Category Archives: Bahamas

The Bahamas boys and Cayman Island girls came away with team titles at the 2017 CARIFTA Championships held in Nassau, Bahamas. Stock Photo via Funky Trunks

Both the Bahamas boys and Cayman Islands girls walked away with team titles at the 2017 CARIFTA Championships held in Nassau, Bahamas, with both earning emphatic victories in the points standings.

On the boys side Bahamas put up a staggering 459 points, nearly 100 clear of the runners-up from Guadeloupe (361.5). For the girls, the Cayman Islands put up 408 points, topping Trinidad & Tobago (332) and Jamaica (328.5).

Combined, Bahamas was well ahead with 799.5, followed by Guadeloupe (662) and Cayman Islands (621.5). Bahamas dominated the medal count with a leading total of 60, though Trinidad & Tobago managed to top the gold medal charts with 20.

The high point winners for the 11-12 age group both came from Bermuda, asElan Daley(80 pts) andSam Williamson(79) took the honors respectively.

Daley swam a plethora of events, picking up a total of five victories in the 50 back, 200 IM, 50 breast, 100 free and 50 free, including the middle three all coming on the third night of racing. Her time of 27.50 in the 50 free was the top 11-12 performance of the meet (642 FINA Pts). Williamson also swam a multitude of events, earning five victories as well with a sweep of the breaststroke and IM events.

Gabriela Donahue (57) of Trinidad and Tobago andNkosi Dunwoody(48) of Barbados earned top honors in the 13-14 category. Like Daley and Williamson, they both earned five individual wins apiece. Donahue swept the breaststroke events and added wins in the 50 fly and 50 back, while Dunwoody, like Williamson, swept the breaststroke and IM events.Ali Jackson of the Cayman Islands had the top 13-14 performance of the meet with her win in the 100 free in a time of 58.22 (714).

The 15-17 age category sawLauren Hew(67) of the Cayman Islands andPatrick Groters(61) of Aruba dominate, earning six wins each. Hew swept the backstroke events and added wins in the 100, 200 and 400 free. Groters also swept the back events, and added wins in the 200 and 400 IM and 400 free. Groters had the top four FINA point scoring swims in the age group, led by his 200 IM time of 2:04.69 (764).

James is currently a university swimmer for the Laurentian Voyageurs, where he is studying economics. Along with swimming, he also loves hockey. He's in his 11th season as a competitive swimmer.

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Bahamas, Cayman Islands Win 2017 CARIFTA Championship Titles - SwimSwam

The Bahamas boys and Cayman Island girls came away with team titles at the 2017 CARIFTA Championships held in Nassau, Bahamas. Stock Photo via Funky Trunks

Both the Bahamas boys and Cayman Islands girls walked away with team titles at the 2017 CARIFTA Championships held in Nassau, Bahamas, with both earning emphatic victories in the points standings.

On the boys side Bahamas put up a staggering 459 points, nearly 100 clear of the runners-up from Guadeloupe (361.5). For the girls, the Cayman Islands put up 408 points, topping Trinidad & Tobago (332) and Jamaica (328.5).

Combined, Bahamas was well ahead with 799.5, followed by Guadeloupe (662) and Cayman Islands (621.5). Bahamas dominated the medal count with a leading total of 60, though Trinidad & Tobago managed to top the gold medal charts with 20.

The high point winners for the 11-12 age group both came from Bermuda, asElan Daley(80 pts) andSam Williamson(79) took the honors respectively.

Daley swam a plethora of events, picking up a total of five victories in the 50 back, 200 IM, 50 breast, 100 free and 50 free, including the middle three all coming on the third night of racing. Her time of 27.50 in the 50 free was the top 11-12 performance of the meet (642 FINA Pts). Williamson also swam a multitude of events, earning five victories as well with a sweep of the breaststroke and IM events.

Gabriela Donahue (57) of Trinidad and Tobago andNkosi Dunwoody(48) of Barbados earned top honors in the 13-14 category. Like Daley and Williamson, they both earned five individual wins apiece. Donahue swept the breaststroke events and added wins in the 50 fly and 50 back, while Dunwoody, like Williamson, swept the breaststroke and IM events.Ali Jackson of the Cayman Islands had the top 13-14 performance of the meet with her win in the 100 free in a time of 58.22 (714).

The 15-17 age category sawLauren Hew(67) of the Cayman Islands andPatrick Groters(61) of Aruba dominate, earning six wins each. Hew swept the backstroke events and added wins in the 100, 200 and 400 free. Groters also swept the back events, and added wins in the 200 and 400 IM and 400 free. Groters had the top four FINA point scoring swims in the age group, led by his 200 IM time of 2:04.69 (764).

