Fun Can’t Done!

[The beer company Kalik’s slogan for the 2012 National Family Island Regatta was “Fun Can’t Done!”  I’m not entirely sure how they arrived at that, or exactly what it means, but I interpreted it to mean, ‘Keep the Party Going!’ and I support that message.] 

National Family Island Regatta 2012?  Where to begin….?

Thursday morning we sprang into action when an announcement came across the VHF that the Exuma Tourism Board was providing a free bus tour of Great Exuma. This tour included one of our favorite words, (no, not ‘bus’) so we were excited for this opportunity.

We didn’t have much time to make it into town to get signed up, so we quickly got ready and jumped in the dinghy. We found the sign-up list, signed up, and then waited for the bus. Other cruisers were milling about and we talked about Regatta and the fun things to do. We met Tony and Linda on ‘ONEDAY’ and Tony provided me some great information on how to make it on as crew on one of the race boats. I asked about the Beneteau hat he was wearing and mentioned we were on a Beneteau also. When I mentioned our boat name, a major “first” for us happened – we actually met other cruisers that have read our blog!  Linda is a designer and knitter and was referred to our blog by our good friend, knitter, and avid blog follower, Tanya. They asked us about things that have changed since they’ve cruised to places we’ve blogged about. It was cool to think that the information we provide on the blog can also help to inform people who have already cruised to these locations and are looking for updates on current conditions.

After talking with the other cruisers for awhile we all learned that the bus tour had been cancelled because they were unable to find a bus driver. The tour would hopefully be rescheduled for Friday and we were asked to return at 10:00 the next morning. We quickly dinghied back to Joint Venture and stopped at Anastasia to share the tip that Tony had provided on becoming crew.

For all those folks who have ever wished to crew on a traditional Bahamian sloop at Regatta, here’s a tip:  Dinghy around the race boats, and shout at boats asking if they need crew.

Maxwell and I decided that this could work, we quickly changed into clothes that we didn’t mind getting soaked and started to dinghy about Kidd’s Cove as the B Class sloops readied for their race.

While the tip for crewing is easy enough, there are a few strategy points that can help you get selected:

1. Find a boat that looks a little older and a little rougher.
   The really serious race boats have serious crew, i.e. not you
2. Look for boats that aren’t already swarmed with crew.
3. Hope for a windy day, because in light air days they don’t need as many people.
4. Larger guys are more useful for weight on the pry boards.
   While you may still get a chance to crew if you’re smaller, being over 200 lbs. will help.

Maxwell and I finely honed this strategy during our trial and error in Kidd’s Cove. While we got a lot of “No’s” from the captains, they were all friendly and thanked us for asking or pointed to a boat that might need help.  As the last boat was readying to weigh anchor and head for the starting line, they pointed at Maxwell and said, “Get onboard!” Maxwell had just been selected as crew for the “Queen Druscilla,” sailboat No.7 with a captain from Long Island.

I radioed the girls to tell them the news, we picked up Jess off of Kianda, and we all set out for the race in two dinghies. Then the fun began!

About the Regatta:

National Family Island Regatta has been held since 1954 in George Town, and held once in Nassau in 1973 for the Bahamas Independence Celebration. It is the largest of the Family Island Regattas, and draws visitors from all over the islands. This year there was a race on Wednesday, and then a three-day series on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The harbor is not too crowded with cruising boats, (maybe 200?) but the shore is packed with people, the pier is full of ferries and cargo boats, and small motor boats crowd the race course.

On Wednesday, when we pulled in I was very careful to keep Joint Venture well clear of the race course. I didn’t want a committee boat have to ask me to move, and on top of that the sloops are very fast, and I wanted to stay out of the way of the racers. What I realized as the week progressed is that the race course is very loosely defined and you should feel free to get as close to the action as you feel you can safely accomplish with your boat.  It was nothing to see go-fast boats cutting through the racers and boats racing from the leeward to windward mark to watch the action at the turning buoys. The sloops routinely would tack in the anchorage if they were drawn in there on their way to the windward mark. Some of the cruising sailboats on the outside of the anchorage had Class A boats sailing down both sides of them on their way to the finish line!

While it may seem great to be close, keep in mind that collisions on the race course are frequent, and the boats are pretty rough work boats. They are fast, but not too nimble, the booms are enormous, and it’s impossible to see anything to the downwind side.  Therefore, we kept Joint Venture anchored a long way from the action but, on several occasions we’d run around in the dinghy and follow the boats.  One day I decided to get into the action and followed the Class A boats around the marks in the dinghy, snapping photos of each boat as they crossed the finish line, so close I could make out faces on the crews! The racers weren’t bothered by my presence, but it’s best to keep your head on a swivel as the motor boats zoom in every direction.

On other days we’d catch the end of the race from the bleachers on shore.  The race committee would provide race updates on Channel 09 on the VHF, and it was cool to be on shore with the locals rooting for their friends and family.

In a nutshell, the Regatta is chaos.  Races start on a very loose time schedule, protests are very vocal, and we tried our best to soak up as much as possible from all vantage points.

