over many years, have been actively involved in working with the government to promote Guyana as a hurricane-free international yachting destination.

Matelicani, who had already started a marina in Saint Laurent, French Guiana, immediately saw the potential for developing a marina in the Essequibo River.
Guyana was first featured in the Doyle Cruising Guide, the bible for cruising yachts in the Caribbean, in 2006, as an attractive yachting destination.