James is currently a university swimmer for the Laurentian Voyageurs, where he is studying economics. Along with swimming, he also loves hockey. He's in his 11th season as a competitive swimmer.

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Bahamas, Cayman Islands Win 2017 CLARFITA Championship Titles - SwimSwam

New York Times

Fyre Festival, a Luxury Music Weekend, Crumbles in the Bahamas New York Times A supposedly opulent music festival on a private island in the Bahamas, which was promoted as an unprecedented V.I.P. event by Instagram influencers including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, descended into dysfunction and disarray as soon as it ... Fyre Festival Postponed as Chaos Erupts at Ja Rule's Luxury Weekend Concert in the BahamasVariety 'Luxury' concert weekend in Bahamas turns into nightmareLocal 10 Luxury music festival in Bahamas has chaotic start, ticket holders furiousSFGate CNBC -ABC News -KTLA -Twitter all 258 news articles »

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Fyre Festival, a Luxury Music Weekend, Crumbles in the Bahamas - New York Times

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The OECDs Global Forum head yesterday delivered a blunt warning that the Bahamas must take quick action to avoid being blacklisted, arguing that this nations image was that of the last tax haven standing.

Monica Bhatia, who leads the secretariat for the OECDs Global Forum on transparency and tax information exchange, told Bahamian financial services executives that while this nation had shown its commitment to implementing global standards, it was challenged to keep up with a fast-changing tax transparency environment.

Ms Bhatia said the Bahamas was the only financial services jurisdiction of substance yet to commit to the automatic exchange of tax information on a multilateral basis, sticking with its previously stated bilateral approach.

As a result, she argued that the Bahamas was seen as undermining the level playing field concept when it came to implementing the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the global benchmark for automatic tax information exchange.

I think the approach the Bahamas has taken to the implementation of automatic exchange, particularly the bilateral approach, has made the Bahamas an outlier, Ms Bhatia said, speaking at an industry briefing at the Meli Nassau Beach Resort.

There are now 109 countries and jurisdictions that are participating in the multilateral convention, the most recent one being the United Arab Emirates. The Bahamas is now the only country which has not signed the multilateral convention. That obviously brings all the attention of its peers on to the Bahamas.

Explaining the consequences, Ms Bhatia added: While the concept of a level playing field was something that was put forward by the Bahamas initially, it itself is being seen to be unlevelling the playing field now. It is seen to be a straggler.

I think this brings with it very huge reputational risks. Weve seen the media coverage, we get feedback from members, from industries in other countries, but it [the Bahamas] seems to be projecting itself as the last standing tax haven.

We dont use the word tax haven in the Global Forum at all, but this is still being picked up by the media and our peers that that is what the Bahamas is projecting itself as.

The European Union has threatened to publish a blacklist of so-called tax havens by year-end 2017. The Bahamas, should it fail to meet its Common Reporting Standard (CRS) implementation deadline and negotiate automatic tax information exchange agreements with the EU and its member states, would almost certainly find itself on such a list.

This concern was reiterated by Ms Bhatia, who warned: I see that for the Bahamas, unless action is taken very quickly and some very clear and convincing messages are sent out, I think that there is a big risk of ending up on a blacklist; certainly in the medium term, if not in the short-term. We dont want to see any of our members ending up on any blacklist.

As revealed by Tribune Business earlier this week, the Bahamas is under growing pressure to bow to international demands that it automatically exchange tax information on a multilateral basis, with the European Union (EU) and its members refusing to accept this nations preferred approach.

The Bahamas previously agreed to implement the CRS, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Developments (OECD) global standard for automatic tax information exchange, via a bilateral approach that involved negotiating agreements on an individual country-by country basis.

However, the OECD and its developed country members have been steadily increasing the pressure on the Bahamas to switch to the multilateral approach, requiring this country to negotiate tax deals with all-comers at once.

The Bahamas has been left exposed by the decisions of Hong Kong, Panama and the United Arab Emirates to switch from the bilateral to multilateral approach, which has left this nation as the last international financial centre (IFC) of significance that is sticking to the former.

The refusal of the EU and its members to accept the Bahamas bilateral approach - an approach previously accepted by the OECD itself - creates several potential threats for this nations financial services industry.

With the clocking ticking down to the Bahamas commitment to implement the CRS and automatic tax information exchange by 2018, the refusal of the EU and its member states to negotiate could jeopardise meeting this deadline.

And, potentially more problematic, is the EUs threat to publish a blacklist of so-called tax havens by year-end 2017.

If the Bahamas finds itself on such a list, its reputation, integrity and ability to attract financial services business will be threatened, undermining the economys second pillar and the sector that underpins the nations middle class.

