Friday, June 29 - Tuesday, July 18, 2006

A lot of boats arriving due to the Regatta Time in Abaco. It runs from July 3 - 11. Begins with the Cheeseburger in Paradise party on Fiddle Cay sponsored by Stranded Naked followed by 5 races around 5 different islands (from Green Turtle to Great Guana to Man-o-War to Hope Town to Marsh Harbour). There is a lay day for travel between each race. Each day has it’s own entertainment and yes …A PARTY!! The regatta was sponsored by several local businesses but mainly by Mount Gay Rum and Corona beer. You guessed right….there was lots and lots of FREE rum!! We crewed on New Zealand friend’s boat, Keweloa, for 2 of the 5 races - the Great Guana and Man-o-War races.

Stranded Naked
The house boat that sponsored the Cheeseburger in Paradise Party.

Great Guana Race Highlights - exciting and challenging.

The sailing gets very competitive causing boats to get very close together at times.

Boats do get very close together. Photo taken from our boat, Keweloa (the face in the lower left corner) with Running Free and Caper next door - each boat was no more than 10 feet apart!!

Crew is leaning off the Abaco Rage - a local sailboat out of Hope Town.

Heading back to anchor at Fisher’s Bay at Great Guana Cay, we looked back toward the finish line and saw black smoke. A 23 ft. boat racing had just crossed the finish line, started their engine and…POOF!! Exploded and went up in flames. All 6 crew members jumped overboard and were rescued. The boat burned to the waterline and was not salvageable.
We continued into anchor. Got it set and BAM!! A violent squall with steady winds of 50 -60 knots blew for over an hour. Boats dragging anchors everywhere!! Several ending on land, some into docks, some crushing other boats, and some crushed on the beach.

Nomad crushing the Abaco Rage

The Rage suffered broken ribs and was unable to finish the rest of the races in the regatta. Everyone was heartbroken. She was a beauty to see sail!!

Escape weathered just fine. She was on a mooring and luckily the boats that dragged by her never made contact as there would have been nothing we could do because we were watching her from Keweloa. We never had a chance to get back to her before the blow hit.
Also a May Day was broadcasted over the VHF radio. Up on the northern end of Green Turtle Cay, a diving catamaran capsized putting 16 people in the water. All were rescued safely.
The day’s events kinda put a slight damper on the evenings festivities, but they still went on.

Man-O-War Race Highlights - good race but not as eventful and Guana’s. The party at Snappa’s included a traditional Junkanoo parade through the restaurant.

July 9 - headed to Man-o-War to make sure the mooring was all set. (total trip 7 nm)

July 10 - Bahamas Independence Day Celebrations. Evening filled with fireworks and Junkanoo festivities.

July 13 - headed back to Marsh Harbour to renew our immigration papers for another 90 days. The mooring is good to go for the season. Tom needed to dive to the bottom of the Eastern Harbor to retrieve the mooring lines. YUK!! We have our plans set to head back to the Florida Keys July 19 - 26 to get the truck and safely store it in Sarasota with our very dear friend, Diane. (total trip 7 nm)

Sunday, July 16, 2006
With all our paperwork taken care of we’re good to go for another 90 days. YEAH!!!!
Headed back to Man-o-War to our mooring in the Eastern Harbor to get Escape ready for a week’s rest while we return to Florida to take care of unfinished business. (total trip 6.8 nm)