12th SUN, SEA, and SLAMS BRIDGE VACATION

GRAND BARBADOS HOTEL

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS 
OCTOBER 17-21, 2001

The sun was capricious yet the players got their rays.

The sea was enticing 24 hours a day.

The slam was as always a challenge in bidding and play.

The Bajans opened their arms to the bridge community with their hospitality and welcomed the return of many regulars, including Barb & Alex's Canucks. Credit to the popularity, the BBL had no cancellations despite the world unrest.

My first clue that things would be strange was when the playing room was the same as last year but held fewer tables than I remembered. The hotel had remodeled and it was smaller! This became a problem in the 1st session of the Pelau when 16 tables showed up and we had to overflow to another room. Fortunately we were able to continue to use the second room, until the whole works had to be shifted to yet another room on Friday in under two hours!

There was a good turnout for the Wednesday Morning Pairs, and the Bajans took the top three spots. An old partnership of Pat Cummins & Ian Osborne solved the problems best with a solid 63.43%. Brenda Gonsalves & Sheila Murphy were 2nd at 60.19%, while Daphne & Tony Earlam shared 3rd with Martinicans Marie-Luce Rimbaud & Gilles Rougy.

The main events started Wednesday afternoon with the Pelau Pairs - 1st session, appropriately named for the variety of prizes that it awards. The Bajan Boys, Tony Watkins & Dave Blackman, showed they were ready despite the layoff with 66.67%. Canada laid claim to the next two spots with France & Bernard Marcoux at 63.94% and Barb Seagram & Alex Kornel with 60.58%. The Martinicans, Marie-Luce & Gilles, stood 4th 59.29% while more Canucks, Fran Chivers & David Baker, rounded out the top five.

With lots of pairs in the running for awards, the Pelau Pairs - 2nd session proved to be more than interesting. The Guyanese made their presence known with Amina Beepat & Sjietsen Tjon-Atsoi from Suriname topping the session at 65.22%. Bajan Jeffrey Newton teamed up with Valli Fung from Guyana for 2nd with 64.74%. 3rd went to Canucks Barb & Alex at 63.94%, closely followed by the Bajan Boys. Canadians Jean & Leslie Lovasz filled out the top 5 with 59.84%.

According to script, the Bajan Boys - Tony & Dave - won the Pelau Pairs - Final Overall with a fine two session score of 64.86%. They started well winning the 1st session and finished with a strong 2nd session. This proved too much for the Canucks - Barb & Alex - who grabbed the next spot with a solid 62.26%. France & Bernard from Quebec hung on to 3rd overall at 61.34%, holding off the South Americans - Amina & Sjietsen - who closed with 60.18% for 4th. Canadians Fran & David grabbed the lost slot in the top 5. The special prizes were awarded to

Another good crowd in the Thursday Morning Pairs, and the Matchpoint Marauders from Guyana - Dennis Beepat & Jacky Rampersaud - did it again! They won this event last year and repeated with 64.12%. They edged out a Canadian/Israeli combo of Nova Scotian Myrne Murphy and Allen Reiter with 62.73%. Locals Pat & Ian placed 3rd at 58.80%.

Thursday afternoon, we started the two-session team event. It was originally advertised as round-robin teams but with twelve teams entered, it was changed to Swiss Teams - 6 matches of 8 boards. At the half-time dinner break, the local team GILL led with 58 VPs. There were many teams still in the hunt, with Martinicans ROUGY and Canadians KORNEL tied at 55 VPs in 2nd. The NEWMAN internationals were chasing the leaders with 51 and local favorites WATKINS were 5th at 50 VPs. Just behind these leaders were BEEPAT, DICKENS, and BURNS at 49,48, and 45 VPs. After a break for dinner, the teams went back at it. The match-ups were interesting over the last three rounds, with Swiss Team winners KORNEL (Alex, Barb Seagram, Laurie & Peter Brand) overcoming a 3rd round 13-17 loss to GILL by posting wins of 18, 22, & 24 over NEWMAN, then BURNS, and finally BEEPAT. 2nd place went to the undefeated Bajans GILL (Michael, Leslie Atherley, Alan Moss, Charles Hollingsworth). After beating the winners in the 3rd round, they garnered 22, 16, & 21 versus ROUGY, WATKINS, and DICKENS in the last 3. Unfortunately they came up short in the last match when they needed 23 VPs to secure the title. 3rd overall went to locals WATKINS, who were unable to recover from their 5th round loss to GILL while BURNS grabbed 4th with a 6th round 25 VPs. The last opening in the top five went to locals COLLINS who also leaped over several teams with a final round 25 VPs.