Financial services industry sources have said the Bahamas would still be able to survive if forced to ultimately adopt the multilateral approach to CRS implementation, as it would not be placed at a competitive disadvantage since all rivals were doing the same.

However, Ryan Pinder, the former minister of financial services, had argued against the multilateral route because the Bahamas currently has no tax architecture to facilitate the spontaneous handing over of the information it demands, the US excepted (FATCA).

As a result, should the Bahamas be forced down the multilateral route, the costs, time and bureaucracy associated with compliance will likely increase for both the Government and financial services industry, further hitting this nations competitiveness.

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Oecd Chief Tells Bahamas: Act Now To Avoid 'Blacklist' - Bahamas Tribune

Forbes

Beyond Macau: Manila, Korea, Bahamas Openings Highlight Key Asia Gaming Trends Forbes New resort developments in three different markets illustrate that the good times are back for Asia's casino owners. Resorts World Manila in the Philippines, South Korea's Paradise City outside Seoul and on the other side of the globe at Baha Mar on ...

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Beyond Macau: Manila, Korea, Bahamas Openings Highlight Key Asia Gaming Trends - Forbes

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE goal was to get all four relay teams qualified for the IAAF World Championships over the weekend. But team manager Philippa Willie said they were more surprised that the 4 x 400 teams didnt make it and the 4 x 100m teams did at the IAAF/BTC World Relays at Thomas A Robinson National Stadium on Sunday.

This weekend, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations will be sending the two 4 x 400m relay teams to compete in the 123rd Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia in the match-up with the USA versus the World in a bid for the men to improve on their current time that is ranked at No.9 and the women, whose time is pegged at No.11.

I will be expecting a little more from our 4 x 4 relay teams, said Willie, who will be travelling along with head coach Fritz Grant, assistant coach Sidney Cartwright and understudy coach Ravanno Ferguson.

Ramon Miller, who didnt compete at the World Relays, will be added to the mens team that will be minus Steven Gardiner, but including Michael Mathieu, Elroy McBride, Andretti Bain and Demetrius Pinder.

Unfortunately, Ramon ran a little too late for us to consider his time for the selection to the World Relays. But we have added him to the team going to Penn, she said. We feel with him on the team, they will do very well.

The mens 4 x 4 team will compete against the USA, Botswana, Guyana and Jamaica. The USA won the A final for the gold medal over silver medallists Botswana, while Jamaica was third as they all booked their tickets to London. The Bahamas was fifth in the B final, but Guyana didnt field a team.

Like Gardiner, Shaunae Miller-Uibo will not be making the trip. The two, along with veteran Chris Fireman Brown, are all sponsored by Adidas and their athletes are committed to competing in the Drake Relays at the same time.

Without Miller-Uibo, the womens team will add Lanece Clarke and VAlonee Robinson, who both didnt compete in the relays. They will join Christine Amertil, Tynia Gaither, Anthonique Strachan and Rashan Brown.

We wont have Shaunae, but based on the team we have selected, I think they will also do very well.

The Bahamas will face the United States, Botswana, Jamaica and Nigeria in the womens 4 x 4 relay. The USA won the gold at the World Relays in the A final with Jamaica third, Botswana sixth and Nigeria seventh, having all qualified for London. The Bahamas placed fourth in their heat, won by Nigeria, but opted not to contest the B final.

The Bahamas has also been invited to participate in the womens sprint medley (two 100m, one 200m and a 400m) and therefore, Willie said they included a couple of sprinters on the team to ensure that the team is well represented.

In the sprint medley, the Bahamas will face two teams from the USA, the British Virgin Islands and Jamica.

The sprint medley was not contested at the World Relays.

Its ironic that the two teams that qualified at the Worlds were not the first times that we expected to qualify, she said. We expected the 4 x 4s to qualify. For the most part, our 4 x 4 have more depth and we are certain that they will both qualify, giving us a chance to run all four teams at the World Championships.

The IAAF World Championships is scheduled for August in London, England and there is a cut of period at the end of June for the final 16 teams to secure their berths.The top eight spots will be occupied from the top eight teams to finish their event.

The team ofDevine Parker, Brianne Bethel, Tylar Carter and Tynia Gaither ran 44.01 for sixth place in the womens 4 x 1, while the mens team ofWarren Fraser, Shavez Hart, Cliff Resias and Adrian Griffith ran 39.18 for third place in the B final.

However, as a result of Canada, France and the Netherlands not finishing in the A final, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany and the Bahamas, the first three finishers in order in the B final, were moved up to complete the top eight qualifying spot.

