The first sailing mentioned in Belize was by Columbus on his final voyage to the “New World” in 1502 still trying to find a route to the India. He sailed into the western Caribbean following the deepening waters toward two mountain ranges promising a passage. He called the area with unusually deep water ‘Honduras’. Lost again, he instead found the shallow mouth of the Sarstoon River with swampland to the north and high land to the south not the channel he had hopped. For thousands years earlier the indigenous people were paddlers. The stone age Maya plied trade and culture along the coast as far south as today’s Costa Rican coast and as far north as Florida. Sail technology progressed from square rigged Spanish galleons to smaller faster “Bermuda” rigged traders and fighting ships. The pirates used what they captured!
Human locomotion transitioned to water first by paddling. Fair wind sailing naturally progressed from the oar powered naval vessels that dominated the Mediterranean. At sea they defeated each other by “T-bone” ramming the opponent with purpose fitted rams! The Vikings are credited with discovering the relationship between the sail and the keel, to generate the propelling force by using the static resistance of water to transform the energy from the dynamic force of the wind on the sail. No longer was range limited by human muscles but instead by the amount of food and water that could be carried explaining why the Greeks and Romans could not venture far out of their sea.
In early Belize, first settled in 1630s, communication with the outside world was carried by sail. Cargo ships took out forest products more so after the Anglo/Spanish Treaty of 1786 and brought back manufactured goods and slaves. Soon the settlers were in violation of their treaty land limits, the Spanish attacked but were defeated in what was to be the last effort to remove the settlers in a naval engagement off St Georges Caye in 1798. For the next 100 years sail dominated the world’s waters carrying exploration and colonization. At the turn of the 20th Century sail rapidly gave way to steam then to internal combustion engines and metal hulls.
In 1926 an English seafarer and adventurer the Baron Victor Bliss of the Kingdom of Portugal arrived in Belize. He was so welcomed for the few weeks he lived here, that at his death on 9th March, he wiled his entire fortune to Belize with one stipulation being an annual regatta.
The regattas had various categories the largest being the sand lighters gaff rigged with up to 10 tons displacement hulls up to 50’ in length. They were shallow draft to operate in the inner sea and cross the river bars. The smallest entries were the sailing dories up to 16’, gaffed rigged and sailed by a crew of three. One on the helm, one bailing and the third being very nibble balancing his weight to keep the inherently rickety craft upright referred to as “hanging kingdola”. The popular gaff-rig’s strong point is its short mast with height added by the ‘gaff’ attached to the upper part of the sail.
As planning hulls developed, with retractable keels, these were added to the regatta schedules. Soon after the “one design” classes Sunfish, Laser and Optimist were included.
The initial regattas sailed under International Yacht Union Rules until 2011 when the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) was adopted. The Belize Sailing Association (BzSA) was formed in 2010 and achieved ‘national authority and full member of the world governing body for sailing’, on being admitted into the International Sailing Federation. The same year BzSA became a member of the International Optimist Association (IODA) benefitting from the 5:1 scheme whereby IODA funded one for every 5 Optimists purchased. Fund raising began in earnest and a 20’ container arrived with 22 locally funded and 4 IODA funded Optimist purchased from FaR East in Shanghai China. Seven clubs were formed and soon close to 200 children between the ages of 8 and 14 were learning to sail.
The catalyst for including ‘one design’ racing with the ‘Traditional Classes’ under RRS was a British born Canadian national that was transferred to Belize by his job. Like the Baron Bliss almost a hundred years before, he enjoyed sailing in the protected waters in his outrigger trimaran. Turned out, all his adult life he had competed for a place on Canada’s Olympic team but always dropped just short. He and a few members of the defunct Belize Yacht Club (BYC) formed the BzSA. The BYC had debuted in the 50s until Hurricane Hattie in 1961 destroyed its physical infrastructure that was never replaced. With BzSA sailing resumed in earnest initially with the Optimist Program, later stepping up to the Olympic single hand class Laser.
Further to the north about a hundred years ago a boat builder named Peter Young from Caye Caulker often travelled to Sarteneja (English corruption of the Yucatec words, “Sa tena Ha”, “we want water” due to the many natural limestone rainwater catchments) to purchase lumber. This northern shoulder of Belize has a hardwood forest close to the sea. Soon Peter Young transferred his boat building to Sarteneja. One dry season the shallow Corozal Bay, devoid of rain water, became salty and soon lobster was discovered triggering another new industry. The fishermen from Sarteneja travelled further and further away to collect lobster and scale fish. With the advent of ice, the gaff rigged fishing sloops converted the “wells”, water tight sections with ‘through hull’ holes flooded to keep fish alive, to ice foam boxes where processed fish catch was stored frozen for up to a week.
Today with high price of fuel the fishing fleet firmly relies on sail using engines only to get to windward. Sailing for fun is also a growing favourite tourist pastime. Several operators offer ‘sleep on’ tours in large sailing catamarans with luxurious berths and some striped spartan for day only cruises. A few traditional style wooden traditionally gaff rigged ‘Made in Sarteneja’ are also for used for day trips. Probably Sarteneja boat building will grow with the continued high price of fossil fuel and the need for greener transportation. The challenging sport of sailing will progress with our quest for Olympic Gold.
Gen Alan Usher
General (RET), Boater and founder Belize Sailing Association
The author of this article is General Alan Usher (RET) avid boater and founding member of the Belize Sailing Association. General Usher was the first commandant appointed to head the post-independence Belize Defence Force. He was educated in Belize and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst U.K. Article copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.
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