Juno 423: April 21-23 The Bahamas National Family Island Regatta

Once we decided to spend a week down in the Jumentos, we knew that we could be in George Town for the Bahamian Sloop regatta. We first learned of these boats on an episode of a television show called Distant Shores. The annual regatta was started in 1954. The sailors come from the many islands in the Bahamas though today the majority come from Nassau. All the islands are extremely proud of the sailors that are go to represent them.

The boats are based on traditional fishing boats used by local fisherman for 150 years. They have enormous sails for the size of the boat with the boom extend far past the back end of the boat. To support the large sails against the wind the crew have long planks that extend out from one side of the boat and up to 4 people, on the largest boats, sit out on the planks balance against the wind.

For us and our many of our friends that race sailboats, the most obvious difference from our racing is the method of starting. In most sailboat races the crew are given a count down of five minutes and have to sail their boats but remain behind a line made up of the race committee boat and a buoy. In the Bahamian Sloop racing there is a starting line indicated by two buoys, but the boats throw out an anchor to maintain their position on the line and from what we could tell it was okay if some of the boat was a bit over the starting line as long as not egregiously so. They boats have their sails down waiting for the start signal. When the gun goes off half the crew pulls forward on the anchor line to propel the boat forward and build speed. The other half of the crew begins hoisting the sail. It is extremely exciting to watch and I wonder if the Americas Cup couldn't benefit from something similar. The boats the race around several buoys that make up the course.

We ventured out in our dinghy to get some close up views of the racing. We are so glad we were able to be in George Town for this. Next time we will plan better and try to participate as apparently many teams are open to adding a guest crew.