Participants from the US and Canada have a Ball at the Barbados Darts Festival - Jan/Feb 2011

Participants from the USA and Canada have a Ball at the Barbados Darts Festival

The ninth Barbados Darts Festival saw participation from a group of 21 from the USA and Canada and judging by their enthusiasm and comments they all seemed to have had a ball both on and off the oche.
Festival Director Michael Heal commented, “The title says it all. It’s Darts Festival which brings together darts players of all standards, from a host of different countries, who share a common love of the game and who enjoy meeting new friends in darts. There are competitive tournaments with attractive prize money on offer, but the 10 day Festival is more about enjoying all that is on offer - with winning tournaments to be regarded as a bonus.”
Larger than life host Wayne Mardle went down a storm. Wayne was always approachable and entered into all the social activities.  In addition to the social and competitive darts tournaments, Wayne also conducted his own series of Happy Hour (or two hours!) darts sessions in the Ship Inn prior to departure time for the tournament venue.

Karsten Larsen, who came with his wife Rita from, Saskatchewan, Canada, summed it up this way, “I never thought I would have the chance to spend so much time on and off the oche with Wayne – what a great host and a gentleman.  And Barbados offers so much to see and do.”

William Quick from Alabama also took the time to show his appreciation, “I had a blast. I owe Wayne a better game – and I won’t lose next time!” Mark and Emily Taggert from New York thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the opportunity to meet so many people from different countries and to get to know Barbados and the Bajan life style.

    Donnie Innis of Barbados, Emily Taggert of USA, and in the background, William Quick from Alabama, USA.

Michelle and Gerald Spicer tuned into the Festival and Barbados from the very start and indicated that they would be back in 2011. They really entered into the spirit of the Festival and could be found enjoying darts at the Ship Inn into the early hours with Michelle profiting from the sessions by reaching the final of the inter-touring party ladies singles event!
The party of six from Canada also enthused about the event. Rick Tardif, Christian Brisson and Guy Masse were excellent participants and the pairing of Guy and Christian made it to the Warrens Motors Pairs Semi-final on the Thursday night – going down to the Guyanese team of Norman Madhoo and Sudesh Fitzgerald, both of whom having represented the Caribbean and South American region at the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship in the last two years. Two days later Norman Madhoo won the right to represent the region again in December. (See separate article – OTW PDC Qualifier)
The venue for tournament play was the well-appointed Solidarity House and sponsors Carib Beer ensured that the participants and their supporters would not go thirsty.  They were selling 2 bottles of ice cold Carib for $5 Bds – which is only $1.25 US per bottle!

    The Island Safari.
  
The Festival caters for the partners of the darts players as well and the social programme offers a variety of options – island safari, golf, a day at the races, a submarine ride, a night out at Bajan Roots & Rhythms, deep sea fishing etc. However the social event that has become a ‘must do’ is the day out on the Catamaran. Not only is it a great social day out and the opportunity for everyone to get to know each other (We had the catamaran completely to ourselves.),  but you can always count on something happening when Wayne is involved.

    The legendary Catamaran.

Last year Wayne panicked when snorkelling as he had a very unexpected close encounter with Big Ben, the turtle, which caused massive displacements of water! This year, after taking the helm for a while and managing to keep us away from the reefs, Wayne joined us again for some snorkelling. When over a reef and a wreck it is the custom to attract shoals of fish by throwing pieces of bread roll into the water. Whether by design or accident a good number of these bread rolls landed very close to Wayne and he found himself in the middle of a fish feeding frenzy. Unfortunately, at least one fish mistook the white flesh of Wayne’s left arm for a piece of bread roll and bit him! He had the marks to prove it! It could only happen to Wayne!       
Wayne also came to the rescue when we could not get into the bar containing the cold Caribs on the Sunday. Wayne decided to use his initiative to treat everyone to beers whilst the security guard was located and this involved driving to a gas station to deprive them of all the cold beers they had in stock! His generosity was much appreciated by all.
This year’s Festival was staged under very trying circumstances. About a week before the start the Prime Minister of Barbados, David Thompson, aged 48, died of pancreatic cancer. Then early on the Saturday morning prior to everyone’s arrival Hurricane Tomas hit Barbados and took the roof off one of the designated venues. Another venue had to be found at short notice. Then, on the second evening of major tournament play, Trevor Lloyd, the long serving President of the Caribbean Darts Organisation collapsed and died of a massive heart attack and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. (See separate article – Lost Friends). Trevor had worked hard for darts in the region and the Brydens Barbados Darts Festival plays a huge role in this respect. He would have like to see the event continue to grow and it looks as though the 2011 event already has a number of participants about to sign up.

    The legendary Wayne Mardle, host of the Barbados Darts Festival.

Wayne Mardle is the overwhelmingly popular choice for host again and he feels that the event is getting better for participants every year. Wayne commented, “Everything was new to me the first year, and with that experience to draw on, this year we added elements like the pre-tournament darts sessions with myself so that everyone gets the chance to play against me and ask me questions about improving their game. These sessions also happen to coincide with the ‘Happy Hours’ at the Ship Inn where the drinks are half price! Barbados is a fun place and the Bajans are really friendly. Donna and myself, my sister and her husband and some of my other friends really had a ball. But, who wouldn’t have a great time here! It didn’t take any persuading of me to host the event again in 2011.”
The 2011 Brydens Barbados Darts Festival will take place from Monday, October 31 to Monday, November 7. More details of the 7 night packages can be obtained from Wayne’s web site www.waynemardle.com or from Festival Director, Michael Heal, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it