National Family Island Regatta 2010

Hello everyone! What’s up? Oh, that’s right the sky! So how about we continue the Travels of Asolare … it turns out the wind blew us from Conception Island straight to Emerald Bay … or maybe that was us deciding. Emerald Bay is a lot of fun and has a MASSIVE! flat screen TV along with an awesome tropical, fun pool with underwater music, a pool table & lots of great games, and a bunch of other fun things including the cool air-conditioning where you simply relax and have your favorite drink of choice! Ya ... I would say it is really nice! From there it was back to G-Town otherwise known as George Town for this major event called the National Family Island Regatta. Every year this major event happens and is always a lot of fun! It is great for me because that’s when all the children show up and I have a blast with them. Every night there is a huge party, beach bonfire or celebration going on and there are lots of things to do. That’s on shore and all the children will run around in Regatta Park. Mean while … all of the other people will be hopping around in the crowd ordering food and dancing to the music. Occasionally, you will see a guy who is dancing right in front of these ENORMOUS speakers that are just BLASTING! Oh ya! I’m surprised the music can go that loud, the ground vibrates when you walk by. We participate in the National Family Island Regatta every year and it is always a great turn out! There are all these boats that are low to the water and the boom sticks out from the back of the boat really far. They are the original Bahamian Work Boats, sometimes called Smacks. There are the A Class Boats, which are the biggest and have a mainsail and a jib, B Class Boats, which are medium sized and also have a mainsail and a jib, then C Class Boats, which are the smallest and they just have a mainsail. In a day, there are 3 races in each class of boats, so a total of 9 races going on. I actually got to experience this in the Junior Races and it was a lot of fun! There was myself and two other friends of mine on a C boat called H2O. There were also three Bahamian men on the boat so a total of 6 crew. I was the Captain of the boat and the Skipper for 2 of the races, which means I got to steer the boat! At the beginning of the race, all the boats of that class line up at the starting line and when they blow the horn all of the people on the boats start pulling up the anchor and raising the mainsail, there is so much going on, everybody is yelling and it is just WILD! These races are tough and everyone on the boats wants to win. So, when you are under way and the sails are up the excitement begins! When you are sailing some of the people have to sit out on these boards called the PRIE, way over the water, to keep the boat level and going fast so it doesn’t tip over too much and get water inside. What fun! Occasionally, they will get too much water inside the boat and will sink immediately. If she sinks, people have to take the lead out of the keel to make it float, and then the boat comes right up to the surface again. There are buoys set up on the water called “marks” and the boats have to round them. Sometimes, there is more than one boat rounding a mark at the same time and the boats will smash into each other! We bumped into some boats one time. That’s very interesting to watch, but even more so when you’re on a boat! Then after about 3 laps the boats head back to the finish and the Race Committee blows the horn for the person who comes in 1st place. Hope I am not making you jealous! We did really well in the races and were sometimes in the lead! We got 1st place in the 1st race, 2nd place in the 2nd race, and 9th in the 3rd race! There were 30 boats racing in our class. It was a team effort and we couldn’t have done as well as we did without everyone on the boat! I had a really great time with my 2 other friends Parker and Connor, who are on cruising sailboats just like me. I was so glad they could be with me in the race, they were amazing and we had a BLAST! doing it together. The Bahamians Chim, DJ, and Kelly were awesome and they all helped us kids out a lot! We were lucky to get on H2O; it is really fast and had such great people on board! H2O is from Blackpoint, Exumas and is a fantastic boat! At the party that night, we went to see the Bahamian National Marching Band, which all of the police play in together and perform this great show with fun music and the leader has a pole he does some amazing tricks with! We got to watch from the roof of the Straw Market right in the center of town and it was an incredible view! There was an awards ceremony and after a great speech I was called up on stage by the Prime Minister, shook his hand and he gave me this beautiful, outstanding trophy for 3rd place overall in our Class! As the Captain of our boat, I was given these very detailed, amazing medals for all the crewmembers on our boat and as it turned out I was the only non-Bahamian kid who got a trophy! It is amazing! Every child who races in the Junior Races during the Regatta also gets a trophy, it is a sailboat on a stand about a foot tall. All the kids who raced in the Junior Races had such a good time, the highlight of the week for them! It was great and I had a lot of fun doing it! This has been a really incredible time and is one of the reasons I like George Town so much. There is so much going on and I meet wonderful people, who I see every year and sometimes they visit us in Ketchum, Idaho! I will be posting another Blog so be sure to check that one out too! Hope you enjoyed this one! This is Colby signing out!