Virgin Islands' sailor Thad A. Lettsome (ILCA7) competes on Day 1 of the Men’s Dinghy races at the Paris 2024 Games in Marseille, France. Photo: Worldsailing/Sander van der Boch

Thad A. Lettsome became the first athlete from the [British] Virgin Islands to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as he completed the first day of racing in the Men’s Dinghy ILCA7 today, August 1, 2024, in Marseille, France. Photo: BVIOC/Facebook

The schedule of events for [British] Virgin Islands' athletes at the Olympic Games in France. Photo: BVIOC/Facebook

Lettsome closed out the first day with a total of 78 points for a 40/43 position.

Launching his ILCA7 at 12:30 PM, Lettsome made his way to the start line for race 1 of 2. Finishing overall position 40/43, Lettsome said of the first race, “I felt race 1 was a sub-par start, which just made it hard the whole first part upwind, but there were moments where I was in the mix. I made a wrong decision halfway up the first beat, which put me from in the middle towards the back and, from there, you’re just fighting the whole time.”

Setback

Lettsome went on to climb a couple of spots for a 38^th place in race 2 after an incredible 11^th place in rounding the first mark.

“I did what I wanted to do and stuck to my plan and started on the right side and went out to the right side and was in a really good position to round the top mark,” said Lettsome. “But I got sucked into the mix on the downwind with a foul at the bottom mark, where we got shut out and I wasn’t able to round the mark – even though I had the right of way – and it just launched me to the back of the fleet, so I’m pretty upset about that.”

Lettsome rounded the 2^nd mark in position 21 and in position 38 around the final marks. On racing in the top 12 of the fleet upwind to the first mark, Lettsome said, “It shows that I can do it, but I just have to work on some little things and a couple of decisions, because the group ahead of me was just that further ahead and they didn’t end up in the mix that I did. I knew I was doing well so I am encouraged to hear that I was 11^th rounding the mark and plan to do it again tomorrow.”

Learning experience

Watching the racing from the venue at Plage de Prado, Team Leader Tamsin Rand explained that sailing in the lead pack – at times in 8^th and 9^th position – was no mean feat.

“Thad’s still young and he’s racing against much more experienced sailors, so to make it up in the top of the fleet and sustain the position rounding the mark is really quite remarkable,” said Rand. “It’s all about making the right decisions in these races. He’ll be going over today’s race with Coach Chris Watters and reviewing his tactical decisions to make adjustments in his next events.”

Lettsome competes in ILCA7 races 3 and 4 on Friday, August 2 with further twice-daily races on August 3, 4 and 5. The medal race takes place on August 6. 

Meanwhile, Track and field events for the VI athletes take place at the Stade de France in Paris and start on August 3 when Rikkoi A.R. Brathwaite will compete in the 100m rounds starting at 5:45 AM AST. Adaejah T. Hodge will take to the blocks in the 200m rounds on August 4 starting at 4:55 AM AST. Kyron A. McMaster competes in the 400m hurdles heats on August 5 starting at 4:05 AM AST.