Willie said there are a number of athletes who are competing on the collegiate scene, who were not given the time of to come home and compete in the relays. So she feels that before the summer, they will accomplish their goal of getting the four teams to London.

I think we are in a pretty good spot, so we will do very well, said Willie of the team heading to Penns on Thursday, compete on Saturday and return home on Sunday. We have a benchmark where they have to work from, so we just have to get it together.

As the manager of the World Relay team, Willie said she was really impressed with the level of commitment that she got from all of the competitors on Team Bahamas.

We had three veterans on the team in Christine (Amertil), Demetrius (Pinder) and Michael (Mathieu), she said. We had a very young team led by Shaunae (Miller) and Steven (Gardiner) and they performed very well.

Once our athletes can stay healthy and we can keep them happy, they will be around for a long time.

Willie noted that it wasnt all rosey in the camp, but they got through their difficulties.

I know there were some athletes who had some issues with the coaches, but I think the athletes have to learn how to compromise. The coaches are there for a reason, Willie pointed out.

They see things that we, as athletes, dont see. The coaches have a job to do and the athletes have a job to do and that is to perform.

As for Miller-Uibo, Willie said there was some concern as to whether or not she would have competed in the 4 x 4 relay, but she said she went out and gave it 100 percent on the first leg.

We got her to run it and she gave it her all, Willie said. Its unfortunate that we didnt have the depth to be able to qualify, but it happened.

All things considered, Willie said she was happy to endorse Miller-Uibo to run with Gardiner, Strachan and Mathieu as the quartet went on to win the historic mixed gender 4 x 400m relay in 3:25.49.

In the process, the team set a world leading time of for the national and championship records in winning the countrys first gold and only medal in the three editions of the championships.

I want to congratulate all of our teams, who competed in the World Relays, especially the men and women 4 x 1 teams, she summed up. We just have to maintain our times and we should have all four teams in London.

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Bahamas Relay Teams Get Set For The Penn Carnival - Bahamas Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to attend a small college in the United States, in addition to playing on one of the Varsity sports teams on campus. In college sports whether Division I or III, there is a traditional season and an off-season. Here at my school we are blessed to have a dedicated Strength and Conditioning Staff that push all of the athletes to getting better and better every off-season. They recently put up a sign in our weight room, above one of the mirrors that says Look in the mirrorThats your competition. Our coaches encourage us to look in the mirror and hold ourselves and others accountable for pushing one another. This needs to be an honest and objective task; you cannot be biased because youre tired or sore, you have to push yourself to be the best that you can be.

Looking at the current state of our beautiful country, how can any Bahamian that claims they love their country say, You know what, we are in a good place here. The ones who claim this are either delusional or they love themselves more than they love their country, because there is so little that the current administration is doing that is benefiting the country. You cannot tell me that you are able to look at yourself in the mirror, while being true to your honesty and your integrity, and say that we can, as a nation, handle another five years of this administration. If you are still wondering whether we can or cannot, let me assure you its the latter.

Sadly, there is a culture of greed, power and corruption that has engulfed our Bahama Land. Because of this, the coming election is much more than sticking with who your mother or father has voted for in the past. Just because your family has voted for one way in every single election since our independence, this doesnt mean you have to, too. I implore you to look a little further than just what your family has done in the past. Challenge yourself to look at current and potential MPs ethically, morally and objectively; look at what he or she has done for their people or what they are saying they will do. Go another step further, ask them to tell you exactly how they are going to bring about change, what steps are they going to take and most importantly is this beneficial and where is the money coming from?

Residents of Jubilee Gardens, what has your MP done to help you in the past month and what has your Prime Minister done for you and your family? Is it enough? Im going to go out on a limb and argue that nothing meaningful has been done, seeing that your neighbourhood is still exposed to smoke from the dump. Residents of Cat Island, what has your MP done for you other than a cookout and some beers? You cannot honestly say to yourself that what our politicians are doing to our country is sustainable; they can only take so much before we have nothing left and they have everything.

The Bahamas lacks accountability, and it is time that we change that. Wake up Bahamas! How can you look yourself in the mirror and say that an administration spending millions of dollars on Carnival is ok, yet the population of New Providence and the tourists, that we as a country rely on, cannot enjoy our inalienable right to clean air? Dont you like to breathe fresh air; I know I do.

I ask you, how is it acceptable that we do not know how our government has spent the vast amount of VAT money that has been generated? And yes we do have a right to know, because it is our money? How is it ok for the Prime Minister to stand in front of a crowd of people and show them the finger, or defy God himself? That is the man who represents us all over the world.

In order to right the ship, the first step that must be taken is to look ourselves in the mirror and ask that very simply question: Can we as a nation take another five years of this? Five more years of uncontrolled killings. Five more years of dirty water, dirty air and a toxic dump. Five more years of inside jobs and contracts.

