Spectators

Dave and I were spectators for the Homer Lowe Regatta this weekend. This competition brings in sailors from Nassau and Freeport to race along side of our Abaco adults and junior sailors. There are three classes...Sunfish, Optimist Prams, and 420s. Dave knew he couldn't be competitive against the Sunfish racers, so we went out both days in Walkabout.

On Saturday the winds were so light that the races were postponed until after lunch, but not before everyone floated around waiting for any kind of wind zephyrs to come up.

These guys in a 420 decided to play around and try to get their boat to do wheelies. It was hilarious to see the boat's bow come way out of the water when they went over some of the boat wakes.

The race committee tried really hard to find the wind, but it never materialized enough to begin a race (we ended up towing the only female Sunfish racer out to the course and then back again to her dock).

In the afternoon, a light southeast breeze came up and they managed to hold a three race series.

On Sunday, the conditions were much better with 10-15 knots of west wind. Between the waves and wakes, it was quite rough out on the course, so I didn't get to take too many photos. We however helped reset some of the race marks when the wind shifted, so we did our good deed for the day. The starts are always fun to watch...

Competition was fierce, especially for the 420 boats at the windward mark.

While at the windward mark, we tried anchoring to stay in one spot. We couldn't get the anchor to hook up, until suddenly it did. When we went to move, we found out we had hooked one of the underwater power cables. Yikes! Luckily Dave shook the anchor and it fell back to the bottom with no harm done. We were afraid we would get back to Hope Town and find the power was off. 😉

Even the 4 junior sailors in Optis had a good close race at times. It was encouraging to see them out on the course.

In the end the Abaco competitors won first place in all three classes! What a great couple of days on the water and a chance for Dave to watch the 'pros' and get some hints as to how to make his Sunfish go faster during the regular races.