The Friday Morning Pairs continued the tradition of good attendance and the Matchpoint Marauders did it again! Dennis & Jacky had another morning game double with a big 68.22% for 1st place. Canadians Fran & David also had a monster game, 67.62%, but had to settle for 2nd. The Canadian/Israeli connection of Myrna & Allen thought they did well with 62.44% and were surprised to be a distant 3rd.

After hustling to change playing rooms, the Bajan Pairs got started on-time Friday afternoon. This was a one session stratified event, with our Martinicans Marie-Luce Rimbaud and Gilles Rougy taking top honors in the open division with 61.38%. Swiss Team winners Laurie & Peter Brand finished 2nd with 60.90%, edging out the MM's in 3rd at 59.46%. The other half of the victorious Swiss Team, Alex & Barb, took 4th while locals Ann Evelyn & Roglyn Hinds tied the Brits Sue & Graham Dickens for 5th. In the other division, Bajans Eleanor Dottin & Ellna Hinds won top honors over Canucks Gloria Piekarz & Marion Scholer who tied for 2nd with Martinicans Denise Dorn & Nicolette Dabreteau.

I had to beg off the Friday evening outing to the Plantation for their Tropical Extravaganza. There was work to do and I had to seed the field for the three session championship pairs. The Bajan Boys, last year's winners, were a favorite but would be challenged by the tough field including the MM's, many Canucks, some Bajans, the GSA's, and the Brits. Good 1st and 2nd sessions could easily put a half dozen other contenders into the thick of things.

In the Saturday afternoon Championship Pairs - 1st Session, Canadians Fran Chivers & David Baker demonstrated their prowess with a fine 66.67% to take the big early lead. 2nd and 3rd went to locals, Alan Moss & Charles Hollingsworth at 62.52% and Tony Newton & Gord Howe at 60.42%. South Americans Amina Beepat & Sjietsen Tjon-Atsoi had a solid 4th with 58.45% while North Americans Wayne Sands & Carl Bolhuis finished 5th.

That evening, the Championship Pairs - 2nd Session saw the Canucks Fran & David once again leading the way with 61.01%. Bajans Adelle Springer & Yvonne Seale were clicking with 58.81% while the Bajan Boys started to flex their muscles in 3rd with 58.74%. Canadians France & Bernard Marcoux nipped out the MM's for 4th place, 56.25% to 55.70%. After two sessions of the Championship Pairs, Fran & David had a massive lead, 63.84% to 2nd place Bajan Boys 57.09%. This was about a four-board lead on the field - tough to beat. Amina & Sjietsen were lying 3rd at 56.49% whiel Wayne & Carl held down 4th at 56.05%. The French broke into the top five with Martinicans Jean Yves Dabreteau & Jean Rimbaud at 54.53%. Pairs in contention would need a monster game in the last session to have any hope of catching the leaders.

In the Championship Pairs - 3rd Session, the MM's Dennis & Jacky gave it their best with 65.75%, and at one time in the session were pushing 75%. 2nd in the session went to a couple of local bandits, Eustace Gay & George Bailey, with 59.21%. Bajans Michael Gill & Leslie Atherley copped 3rd at 58.30% while Trinis Roger Vieira & Nicky Inniss took 4th at 57.66%. Regular Richard Burns from the US and local Livingston Chase were 5th.

With all the numbers in and the protests heard, the Championship Pairs - Final Overall was won as expected by Canadians Fran Chivers & David Baker. Despite a mediocre 3rd session of 54.23%, their final total of 60.64% left them well clear of the field. The MM's from Guyana came on strong in the final session to grab 2nd spot at 56.00% while Wayne & Carl turned a couple of top 5 finishes into 3rd place with 55.33%. The Bajan Boys just could not mount a charge in the last session and had to settle for 4th with 55.08%, while Amina & the Surinamese volcano held on to 5th overall.

So another Sun, Sea, & Slams rolled to a close with a new emcee, Leslie Atherley, taking over the award ceremonies from long-time favorite, Jeffrey Newton. Leslie did a fine job and continued Jeffrey's tradition of receiving several prizes.

As promised last year, we had an impromptu Speedball on Friday night but too much rum punch at the Plantation sent the players to bed early.

See you all next year,

John

P.S. Did you win any CACBF Masterpoints this year?