We need accountability across all parties and we need it now. Wake up Bahamas!

CONCERNED BAHAMIAN STUDENT

Voting in the US

April 24, 2017.

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Spoiling Our Bahamas - Bahamas Tribune

Its a tale as old as Instagram. Every April like clockwork, eerily similar photos infiltrate your feed. Its impossible to escape all the 22-year-olds wearing slight variations on a bohemian themeand its about to get even harder.

Theres a new festival aiming to improve upon Coachellas desert carnival with a tropical paradise, and anyone with enough money or big enough Instagram following can attend. Recruiting a bevy of influencers and models to promote it, selling out $1,500 tickets before a lineup was even announced, and promising two weekends worth of hip young things island hopping in the exclusive Bahamian archipelago known as the Exumas, the first annual Fyre Festival has promised to turn the end of April into one long block of Insta-babes having a better time than you.

Well, that's the idea, at least. The actual festival starts Friday.

Fyre Festival is a product of Fyre Media, an entertainment booking startup that that rapper Ja Rule launched with his tech partner Billy McFarland in 2015. As noted above, its closest spiritual forefather in the bloated festival-scape is probably Coachella. But while Coachella is a music festival that turned into a series of brand activations, Fyre Festival is a brand activation that plays at being a festival.

We didn't just want to be a tech company that was a pure enterprise with no consumer awareness, McFarland explained to Vanity Fair on a recent phone call. So a festival was a great way to go and do that and beyond people who are attending. Or rather the event is not an end in and of itself, but a means to an end, intended to inflate the Fyre name.

The country of the Bahamas is equally invested in this grand brand-building experiment. In the months leading up to the first weekend, Bahamian officials coordinated closely with the organizers. Theyve readied the excursions, provided the jet skis for rent, made the yacht marinas available, and tapped the University of Bahamas culinary division to prepare food. The many businesses involved are depending on Fyres ability to deliver.

To announce a festival without name recognition or a finalized lineup, McFarland and Ja Rule personally invited 400 influencers in various sectors. Their only job, besides attending the festival when it came time, was to post an orange square (orange like fire) to Instagram at a certain time on on a certain day in December, announcing Fyre Festival to the public.

The 400 or so that heeded the call include professional surfers, football players, DJ/producers/founders, a short-lived MTV personality and long-term social media personality, and models and models and models and models and models. You almost certainly could have guessed this already, but each have a healthy Instagram followingfive figures minimum.

The announcement itself was preceded by a photo shoot with top-tier models and Jenner-adjacent ingnuesBella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and Hailey Baldwin among themwho then posted just prior to the orange takeover. An announcement that there will be an announcement, if you will.

Its influencer inception: Models with niche name recognition spreading word about a more widespread announcement for a high-end festival that itself spreads the word about Ja Rules startup (model/actress Ratajkowski was the only one who included an ad disclaimer with the FTC-required hashtag.)

Fyre takes the music festival concept to its logical extreme: Take the ten-thousand dollar accommodations of the boomer-focused Desert Trip, but with the youth of Coachella and the exclusivity of a tropical yacht club, in which members are permitted to bring the Instagram-famous as dates. Its one of the biggest events the Bahamas has ever hosted, according to a statement from the countrys Ministry of Tourism, and it has used its guest list to draw crowds in the thousands. But what will become of the island chain known for its privacy and exclusivity once the influencers descend?

Fyres Insta-happening in the middle of December helped sell out general admission tickets before any of the performers were announced, which isnt totally unheard of. Coachella regularly breaks ticket sales records before the music lineup is released. But while Coachella sells out on reputation, Fyre sold plenty on a promise: you could have a sexy time on a beach with a pia colada in hand and, oh, maybe Major Lazer will be there, too (they will).

This was the main draw for Chanel Iman, Victorias Secret Angel and partner in the festivals campaign, as she told Vanity Fair on a recent phone call. She had just returned from Coachella, and would be jetting off to Fyre in a couple of weeks. [Festivals are] what I like to do in my free time when Im not working and just go out and have a good time and listen to good music, she explained. Music festivals are just fun.

Iman was there for the promotional photo shoot in November, joined by Hadid, Ratajkowski, Baldwin, Shanina Shaik, Alessandra Ambrosio, Hannah Ferguson, and more. A millennial who has a Twitter account, but prefers Instagram and dabbles in Snapchat might recognize the women in the photos and videos individually, but seeing them all together on a boat is a little more rare. A large and disparate group of TV personalities, models, and beauty pageant winners, the group was differentbut, essentially, all beautifulenough that various fashion and celebrity publications were intrigued. Ja Rule was pleased enough with an article from the fashion Web site Fashionista that pondered Whats Fyre Festival, and Why Are All the Models in the Bahamas Promoting It? to tweet it. The plan, it seemed, was working.

