The Apia Yacht Club Sailing Samoa is gearing up for the "Sheraton 2 Sheraton" La'auli Alan Grey memorial regatta set to commence today, 7 August.

The regatta was founded to honour the memory of the late great La'auli Alan Grey, son of the Aggie Grey Hotel's  former owner and founder

The race will start from the Apia harbor with the finish line set at the Mulifanua Sheraton Resort, covering a distance of more than 34 kilometers.

More than 20 paddlers have signed up for the competition, with the allocation of boats to the competitors and a briefing of what to expect at tomorrow's event held this afternoon at the AYC headquarters in Mulinuu.

Vice Commodore of the Apia Yacht Club & Sailing Samoa relayed in an interview with the Samoa Observer on Thursday said that all the sailors and competitors are excited about the "Sheraton 2 Sheraton" regatta. 

Stating that "This is this year's first real national competition where our sailors will participate in since the S.O.E restrictions by the government due to COVID-19."

 "About 20 plus sailing athletes including myself will take part in this year's event with all of them being local sailors," she said.

"Hopefully we get favorable weather conditions during the regatta which will ensure an exciting race between the participants in this year's event."

 "We shall be sailing the boats to the beach near the Sheraton Hotel in Apia at 6:00 pm, and then we'll start early on Saturday morning to sail to Mulinuu with the paddlers when the event starts," stated Raema von Reiche.

A local sailor who is also going to compete in the "Sheraton 2 Sheraton" regatta, Mr. Benoit stated that he is very much excited and really looking forward to the race on Saturday.

"I have been preparing for this for about two months now, and this is the first real chance this year I'll get to showcase my skills on the water when the regatta kick starts on Saturday."

He further relayed that he is not competing to just take part, but he is in it to win it. " For me, it's either going hard or go broke, because I'm not just here to enjoy myself and have fun, I'm here to challenge myself and test whether I have what it takes to compete at this level."

The Apia Yacht Club and Sailing Samoa has produced Samoa's first-ever Olympic sailor Eroni Leilua, who represented Samoa at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, and Vice Commodore Von Reiche believes that the club produces many more sailing prospects in the future.