MAY 2018UNDERWAY
NEWS and NOTES from the CRUISING COMMUNITYEdited by Jen BrettREGATTA TIME
O
n the outer edge of a shallow bay painted in vibrant
blues, wooden boats lie at anchor with their bows in a
row. This is the starting line of a Bahamian sloop regat-
ta, and with the crack of the gun, crews rush to raise sails, haul
anchor and beat to the windward mark.
Bahamian sloops were once solely workboats; today they’re
racing machines with traditional bones. Regattas began in the
1950s in a bid to keep the wooden-planked vessels from fading
into history. What started with a single event in George Town’s
Elizabeth Harbour, on Great Exuma, has grown to a couple of
dozen races per year. The sloops might no longer double as fi sh-
ing boats, but they retain their roots. Sails must be Egyptian cot-
ton. Hull and spars must be wood. There are no winches, so mus-
cle and leverage matter. Their design includes enhanced sail area
spread by impossibly long booms and countered by movable bal-
last — beefy humans! The “pry board” is a long plank extending
out from the windward beam, bedecked with Bahamians bashing
boisterously to windward.
The best known of Bahamian regattas remains in Elizabeth
Harbour, overlapping with the tail end of cruising season. The
National Family Island Regatta, usually held in late April, draws
around 60 boats in four classes. Crews are overwhelmingly
Bahamian, but cruisers have a chance to experience these boats
fi rsthand and connect with island hosts.
Cruising plans are diffi cult to peg, and despite our best inten-
tions, my family and I arrived at George Town on Totem, our Ste-