After wrapping the shoot, Iman said they would retire to a bonfire on the beach, where they listened to the ocean under the stars. Those nights were just magical because the stars were just bright and beautiful. And I came with my model friends and we all just enjoyed each other's company around the fire. Read that, scroll through her vacation photos, and try to resist taking out a mortgage to book a villa.

A brief word on the music part of the festival: The line-up is impressive, if a little scattered. Migos, G.O.O.D. Music, Major Lazer, and Blink 182 are among the 40 total acts, and McFarland plans to announce five or ten more before the first weekend. Ja Rule will be performing the first Friday of both weekends.

Much like Coachella, the acts are somewhat incidental, a part of a larger experience. Obviously we think our line-up now is pretty awesome, but the experience is what we're really packaging here, McFarland said. Thats why Fyre is taking over The Exumas; thats why theyre chartering flights from Miami to the islands for every ticket holder; and that's why the organizers are throwing a literal treasure hunt (more on that later).

Its possible to spend in excess of $104,995, per a spokeswoman, to have the Fyre experience. Yachts can be rented for $60,000 on the low end. V.I.P. tickets are $3,500, but you can knock a grand off that price if you B.Y.O.Yacht (the docking fee at the marina, however, is five grand).

Travelers willing to spend this kind of cash are the kind that the Bahamasand especially a more private part of the Bahamas that gets less foot traffic, like The Exumas very much wants to court. According to Lori Pennington-Gray, a tourism professor at University of Florida and consultant, late April is generally considered a post-spring break, pre-summer break shoulder season, and events like music festivals are a tried-and-true way to jack up demand.

Take Indio Valley. In 2016, the city netted $3.18 million in ticket taxes from both Coachella and its subsequent country sister festival, Stagecoach, according to estimates commissioned by the Palm Springs visitors bureau. The estimated spending in the greater Coachella area was $403 million. The two festivals span April, making a final, giant push in the latter end of the areas peak tourism season.

Can Fyre turn an Exumas destination into a tropical Palm Springs, the way Coachella has brought a patina of desert chic to the classic resort town? Though scale of the festivals are much different (last year, Coachella welcomed an estimated 99,000, while Fyre ticket-holder numbers are much lower in the thousands, per a festival spokeswoman), the two host destinations have some things in common. Theyre both easy enough to get to from New York or Los Angeles; they both had a long history in the tourism industry on which these events are built on top of; and they both cater to high-end visitors even without the festivals added boost.

Exumas does Palm Springs one better, however. Besides the clear blue water and unrelenting sunshine, one of its major natural resources is near-total privacy. David Copperfield, Faith Hill, and Muslim spiritual leader Aga Khan are among the wealthy individuals that own entire islands or multiple islands in the chain. The exclusivity helps set it apart from the neighboring Freeport and Grand Bahamas, which bring to mind family vacations and Carnival cruise drop-off points.

One risk of Fyre Festival is that it would compromise the islands exclusivity. As Dr. Pennington-Gray said, You dont want to have a cookie-cutter approach across all destinations [in the Bahamas], so as things like this grow in popularity, you want to really make it your own and kind of customize it to the island. Even if the festival doubles as a summit of the incredibly wealthy partiers, itll still bring a bulk of tourists to an area that relies on privacy to set it apart from its neighbors. An infusion of the Instagram famous, rather than just the moneyed few that can afford traveling to the destination, certainly widens the pool.

Copperfield, for one, is not too worried. He owns Musha Cay, and the luxury retreat on it. I think its terrific, our own Coachella in The Exumas the magician told Vanity Fair.

I think that [Fyre] is definitely a festival that's special and unique just because it's very private. . . , Iman started to explain, trailing off for just a second to find the right description. And kind of like a luxury-type festival. If one were casting around for an identity of a festival before anyone has yet Fyre-d, luxury-type is just as good a description as any. In addition to the yachts and the fitness classes and catering and massages and the pigs (the same pigs that made a cameo on Ben Higgins Bachelor season), there will be a literal treasure hunt. McFarland and Ja Rule developed intellectual and physical challenges with the help of Spartan Races, and theyll reward an adventurous soul willing to explore the cays by foot and by jet ski with prizes valued at more than $1,000,000 in hidden treasures from luxury jewelry and watches to cash and valuable goods, per the ticketing site. The winner of both weekends will get a piece of land on a private beach on Great Exuma Island.

