Saturday, April 27, 2019

THE REGATTA of the Bahamas

66TH ANNUAL NATIONAL FAMILY ISLAND REGATTA

TUESDAY, APR. 23, 2019 TO SATURDAY, APR. 27, 2019

The boats started arriving over the weekend. Some under sail, some being towed, and some carried aboard the mail boat and other local island ferries. People and their cars also arrived. Lots and lots of people... Every room in town is full. People are sleeping wherever they can lay their heads.

"There will be five days of sailing featuring Bahamian native sloops – Classes A, B, C, D and E. This tradition started in 1954 and today it is one of the oldest regattas in The Islands of The Bahamas." - Bahamas Tourism Board

Rules dictate that boats must be designed, built, owned and sailed by Bahamians, using materials that preserve the traditions of the early boat-builders as much as possible. Sailing fans from all over The Bahamas and the world gather in George Town's beautiful Elizabeth Harbour to enjoy the five days of sloop sailing. Classes A to E boats compete in Cup and Series races to win an overall trophy.

On-shore activities include fashion shows, beauty pageants, games, art exhibit, live music, dancing, and lots of scrumptious Bahamian food.

This event is held each year during the last full week of April. It originated in 1954 with the main goal of preserving the boat-building skills of Bahamian sailors. The tradition has continued, and today it is one of the oldest regattas in The Islands of The Bahamas. Bahamian sailors from every major island in The Bahamas compete for the honor of being named the very best of the best.

s/v Prodigal as an obstacle

The boats are all wooden, locally built - on each separate island - to represent their island in this National Race. So it's families and islands racing against each other. There is some drinking and betting going on and lots of friendly rivalry. But LOTS of local pride represented in each boat. The boats arrived all weekend and finally finished unloading late Tuesday.

I counted 9 masts. The guy 'on the ship' told me they carried 21 boats.

Tuesday night they had a wonderful Ecumenical Service at the historic St. Andrews Anglican Church. It started at 7:30pm and ended a little after 9:30pm. It was both church and state.

"BRIEF"remarks was grossly mislabeled! (politicians making speeches best reflects this portion of the service.) There was some laughter and some clapping, but mostly it was National Pride Speeches. *note: one recurring theme from almost all of them was "WE should change our National Sport from Cricket, to Sailboat Racing." As you can imagine this was well received...

Danny Strachan, Race Commodore

Clayton Smith

Navarro Bowe

Chester Cooper

Rhema Kingdom

Pastor James Rolle

Ina Gray

Reverend Frank McKenzie

back cover

Wednesday through Saturday is all about the racing.

(and the food, and the music, and party)

But, mostly it was about the RACING!

In this regatta, the rules are that the boats all line up AT ANCHOR, behind the start line. When the gun sounds, they all frantically pull anchor and raise sail, from an anchored standing position. It's a madhouse. (there are ZERO rules about spectator boats, dinghy's, or whatever and it's a crowded affair!) After they are underway they sail 3 times around the buoys and then back across the finish line positioned near the judges and fans viewing stands. This often takes them up between and through the anchored cruising boats. *note: the two 2x10" boards are moved from side to side so the human ballast can climb out over the water to help balance the boats.

I've still got Friday and Saturday to watch.

Big happenings up in here!

-Capn. Skip

2 comments:

Ryan said...: Did anyone tell you what the difference was between the boat classes? Was it sail size/number, boat length, crew size?

Then ... how do we classify the Prodigal?; 9:43 AM
Skip said...: Prodigal does not qualify for this Regatta. The Family Island Regatta is for locals...

"Like any sport with a high profile throughout the country, sailboat racing in the Bahamas brings with it fierce competition and immense pride. The basic rules are that the boats must be Bahamian-made and Bahamian-owned. They are wooden sloops, approximately 28 feet long, with a seven foot draw, a huge boom and towering 60 foot masts. The inside of the hull is mostly empty and is also where the crew stores its lead ballast. The moveable ballast allows the crew to add or remove weight as needed. Additionally, real live people serve as ballast! Wooden planks – the pry – lie across the width of the boat and slide from side to side. The crew pile up on the pry to add weight to the opposite side as the strength of the wind in the sail pushes the boat on a hard lean. (This is one of the most exciting parts of Bahamian sloop racing!) The boats harken back to the boats of traditional Bahamian fishermen, and they carry tradition and honor along with the thrill of sport.

The island where I live has a strong tradition of boat-building, skilled craftsmanship, knowledgeable sailors, brilliant racers and championship boats and crews. The boats of this island are a huge source of local pride and camaraderie.

Regatta offers races in multiple categories, based on the size of the boat. “A Class” are the largest (29'6" foot max) and our island usually sends a couple A-Class boats to compete, along with an occasional B-Class, a champion C-Class and E-Class."

A skip note: the kids regatta last week used E-Class boats; 9:57 AM