The Race February 4 and 5, 2009

The Race!- George Town, Exuma to Long Island- February 4 and 5, 2009
Weather, weather! Chris Parker’s weather forecast came on SSB 4.045mz at 6:30 AM while we were in Monument Beach Anchorage in George Town. During our short stay in George Town we had climbed the Monument path, walked the ocean path, played Bocci on the beach, had a cruiser’s beach party, listened to a Ham Radio seminar at the beach pavilion, visited St. Francis Resort for food and the Superbowl, filled the propane, checked the supermarkets, Exuma Market and the Shop Rite, eaten at Eddie’s, bought diesel in jerry jugs and put it in the fuel tanks---and so when the race committee came on the VHF and suggested that the race should be a day earlier than planned, we decided we could go!
George Town, a Bahamian town larger than some and the cruiser hang-out with four coves and two beaches where the many boats can anchor, is a place to meet, greet and reunite with other cruisers. We had been waiting, in a group of over two hundred anchored boats, to meet up with cruiser friends on Jay Sea Dee and Charmed, two other Island Packet Yachts, for a few weeks. Both boats came into the anchorage the day after Sea Star arrived. We all decided to enter the Regatta to Long Island. Dan felt our real competition in a race of extremely varied boats; monohulls of all kinds and sizes and catamarans, would be with the Island Packets, and there were five IPYs signed up. Charmed is an identical boat to Sea Star, there were an IPY 38’ and a 42’on the list and Jay Sea Dee a 48’ IPY. When the race date changed we three and Lady, a Catalina 47 and nineteen other boats with sailors from all over the world, but mostly US and Canada, many Canadians from all the provinces plus sailing folks from England, France and Germany decided we could be flexible and go on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at about a two hour notice instead of the planned Thursday, in hopes in my case, to avoid predicted eight foot seas at the cut into Exuma Sound near the start of the race- and not have a heart-pounding boat thumping wild ride.
The organizers informed participants that boats could start as early as they wished, we should just pass the motor yacht keeping the racers’ time and hail them when beginning the 34.6 mile course to Indian Point waypoint in the Long Island Salt Pond anchorage. The rules allowed the use of motor when moving between a waypoint called North Rocks and Middle Rocks for obvious reasons. The rules also included that since this is a fun cruiser’s race, boats were not to unload weight- just go as a cruiser with barbeque on the rail etc. and no poles, spinnakers, or screecher sails allowed.
Three of us, Charmed, Lady and Sea Star lined up at the designated marker about a half hour before most of the field. It seemed the right thing to do to avoid the crowd in the narrow channels, especially as the rules required rounding the waypoints. Then we started off with jib- at a whopping 4 knots! There was noo wind. As we progressed through the cut, the wind filled in from behind us at 10 to 15kn and we had a pleasant, then boisterous sail with up to 29 knots as we neared Long Island. As we sailed, Lady and two catamarans, Windsong and Zing passed Sea Star. We felt we had sailed our best race with full main and jib, then the staysail and main wing on wing on another leg, finally full sail again as we made the last waypoint, then struggled a bit to crank the sails in as we fairly flew past the time-keeper and into the anchorage. The trawler, Southern Estate, announced the time for Sea Star was 2hours, 50minutes and 10 seconds.
After the race, since we were actually a day early for the planned events at Long Island, a cruiser get together was held at sundown on the beach. The next day the weather for the 13 additional racers was even windier than when we crossed- the last of the racing boats were in the anchorage earlier in the day than we had been, and the wind was expected to stay up at 20-to 25 knots holding steady for days to come. No one was going to be able to return to George Town comfortably for a few days. Luckily , as I write this, we are in a great anchorage with protection from the Northeast, but some wind chop that keeps us on the boat.
The first cruiser event after the second group arrived was to meet at the lovely, curved Thompson Bay Beach and have a group photo with the 80 or so participants in the 2nd annual George Town to Long Island race. Siggy’s Dancer, one of the organizers, lined us up for the photo and it was like herding cats! Hopefully, I can get the photo from someone through email.
Of course to get to the beach and then the restaurant required fresh clothes to look decent, then a dinghy ride into the wind and salt spray considering the wind velocity and surge, a dinghy pull-up on the beach over the sharp rocks at low tide and an exit into the water to pull the dinghy up on the beach. Using our flashlights there was a hike along a conch shell lined path to a Bahamian buffet feast prepared at the Thompson Bay Club, an open-air room. While waiting for dinner, one cruiser had prepared a Trivia quiz of sailing information that helped to pass the time. Great food; fish, conch, Bahamian mac and cheese, peas and rice, barbecued ribs, chicken, a wonderful night- then lug the dinghy back into the water and slog on back to the boats.
The lovely lady who cooked and provided the food, Tryphena, invited a group of us to go beach comb her private beach the next day. Twelve or so cruisers appeared the next morning for the five mile trip on the back of her son’s pick-up to a most wonderful view of the ocean side of the narrow island and then to the dune above the sheltered beach as we wound our way to the drop off spot. Looking down we could see waves crashing against a cluster of rocks just off-shore. When we walked down to those rocks we saw the place Tryphena had called her spa- the water swirling between the sheltering rocks. She left us there for a few hours of private time to poke through mountains of yellow, stringy sea weed searching for treasure of choice, or to take a long walk along the curved beach where each rise enticed you to continue on.
Our second night was a cruiser prepared Potluck Awards dinner at the Island Breeze Resort. Mike and his business partner opened the resort especially for our party and at other times provided a friendly atmosphere and the needed amenities- dinghy dock, food, internet, and washer/dryer. The race results for the two days were calculated and the handicaps introduced into the times. We were sort of penalized for leaving a half hour earlier than others because the wind had been stronger for the later starters giving them better overall times! Gag and winning gifts were given, with each cruiser previously requested to bring a wrapped gift off of their boat, everyone could win something. Sea Star’s gift was a Christmas wrapped Nokia Cell Phone- didn’t work, no cord, who cares? Some gifts were useful but some were flotsam off the beaches, old loran, or used books or movies. The new Island Breeze Resort with its huge open-air deck over-looking the Bay and Salt Pond provided a perfect Bahamian setting to watch the sun go down and later dance to the Unstoppables- a local music group providing dance tunes with a Calypso beat. We danced and watched others dance until we needed to return to our boats. Everyone had a great time, returned to the boats wet and salty-and still the wind blew, and blew. In the next few days the boats slowly began to depart, some back to George Town, Exuma, some on to the Turks and Caicos Islands and others like Sea Star, Charmed, Jay Sea Dee and Windsong , decided that the “jewel of the Bahamas”, as Steven Pavlidis refers to these tiny cays in his guide book, On and Off the Beaten Track, the Jumento Cays south of Long Island were to be our next stop.