Dr. Pennington-Gray says the ideal attendee, and one the Bahamas is willing to invest in, is a guest that stays for a while and spends a lot. The 400 influencers are a place to start; they will be at the festival for at least the first weekend. Expect another wave of social media brand awareness in the form of bikinis, frozen drinks, hair, and, maybe, actual bands.

Iman, for one, doesnt quite know what to expect. I know that this is their first time doing this, so Im hoping that everything will go as planned, she said. I like adventure, and this is definitely an adventure for me.

She plans to head out after the first weekend. Or maybe not. I might return for the second weekend. I'll see how the first one is and figure out if for the second weekend I am even available.

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Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photography by Justin Bishop.

Photography by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photography by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

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Can a Critical Mass of Victoria's Secret Models and a Hadid Give Bahamas Tourism an Insta-Boost? - Vanity Fair

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH the fans showed their appreciation in cheering them on for their efforts, day one of the IAAF/BTC World Relays did not turn out as expected from Team Bahamas.

But there were much celebration for the two-time defending Golden Baton champions, the United States, who emerged on top of the standings with 22 points, double the tally of their nearest rivals, Australia. Jamaica is in third with eight with Germany, Barbados and Belarus tied for fourth with seven and the Peoples Republic of China and France in eighth, both with seven points as well.

In the first final of the two-day competition, the women's 4x800m, the Americans led from start to finish to take the title in 8min 16.36sec for a seasons best to share the top prize of $50,000 after taking their victory lap.

Belarus had to settle for the silver in 8:20.07 and Australia picked up the bronze in 8:21.08.

After that performance, the Jamaican 4x200m team anchored by Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson got their fans in a frenzy as they celebrated from start to finish in smashing the championship record in a new time of 1min 29.04sec.

The night closed with the mens 4x100m final as Justin Gatlin sped home well ahead of the field in 38.43 seconds. Barbados moved up for the silver in their seasons best of 39.18 and the Peoples Republic of China got the bronze in 39.22.

But it was what happened during the race that mattered the most. Great Britain, the Netherlands and Canada, featuring Olympic star Andre de Grasse, all failed to finish as they experienced the same fate as Jamaica, with former world champion Yohan Blake, on anchor in the heats as they failed to advance to the final.

After falling short of qualifying for the final, the Bahamas held a slight lead going into the final leg of the B final, but on the home stretch, Adrian Griffith missed out on the opportunity to celebrate as he was caught in the closing metres by Trinidad & Tobago and Germany.

Griffith, anchoring the trio of Warren Fraser, Shavez Hart and Cliff Resias, ended up third in a seasons best of 39.18 seconds as Trinidad & Tobago surged to the front for victory in 39.04 chased by Germany in 39.18, a seasons best as well.

The same quartet of Fraser, Hart, Resias and Griffith ran 39.36sec for fourth in their heat and 10th overall. But they had their share of problems as well as the exchange between Hart and Resias was not that smooth and it cost the Bahamas the lead.

Its something that we will have to work on, said Fraser about the teams performance in the B final. We definitely have a lot of work to do if we want to go to London. Fraser was referring to the IAAF World Championships in London, England in August. The top eight teams in both the men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m automatically qualify.

While the mens 4 x 100m fell short, Olympic gold medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran a superb opening leg and world 400m leader Steven Gardiner an exceptional anchor leg, but it wasnt enough to get the two 4x400m teams into the final and an automatic berth into London.

Miller-Uibo, running in lane seven in the second of three heats, powered past Canadian Carline Muir in the first 200m and gave the rest of the team what seemed like an insurmountable lead.

But that wasnt enough as Anthonique Strachan held on to it on the second leg, but coming into the exchange, the Bahamas dropped into second. The Bahamas continued to lag as veteran Christine Amertil made her way around the track.

On the final exchange to rookie Rashan Brown, the Bahamas eventually faded into fourth coming onto the home stretch. Their time of 3min 34.40sec was good for 11th overall and out of the final.

Despite the fantastic comeback on the anchor leg by Gardiner, which he started fifth, he and the combination of Michael Mathieu, Demetrius Pinder and Andretti Bain ran a seasons best of 3min 05.37sec for third in their heat, but ninth overall as they missed the final spot to get into the final.

The Bahamas mens team will run in lane four in Sundays B final and the womens team will be in lane five in their B final.

In the men's sprint event, The Netherlands went on to secure the win in the heat in 38.71 for the first of two automatic times into the final. The other was the Peoples Republic of China in second in 38.97. The Bahamas, however, was 10th overall and just missed out like the men and women 4 x 400m in qualifying for the final and a berth into the World Championships at home.

But both the Bahamas men and women 4x400m teams will get a chance to redeem themselves when they compete in the B finals on Sunday.

