![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2-2-13b-117.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
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And the sailing regatta!\u00a0 On the second day I had the camera, and I was so enthralled in the event that I took just under 400 photos!\u00a0 There was only one race the first day because the winds got too fierce for even these hardened sailors to handle.\u00a0 But Saturday there were three races, and Bob participated in all of them, on the sloop Thunderbird.<\/em>\u00a0 They did not end up winning a trophy, but it was obvious that every boat had moments of brilliant strategy and feats of daring!<\/p>\n This is one crazy sport!\u00a0 The boats have only one huge sail, and to balance that canvas (and it literally is cotton canvas in an age when all other boats have moved on to Dacron or even more high tech synthetic materials)… \u00a0as said, to balance all that canvas there are removable planks that slide under the gunwale to extend well out over the water on the windward side of the boat (that is the opposite side to the sail).\u00a0 The crew scramble out onto these planks, called \u2018prides,\u2019 in order to balance the weight of the boom and sail on the other side, which would capsize the boat if not for the crew hiking out on the prides.\u00a0 When these boats come about on a different tack, which means bringing the boom and sail to other side of the boat, the crew scrambles down the pride back into the cockpit, yanks out the pride and shoves it into the gunwale on the other side. \u00a0Then they all scramble out onto it again.\u00a0 There is plenty of risk of injury.\u00a0 Just moving the pride from one side to the other offers lots of chance for getting hit by this big plank of oak, or getting fingers broken when maneuvering it.\u00a0 The men all end up with lots of bruises from scrambling out on these things, and they call their injuries \u2018boat bites.\u2019<\/p>\n During these races there are plenty of mishaps.\u00a0 While you are out on the pride you hold on by locking your legs under the pride, but there is very little to hold on to with your hands.\u00a0 The guy farthest out has no handhold and must rely on his locked legs to keep him from falling in the water.\u00a0 During the first race Bob was the farthest man out on the plank when the captain realized that Bob just didn\u2019t weigh enough to be out there.\u00a0 He told him to switch places, but no one was to move off the plank, so Bob had to climb over the other guys while under sail and hiked up high off the water.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how he did it.\u00a0 There were plenty of times on all the boats when someone almost fell off the pride into the water, but it didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n Can you see Bob? \u00a0He’s third from the end in this photo.<\/p>\n There were lots of boat casualties, and I understand it\u2019s quite common for at least one boat to sink in every race.\u00a0 At this regatta two boats sank, one during the first race and one during the second.\u00a0 After that, while there were plenty of boat mishaps, none of them sank again.\u00a0 During that second race Thunderbird\u2019s <\/em>boom raked across the boom of Golden Girl<\/em> and then caught Golden Girl\u2019s<\/em> forestay, which dragged it over far enough that Golden Girl<\/em> went down and sank.\u00a0 Someone on a powerboat nearby was enraged by this event and began ramming into Thunderbird<\/em>.\u00a0 Several times this powerboat actually rode up onto the deck of Thunderbird<\/em>.\u00a0 Bob said at one point he had to duck as the powerboat drove right up onto the deck of Thunderbird<\/em>, with Bob crouching right below it in the cockpit.\u00a0 There was no penalty for any of this\u2026 after a few minutes the guy in the powerboat took off and wasn\u2019t seen again.<\/p>\n There were other wild moments during the races.\u00a0 The start involves all the boats anchoring right along the starting line.\u00a0 When the gun goes off they all pull up anchor while also raising sail.\u00a0 The motion of pulling up the anchor gives a bit of a jump start to the sail filling with wind and the race is off and running.\u00a0\u00a0 At the first race on Friday, Thunderbird\u2019s<\/em> captain chose the spot right next to the starting buoy to anchor as a prime place for the starboard tack beginning leg.\u00a0 Two other boats liked that idea and moved the buoy in order to anchor in this prime position.\u00a0 There was no penalty for this!\u00a0 Then a bit later, one of the boats went around the wrong side of one of the marks, and this too was not contested.\u00a0 Rules seem a bit casual here, and it doesn\u2019t seem to bother anyone.<\/p>\n The starting line… Thunderbird<\/em> is at the far left.<\/p>\n Thunderbird<\/em> (on right) crossing paths with Lady Eunice<\/em>. \u00a0Bob is exchanging places on the pride with some of the other crew.<\/p>\n So, I\u2019ll try to pick a few of the 400 photos.\u00a0 While the boats were too far away on their course I got some shots of the locals.\u00a0 Beautiful people!<\/p>\n We were thrilled to find that “Tall Boy” came all the way from Potter’s Cay in Nassau to make his famous conch salads at the festival! \u00a0This time I made sure to have one!<\/p>\n And this pretty much sums up how both Bob and I feel these days:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n