Series Race 1:

The “Queen Druscilla” (with Maxwell as crew) has a fantastic start and is the first around the mark by 300 yards. It’s amazing, the two dinghies of cheerleaders are ecstatic that Maxwell’s boat is in the lead. Hmmm…there did seem to be a little confusion at the windward mark? While they approached for a port rounding, the race committee told them to round to starboard and the Queen complied.  The rest of the racers rounded to port and as they approached the leeward mark all the boats starting lowering sails. We thought that this seemed like a very short race, but then we realized that they were forcing the racers into a re-start.  As we approached we saw the irate captain of the Queen arguing with committee boats with Maxwell on deck, caught in the fray. The Queen’s crew felt that because they were in the lead the race committee had purposefully misled them into the starboard rounding. They argued that the committee wanted one of the local boats to win and therefore forced the re-start.  (It’s kind of like yelling that the refs are “homers” at a basketball game.) After a very vocal exchange, the Queen withdrew from the race and refused the re-start.  Maxwell’s short time on crew had ended after one lap of the three lap race.  I ran back in the dinghy to pick him up and then we watched the rest of the re-started race.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing volleyball with our friends on volleyball beach. Later that night at the party in town Maxwell ran into the captain of the “Queen Druscilla.” The committee had awarded them last place instead of a “Did Not Finish” and therefore they were still in the series!

Bus Tour:

Friday morning we arrived in town for the bus tour at 10:00.  I inquired at the Regatta information office where the bus would be leaving from, and I was told that it had departed, at 10:00….. My watch said it was 10:02? We hadn’t seen a bus depart, and we were confused, this was a large difference from “Island Time.”

We went back to the corner, disappointed that we had missed the bus. At this point we ran into about 10 more cruisers who were also surprised to hear it had already left, apparently someone had even announced on the VHF that the bus wouldn’t be leaving till 10:30! Sabrina went back to the office and learned that the lady there was able to reach the bus driver on his phone and he was returning to pick up all the stragglers. We were all very happy when we saw the school bus and boarded quickly to tour the island.

The tour took us through Great Exuma to Little Exuma.  We saw the old ferry location that used to connect the two islands before the bridge was built. The bus took us to several historic locations including tombs that dated from 1762 and the “Salt Marker” that provided a visual landmark for sailors of old to find the Little Exuma salt ponds.  The placard said as many as 300,000 bushels of salt had been harvested from the pond in one season.

In Williams Town we had the opportunity to have lunch at “Santana’s Grill Pit” which was frequented by the Johnny Depp and the cast of “Pirate’s of the Caribbean” when they were filming in the area. Sabrina and I opted to cross the street and go to “Club Arawak” which had won the award for the best conch fritters in the Bahamas in year’s past. (They were very good.) It was nice to see the island from land, and we were happy to spend some time on shore while the weather was a little dreary.

Series Race 2:

When we got back to town the B Class series race had ended. We learned that unfortunately Maxwell hadn’t been needed for crew that day. I headed out alone to watch the A Class race later that afternoon, and that’s when I snapped a lot of photos and tried my best to keep up with the sloops in the dinghy during the rough conditions in the harbor.

After I got back and showered off all the salt spray, Sabrina and I headed into town to see what festivities were going on.  While walking through the crowd on shore I almost ran headlong into the Bahamian Prime Minister.  He was out drumming up support for the elections that will be taking place in early May.

Around sunset a children’s Junkanoo parade was kicking off. These kids were very practiced, and we were amazed at the young boys playing drums that were bigger than they were. It was a party atmosphere and the parade circled through the Regatta festivities one time as everyone danced along.

Series Race 3 – Class C:

After missing out on crewing the first two days, I was determined to crew on Saturday. I figured I might have a chance at getting on one of the Class C sloops that were racing early in the morning. I thought that some crew members might have partied too much the night before and some boats might be short on people. Therefore at 8:30, Sabrina and I were in the dinghy working our way through the harbor.  One of the last boats in the harbor was the “Fredrica” and they needed crew!  We towed them to the start line with the dinghy, and then I hopped on board.

Just then, another boat pulled up and the Fredrica’s missing crew member was motioning that he’d be jumping on board. I was disappointed, but started saying goodbye and thanks for the opportunity when the captain told me to stay, and one of the other Bahamian crew members got off! I think it was a shear matter of poundage, I outweighed the crewman that left by about 50 pounds.  The late arrival was our bowman, so I’m glad that he was able to make the race.  During the race, Sabrina ran around in the dinghy, dodging boats and snapping pictures.

While I’m no expert on all the rules, the Bahamian sloop must be built in the Bahamas, and owned and captained by a Bahamian.  They are wooden, and the planks that extend off the sides are called “pry.” The pry must be shifted during a tack, and some boats have hooks that allow the pry to be easily slid from side to side.

Fredrica was a more traditional boat and had pry boards that rested above one gunwale and below the other. During a tack you needed to jump off the pry, press down it, pull it out from under the gunwale, stick it in the other side, and then jump back on it, all while the boom sweeps across about 18 inches above the deck. There was no time to practice, so I needed to get good at this technique mid race…. After the first tack I started to second guess volunteering for crew, but it got easier as the race went on.

