After a very enjoyable 3 plus months using Georgetown as our home base we are getting ready to cast off for new adventures. This area has been just great for hosting our visitors, enjoying the large cruising community, taking care of Echo while we were in the States for our Grand Canyon Trip, as a jumping off point to explore nearby islands, and a wonderful place to meet Bahamians and learn about their culture.
Here in Exuma, the last major event of the winter season is the Family Island Regatta. This year marked the 60th running of a race that grew out of competition between Bahamian sailing work boats. The boats are shipped via freighter from Islands throughout the Bahamas for this Championship.
The really exciting feature of these Bahamian Sloops is the fact that they are severely over powered and rely on the agility of their human crew to keep the boats balanced. Each boat has one or two long planks that are deployed off the windward side. As the wind builds, the crew progressively slides out the planks to counteract the pressure from the wind. On the largest class, the “A” class, the boats are 32′ long and have a crew of 12. As it gets windy, there will be up to 5 guys hanging out on each plank. Pretty incredible!
The race starts from all the sloops at anchor with the sails down. As the starting gun is fired, each boat hauls in the anchor as quickly as possible, hoists up the sails, and is off to the race. This race was an out and back, out and back, course. The following clip show the start, the boats rounding the first mark, and then the finish.
Of course, every sailboat race is, at its heart, an excuse for a party. The Family Island Regatta is no exception. Where a week ago there was nothing out on the government quay, by Regatta time there are a couple of dozen food and drink shacks, competing DJs with entire walls of speakers, and hundreds of visitors from all over the islands. A high point of the festivities is a parade featuring the Royal Bahamas Police Force Marching Band. The parade route is only about 1 block long, so instead of just marching by you as in traditional parade, in this instance they march back and forth from end to end about 10 times.
Next Plans
For the past several weeks we have been in a dither concerning what direction we should head. We thought about exploring the northern Bahamas and then heading back to the states, or maybe scooting way south towards South America, or maybe spending the summer exploring Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico….So, after much thought and discussion, we have decided to continue our journey via option 3. In the next couple of days we plan to leave George Town, continue south in the Bahama chain to Turks and Caicos, then south to Luperon in the DR. Updates Soon.