I just got back from watching the big “A” Class race from the dinghy.. great fun. “Tida’ Wave” from Staniel Cay is quite the favorite…. I didn’t see the end, but she started third and by the first turn she was in the lead. The first leg is upwind and she outpointed all the other boats. The boat I picked to do well was “Red Stripe” from Black Point. They build great boats there… but I’m afraid I’ve never seen a keen skipper from Black Point that could bring home the bacon. The top of Red Stripe’s sail laid off badly upwind, even though she was close hauled….. she gave a lot of her power away up high. She started first by 3 lengths.. at the first mark she was 150 yards below the windward mark when “Tida’ Wave” rounded. Sorry I didn’t have the camera for the “A” race.
It was quite the worry about having enough wind to complete the 4 day event…. so far the only race that suffered was yesterdays “C” race. I was at the line when the Race Commodore said… “gentlemen all I can tell you is be ready… when we get a little wind we are going to start you.. whether it’s upwind or down”…. WOW, I just heards the cannon fire for the end of the big “A” race. “Running Tide” took the fleet.
I took this immediately after the “A” race from the boat. I can hear hollering and jubilation across the water 200 yards away from the finish. It appears “Tida’ Wave” and “Rupert’s Legend” finished 2nd and 3rd.. Funny that the first 3 boats are painted white. There are boats of every color out there making the race quite the visual spectacle. “Running Tide” took a unique line thru Kidd Cove and all the cruising boats that must have netted him some real estate. He made up quite a bit of ground on the leaders to pull off the win!
The previous race allowed me some nice pictures that tell the story of how the races area run.
The race begins by jockeying for position, lots of yelling with bull horn replies from the race committee. When the committeemen are satisfied they shoot a cannon and they are off!
At the start they have an anchor set about 40 yards out in front of the boat…. they get up to speed by pulling hard, then raise the sail.
This race was the second of the day, the “B” class. I was on the line when “Lady Sonia” pulled off a fine start and held it to the end. I got some great pictures of the race and took a congratulatory picture after the win. The skipper gave me his email so I was able to share his victory with him and his shipmates via email. 
I’m sure I was the first to inform his wife he had won… because of the lighting speed of email and his holding up a single “first place” finger in the camera shot after the race was over……
Iv’e often wondered just how fast these boats are. Its forbidden to have electronics of any kind on any of the boat even for practice. The purity of the sport is regarded as almost sacred. Following along in the dinghy, I can report that with the light to medium winds, I didn’t have to get on plane to keep up with any class of Bahamian Sloop today or yesterday. I haven’t put a GPS on the boat, but my RC boat is about the same speed.
I need to get up early and listen to the weather. Soon we will be heading South/SE toward the Crooked Islands. The prevailing winds are also SSE. Lately fronts have been coming thru about every 6 1/2 days. If that holds true, I need to be ready to move out after the Norther passes in about 4 days. Some nice following North winds would be nice!
All I need is a couple more cans of gas. There aren’t many places where you can put $63 dollars worth of gas in two 5 gallon cans! But it’s easy to do in the Bahamas. There is no opportunity for gas for the next 100 miles (to the Crooked Islands) so it makes sense to fill all my extra cans in GT before we leave. You can go on the opposite side of Long island and buy gas, but the most direct (and probable route) is pretty remote.
Sunset is an hour away….. almost horn blowing time. I can hear the huge speakers at regatta point (the zoo) boom boom… boom boom. There will be a high time ashore tonight! Glad I went ashore earlier to pick up my event tee shirt. I’m all set for the night.
I heard something strange today…. Linda said “I think I’m ready to go sailing soon” She’s always the one that wants to put the anchor in the sand and stay put for days on end. Which we have done lately. I’m glad to hear she will be ready for the next leg of our trip to the Crooked Islands. I’m hitting the sack early tonight so I can get up and listen.. maybe talk to Chris Parker about my next leg. He will be the best resource to say when to go down the “thorny path” so it’s called toward the Caribbean.