Keeping It In The Family At The Delta Lloyd Regatta

At this year's Delta Lloyd Regatta everyone has stories and tales of their Olympic and sailing careers. But the tale of Father-Son Star combination John and Johnny Foster from the US Virgin Islands is unique. John, 73, and Johnny, 48, have sailed at three Summer Olympics together in the Star class. Their first was in Los Angeles, USA in 1994, their second came in Seoul, Korea 1988 and their last came in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Father John said, "We first joined forces in the Star for LA and we stayed with that programme through Barcelona and Korea. And we have been able to work together very nicely as a team as father and son on a boat." Johnny added, "We've done not only Star but loads through the Caribbean ever since I was nine hanging on the side and on the bow." John had previously sailed the Tempest at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany and in Kingston, Canada in 1976. Not only that, John competed for the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Canada with his son as first spare. The pair have been competing at ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas as they prepare to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, England, for what will be John's seventh Games and Johnny's fourth. "We've had a good time so far and learnt and lot and met a lot of competitors and learnt everybody. It's been very useful to tune up against some of the top sailors," said John.