The race is mildly controlled chaos, we ducked boats when they had the right of way and shouted “starboard” at us, and we shouted “starboard” to boats when we had the right of way. One captain thought he would safely clear us. He didn’t. My eyes were wide and I ducked an enormous boom as it swept over our deck and hit our rigging.

At the downwind mark we made a mistake and tacked into another boat that had the right of way. During the collision our pry boards were shifted and stuck one underneath the other. Not good, but there were no injuries (amazingly.)

Fredrica was in 5^thafter the first two races, and Cedric the captain knew the boats he wanted to try to beat to move up to 3^rd. We raced hard and finished in 10^th but beat some of the boats we needed to.  The crew was very friendly and Cedric informed me that I was now part of his crew and should find him if I’m ever at another regatta.

Series Race 3 – Class B:

After resting up for the rest of the morning (and feeling confident over my first crew experience) I decided to see if I could get on with a B Class boat. Maxwell wasn’t interested in crewing, but urged me to check with the Queen Druscilla since they looked a little short. The race was at 1:30 and Sabrina and I ran out to the starting line. It turned out that the Queen was short again and I jumped onboard at the one-minute gun.  They handed me a t-shirt that I quickly donned and we started weighing anchor. They asked me if I’d ever raced and I said “This morning!”

Racing on the Queen was nothing like racing on Fredrica.  The bigger B Class boat requires a lot of effort to stay on the pry. With the smaller C Class I was able to rest my feet on the toe rail at the gunwale as I sat at the end of the pry. With the B Class I was left riding a bucking bronco with nothing to hang onto as I simply wrapped my legs firmly around the pry, desperately trying not to go swimming.  The C Class race was only four legs long (upwind, downwind, upwind, then to the finish line) with a shorter leg length. The B Class went for 6 legs (up, down, up, down, up, finish) and they made the legs long to make for an exciting race.  On the second upwind leg while I was on the outside of the pry the wind picked up and we were heeling the boat with a rail in the water.  At one point two men with big cameras in a Boston Whaler chased us down and photographed us as I hung on for dear life, I tried to smile instead of grimace, but I don’t think I was convincing.

After two upwind legs on the outside of the pry I had to switch with my pry partner Ron to the inside of the pry for the last upwind leg. Trying to hang on to the end of the pry while the boat stood on its ear with a rail in the water had completely exhausted me.

For you folks that have never seen racing like this:  Imagine riding a teeter-totter that is simply a 3” x 8” painted board, there are no handles, it is soaking wet (as are you), there is a single loose line running its length, and the board varies from 30-60 degrees from horizontal. During the big puffs I’d find my pry mate Ron laying fully on top of me as the mainsail man jumped on him while we tried to keep the boat from getting knocked down.  It’s exciting to say the least.

During the downwind legs we’d get to rest in the center of the boat and I’d try to recuperate.  It wasn’t fully relaxing as we had to pump out the bilge on the Queen.  She was taking on water a little slower than we could pump it out, which was a good thing.  The bilge pump was a PVC tube with a plunger that would siphon the water from the bilge and run it out on deck.  On the downwind legs, we traded pumping duties as one crewman would get tired.

We were neck in neck with another boat, Endeama, at the last turn. They tried to cut us as we rounded the mark and fell off the wind, and it got hectic as the Queen’s boom swept their deck and got tangled in their rigging.  The Queen had the right of way, and Endeama extracted herself from the situation but stayed close.  Since we were neck and neck on the last leg, I frantically pumped the bilge as we approached the finish line, expending the last of my energy as we dashed for home. We were able to just hold them off as we took third across the line!

I got to keep the t-shirt, and I’ll wear it with pride. The crew thanked me for coming along and told me to look for them that evening at the party.  I told them that I would, and headed back to Joint Venture for a stiff drink and a hot shower.

Later that night Sabrina and I ran into Kenneth off of Fredrica and we hung out and talked for awhile about sailing. He was from Mangrove Cay, Andros and told me to come down in May for their Regatta, it’s every year on Mother’s Day weekend. He wanted me email address and I told him if he emailed me I would forward some of the photos that Sabrina snapped of Fredrica. I also saw my pry partner Ron and some of the other guys from the Queen and we talked about where the Queen finished in the overall standings. Soon thereafter the rain started and we didn’t hang around for the awards ceremony, so I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to find out the exact results.

Despite the rain and a pretty soggy few days, we had a great time at our first Bahamian Regatta. In addition to the sailing, we got to try some traditional island foods like tamarind sauce( a gooey, sweet-tart sauce made mostly of sugar), benny cake (sort of a sesame seed brittle), and of course, our usual sampling of different conch fritters.  We watched the finale parade and enjoyed watching both a local high school band and the marching band of the Royal Bahamian Police Force perform. We packed a lot into three days and are glad we stuck around for Regatta. We definitely had some unique experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise had.

The rain is still hanging around, and we are taking the opportunity to do some boat chores. Soon after all the wet laundry is washed and dried, water tanks are topped off and the refrigerator is re-stocked, we’ll be heading north to experience the northern Exumas before making the jump back to the Abacos mid-May.