The championships will conclude on Sunday starting at 7.35pm with the preliminaries of the mens 4x200m and ending with the introduction of the much anticipated mixed 4 x 400m (with two men and two women).

Excerpt from:

Bahamas Miss Out On Finals At Iaaf World Relays - Bahamas Tribune

This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of Architectural Digest.

While out on an evening stroll during a visit to Lyford Cay, Bahamas, a few summers ago, John Knott and John Fondas scoped out a modest gabled cottage that a friend had suggested they see. The single-story house, near the ocean and painted the cotton-candy Nassau-pink typical of dwellings in this celebrated resort community on the island of New Providence, was surrounded by dense thickets of areca palms and Norfolk pines. A shady terrace in the back overlooked the rolling greens of Lyford Cay's golf course. It was a quiet and magical setting on what seemed like the edge of a jungle, recalls Knott, owner and creative director of the venerable fabric and wallpaper firms Quadrille, China Seas, and Alan Campbell. He and Fondas, Quadrille's marketing director, tiptoed around the vine-covered house, peered through its windows, and decided to buy it on the spotnever even having set foot inside. The landscape and views really did it, explains Knott. We aren't golfersit's purely visual. Somehow, the sea of green brings calm.

The pair soon discovered the house had a pedigree and good bones as well as charm. It was built in the early 1960s by British developer and racehorse aficionado Sir Gerald Glover and his wife in the Caribbean style popularized by Robertson Happy Ward, architect of such legendary escapes as the Cotton Bay Club in nearby Eleuthera, the Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados, and Bunny and Paul Mellon's home at Antigua's Mill Reef Club (which Ward cofounded in the late '40s). Rather ambitiously christened Pytchley Lodge after the village of Pytchley, England, where Glover was a member of the hunt, the cottage was laid out like a Georgian manor house in miniature: A central volume with a hipped roof contains the entrance hall, living room, and terrace, and wings to either side hold a dining room and two bedrooms. It had been altered over the decades, but not irrevocably so; the new owners stepped in to remove incongruous additionsincluding '70s track lighting and a screened porch that blocked their view of the 13th greenand returned the house to its original appearance. When they were done, only concrete walls and floors paved with sandy-color Cuban tiles remained.

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In Lyford Cay, Bahamas, textile impresario John Knott and his partner, John Fondas, worked on their island getaway with designer Andrew Raquet. Fabrics by Alan Campbell and China Seas add vivid accents to the living room; the desk is vintage Armani/Casa.

Though hardly decorating novices, Knott and Fondas brought aboard New York interior designer Andrew Raquet to help them take the next step. Everyone needs a referee, jokes Bahamian-bred Fondas, who owns the Lyford Cay home-furnishings shop Bamboo-Bamboo. Knott and Fondas wanted a departure from their other residencesan antiques-filled apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side and an 1839 Greek Revival home in Columbia County, New Yorkand naturally they wanted to dip into the fabric and wallpaper archives of Knott's companies, where they found a few tropical-hued patterns that looked appropriately resorty and befitting a '60s beach cottage, Fondas says.

While respectful of the past, Raquet and his clients felt no compunctions about tweaking certain traditions. The Bahamas are full of blue-and-white rooms, lots of Mark Hampton, Raquet observes. We wanted to do something different. And so they found themselves updating archival prints, recoloring them in sometimes eyebrow-raising palettes, to great effect. In the master bedroom, for instance, Raquet cleverly took an Alan Campbell floral fabric called Potalla, originally produced in muted blues, and had it recast as a wallpaperwith chalk-white flowers and leaves against a vibrant French-blue ground. The reimagined pattern lends the entire room a Matissean insouciance. The designer also reconceived a green Alan Campbell fern-motif fabric in a rich cinnamon-brown for a bolder, more modern look; it now generates a warm glow against woven-straw-covered walls and faux-bamboo screens in the graciously proportioned living room. The wall covering and the screens, Raquet acknowledges, are both classic Billy Baldwin decorating signatures that reflect the traditional side of Lyford Cay, where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Stavros Niarchos, and Sean Connery have all been habitus (Connery still is).

The furnishings in the cottage hew to this more old-school style. American antiques from dealers in Hudson, New York, near the pair's country house, mingle with Empire mahogany pieces. And Fondas's collections19th-century shell trees and sailors' valentines, and portrait miniatures dating from the 18th century through the 1920sadd another layer while speaking to the island's storied past.

The result of the trio's witty decorating? A lively little house that's nothing short of a pink paradise, deliciously caught between seas of blue and green.

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See How a Renovated Cottage in the Bahamas Is Transformed Into the Ultimate Vacation Home - Architectural Digest