Out Island Regatta

Robin and Alan Dinn are here this week and the entertainment is the Bahamian National Family Island Regatta--better known to Americans as the Out Island Regatta. The class A boats are spectacular. They are 28 foot full keel sloops with outrageous over sized rigs. To keep the boats upright two boards are shoved out to weather and 6 or 7 crew members hike out on these outriggers. The racing is very close at the top of the fleet and the yachts are so powerful that mark rounding are quite dicey. I have many amazing pictures, but the Internet is especially thin right now so they will have to wait. No one seem to know who is winning as the results are not posted or announced--that's the Bahamas.

The scene ashore is amazing. Sort of like Bayfest with a beat. Very, very loud music rings out as cheap booze and food is served in hastily erected shacks. Many of the "Nassau people" are here. One of our favorite locals refers to them as the "tives and hos" (thieves and whores in translation.) The locals hate the regatta, but I love it.

Hopefully pics will appear when the band width expands.

N.B. (4-29-08) We have been able to upload the pictures. Hope you enjoy them. I found out that Runnin' Tide won class A and Tida' Wave was second. The picture of the pink sloop above is the Anna Nicol who finished last. Anna Nicol's memory is wildly popular in the Bahamas. The sort of plain picture is of the start. The start is an anchored start with the sails down. It is very tense. The first boat to anchor along the starting line gets the best position, but the longer the anchor sets the more difficult it is to raise.