The National Family Island Regatta was once again a
fantastic time. Over the years we have
watched many races. From local sailing
clubs to Volvo & Velux Round the World/Ocean Races. All of these folks spend thousands &
thousands of dollars to be sure that they have the very finest & newest in
equipment & apparel. Not so with the
Bahamian sloops. The boats and the sails
must be made in the Bahamas, the boat must be Bahamian owned (majority) and
only in the last few years have newer fabrics been allowed for sails. All boats are traditionally rigged, and best
of all.....
THESE GUYS CAN SAIL!
Those who know us realize that we spend a great deal of time
on Long Island in the southern Bahamas and this year the winner of the Prime
Ministers Cup along with being the overall Class A champions was Long Islands
own RUNNING TIDE!
These boats are brought over on the mail boats from all over
the Bahamas, and watching the unloading is always an experience.
There are Class A, B, C, D & E boats with Class A being
the largest with mainly younger folk on the D & E classes. Teach them the love of sailing while they are
young!
Dream Girl was a crowd favorite as it had a mostly female
crew, 1 man!
The Regatta is a multi-day event with Cup races on Wednesday
& points races on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Let the races begin!
Class C - second appearance in the NFIR is Xena - a Long
Island boat who did very well overall.
The race begins with both the anchor and the sails
down. Lots are drawn during the Captains
Meeting to determine places on the starting line and your first tack must be to
port unless you draw the number one place.
Susan Chase, another Long Island boat also did very
well! We actually met Susan a few years
back. What a lady!
I realize that I could go on & on about what a great
time this was, but the photos show it best!
We were also lucky to be able to go t=with our friends Mike
& Dawn on their boat to see the Class A races!
During the first day of racing for the various Cup Races there was an odd experience at the finish of the Class A race. Ruff Justice (Long Island) had a large lead over Running Tide (Long Island) and it appeared that Ruff Justice was going to win. Well, look what happened!
As a side thought, we also had a wonderful dolphin
experience!
