‘Farewell my Captain’

CHAMPION powerboat racer and prominent businessman, Carlos Sabga, was a winner in the race of life and hundreds of persons packed the Assumption Church in Maraval yesterday to bid a tearful bon voyage to the man who many fondly referred to as “Don Carlos” and “the Captain.” Sabga, 61, died at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on Wednesday where he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. Carlos and Brian and Derek Crooks were members of the trio which steered the 38-foot Bowen Marine vessel, “Checkmate” to victory seven times (1976, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 1997) in the annual Great Race from Bayshore to Store Bay, Tobago. Brian and five other persons died in a plane crash off the coast of St Vincent, following a one-day international match between the West Indies and India in May 1997. Derek died of cancer in 2002.

Among those who turned out to pay their last respects to Sabga were Health Minister John Rahael, his one time powerboat rival Ken Charles, UNC chairman Wade Mark, former government minister John Humphrey, TT Manufacturers Association president Anthony Aboud and former Miss Universe Janelle Commissiong Chow. Charles headed a guard of honour, wearing Checkmate insignia armbands, which lined either side of the main aisle as Sabga’s coffin was borne towards the altar while his wife Roberta, children and grandchildren followed close behind. The funeral procession was led by flagman Peter Diaz, who carried a national flag in one hand and a Checkmate flag in the other. A small shrine featuring a replica of Sabga’s well loved boat, Checkmate, and some of his other Great Race memorabilia was erected at the front of the church.

In delivering his brother’s eulogy, Ramon Sabga said Carlos was a leader and an inspiration to all around him, whether he was at the controls of Checkmate or involved in the daily operations of the family business. “He taught us how to compete in the race of life,” Ramon said, struggling to hold back tears. Focusing on Carlos’ sporting career, Ramon said Carlos displayed the highest levels of courage, patriotism and fair play on the local and international powerboat circuits. He recalled that Carlos gave up the lead in the Puerto Rico International offshore cup and risked his life to rescue a crew member from a rival boat who had been thrown overboard. Fr Garfield Rochard, speaking at the funeral service, said that Trinidad and Tobago urgently needs a new social fabric to stop the violence that is stalking the land.

All citizens, he said, must intensify their efforts to restore stability on the national landscape. Rochard said the people of Sabga’s generation were the ones who laid down the nation’s societal foundations through a combination of family life, religion, integration, discipline and caring for the society. He explained that these were the main legacies of persons from the Middle and Far East who settled in TT during the nation’s transition from colonialism to republicanism. Against this background, Rochard said it was not surprising that Sabga’s family established their business during the 1950’s on Queen Street because this was considered the pulse of the grassroots in Port-of-Spain at that time.

However, Fr Rochard lamented that the social stability created by previous generations was now under constant attack from a continuous surge of “blood, violence, social madness and total social, national slackness.” He claimed that if the ancestors could see the troubles that have befallen TT today, they would cry “Oh my people what has happened to you.” Fr Rochard said the lives of persons like Sabga must be used as shining exemplars to present and future generations. He stated that Sabga patterned his life after the Gospel and always sought to bring out the best attributes in the lives of all the persons he touched. “That was part of his human fabric. It would do us well to understand the ingredients of his life,” the priest declared.