Carl came by the boat today and asked us if we wanted to go to The Valentines Day Massacre Regatta today to watch the Bahamian working sailboats sail. Carl and Carly are on a 65ft steel hull sailboat next to us, they have two super cute girls, four and two, and are expecting their third! Very nice family!
It was so exciting to see the difference in the way the regattas are run, from the states to here, we laughed and laughed, everyone was waving their arms, yelling and getting ready. They start these working sailboats from anchor, the gun goes off (a man in the committee boat had a shotgun he shot off!) and some of the men pull the anchor up while others hoist the sails!Now, by the early 1950′s, these kind of working sailboats were fast disappearing from this part of the world. The Grand Banks fishing schooner was all but gone, and the Chesapeake oyster dreggers were no longer being replaced as they were laid up and the many vessels still working under canvas in the Bahamas had an uncertain future!
In 1954 a small group of Bahamian and American yachtsmen conceived the idea of holding a regatta for the Bahamian working sailboats. A regatta would offer a fine opportunity for Bahamian sailors to all gather in one place, have some sport and a chance for the cruising yachtsmen to witness one of the last working sailing fleets in action and at the same time introduce them to the magnificent cruising grounds here in The Bahamas. So it was in the late April 1954 nearly 70 Bahamian sloops, schooners, and dinghies gathered in Elizabeth Harbour for three days of racing.
One of the early aims of the Regatta was to help preserve the boat building skills once so common to all the islands because racing rules state that a vessel must be Bahamian designed, built, owned, and sailed, also, restrictions on materials used or allowed have been introduced so as to keep these racing boats as closely related to their working forebears as possible.
The advantages of sail-driven work boats are being rediscovered, here in the Bahamas, brought about by the ever-increasing costs of fuel and the high costs here in the islands, of man-made boat building materials. It is wonderful to stand on the Nassau waterfront today and see the arrival of a Bahamian sailing smack because it is not to see the last of a dying breed, but rather, to witness one of man’s better creations, created by his own hands from the material nature has provided, and powered by the wind. The Bahamian wooden sailing vessel has served the Bahamas for many years gone by, and will continue to do so!
When we left to go see the races, I was not sure if they would actually be sailing or not because getting the Bahamians together to do something is kinda like trying to convince lemmings to fight for their independence, so I did not bring my camera. Sigh, it did happen and I did not get any pictures! Live and learn...Carly did bring her camera and I will try to post some of her pictures later!
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