We made it back to Georgetown in the Exumas, in time for the biggest cultural sporting event in the Bahamian calender ..............and we both have T-shirts to prove it.............. THE NATIONAL FAMILY ISLANDS REGATTA ........... A sporting event unequalled anywhere, because all the yachts have to be locally built, and all in wood, and all sailed by local Bahamians, although exceptions are made for the "A" class, because of their sheer size and the number of people need to keep them upright............. The boats have come from everywhere, by sailing there, or by road, or by being carried on commercial barges as deck cargo or being towed by other vessels......... And the spectator fleet is equally awesome, all the more so, when suddenly two seaplanes come gliding through the anchorage full of yachts and pull up on the beach (top left)........... And it is not just on the water that the activities take place, for everywhere there are shacks and tents being built, and Bahamian food being served, and of course.... BEER.... lots of it, lots and lots and lots and lots. The kids are equally excited because school will be cancelled for three days (due to the noise factor they tell us)....... Laurie was messing with this little girl and her fake cellphone....... "WHO DAT?"........... "Could be just about anybody"...........
A week ago none of these shacks were here, each with its back-porch for fish cleaning and looking over the harbour where the sloops will be anchored........... The same goes for the amount of conch shell that has been harvested for this event, because hundreds of out-island people will come on the ferry boats and the mailboats to see this spectacle and participate in the biggest party of the year. You may just have to double-click on the photos to enlarge them..............
And if you didn't bring your anchor, well, that's just too bad .......you'll just have to beach it till you're ready...............
Everywhere in the islands these sloops are built to a basic length/beam/draft ratio in order to qualify for class A, B, or C, but construction is as you see it, as long as it is made of wood. Take a close look at the construction and you will recognise a tree branch here and there............. with the bark still on, and some packing crate material............... island style...........that's the way it's been for more than a hundred years.
Psssst...... Now I am going to let you in on a secret...... While passing through STANIEL CAY and once again 'shooten de breeze' with Steve Smith, the boat builder, I suddenly got asked if I would like to sail on "TIDA WAVE" during the Regatta. "TIDA WAVE", the reighning champion, has won this even nineteen times in twenty eight years, so what do you think I said............................Actually I was completely blown away.......... thrilled and honoured beyond words............ Which brings me to "COTTON" from which the sails are still made and locally sewn. Cotton canvas, that is......... Cotton was one of the main industries tried by the settlers in the islands, when the first people came from the Carolinas back in the early 1800s. The crops were never really a success and the struggle lasted for years........ Everywhere today, you still find cotton growing wild........And in the photo below there are the flowers, the cotton boll and the woolly cotton.........All in the one branch at the same time.................
The sloop "TERMITE" , a "C" class sloop from the Exumas, being launched...... You can get some idea of the length of the boom.......relative to the hull length...
Tomorrow is RACE DAY 1, and last night the celebration had begun with the music, the drinking and the dancing lasting long into the night and into the morning and the next blog entry will be something else................ I hope. They won't throw me off the boat should I make a mistake, because under the rules, they have to turn around to pick me up again, so I should be good to go for at least one round.............It wasn't always so....... When you see the size of these sails, they are like huge white skies over your head. The "A" class boats are 28 ft long and the mast is 60 feet above the deck..............and the boom sticks out at least 10 feet beyond the stern...... you do the maths.........
But let's eat something first......... "Anyone for some snapper?"......................
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