First Friday at Farmers

It's long past time to update this blog. Here's a start.

First Friday at Farmers Cay – February 1 to 4, 2012

We took on the responsibility of getting Seahorse to Farmer’s Cay for the upcoming 5F regatta. Knowing that towing the sloop would slow us down, we left a day early to ensure our arrival in time for the festivities.

  Manoeuvering Seahorse to our stern to attach the towing line.

Underway to Little Farmers

We anchored at White Point en route to Little Farmers where What If introduced us to the trivia board game called The Sailors’ Game. Similar to Trivial Pursuit, The Sailors’ Game has questions from various sailing categories such as Navigation, Boats and Equipment and Advanced Seamanship. The board simulates a race around the world where your boat must avoid storms, tack and observe a few basic racing rules. While a little outdated, it is quite appropriate to have on board a cruising boat and an enjoyable way to pick up sailing knowledge that might come in useful someday.

We had time to stroll the town before the official start of the festival and see if anything had changed since our last visit.

This ingenious tomato patch was new.

 The local public facilities. Not new.

 How many conch salads were made from these shells?

We stopped at Tasha’s grocery store on the lookout for fresh fruits and vegetables. We were told that they would arrive on the Captain C around 8AM the next morning when he arrived with a load of sloops for the regatta. Considering an unknown adjustment that is usually required for “island time” I was surprised to see the ship on the horizon off our port quarter at 7:30. By 8:00 he was passing by the anchored boats to the south of us and headed around the south end of the cay.

By the time I got back to the store cruisers were snapping up produce as fast as it came in from the Captain C. I managed to snag half a dozen apples, a hand full of tomatoes and a nice chunk of cheddar cheese.

Several sloops were already sitting on the start line when I came back from shopping. I wondered why so many of the racing boats were still anchored on the beach. A couple of hours later all 14 had made it to the start line and the distance race began. All in good time I guess.

The distance race passes through the spectator fleet.

 Tom was on Seahorse with Bo, Otis and the rest of the crew.

 That’s Tom with the white hat.

The wind was brisk making for a fast race with the turning mark not far off our starboard beam. I witnessed a T-bone collision just a few feet away from Polar Pacer preceded by repeated shouts of “STARBOARD!” The first boat was able to tack away but the second one was either unwilling or unable to change course.

Heading back to the start line for the next race.

The fleet.

Seahorse did not fare well on the first day of racing. A few repairs were required.

 A splintered boom was shortened requiring a smaller sail.

The discarded sail was stored on Polar Pacer’s back deck.

 One pry snapped sending two of the crew into the water.

They had to be careful with the second pry as it was also cracked. Rather than taking a chance on doing more damage to themselves or the boat, they withdrew from the race. At least they did not sink like Thunderbird.

 Seahorse is not watertight and did not yet have a bilge pump installed. The water that accumulated overnight had to be bailed manually.

The second day’s results were better even though they lost time on the 3^rd race when they could not pick their anchor up at the start line and had to cut it loose and leave it on the bottom At least they didn’t sink like Golden Girl.

As the afternoon progressed the activities on shore got more intense. When the races were over we went ashore for the awards ceremony. In true Bahamian style there was a long list of dignitaries to be acknowledged before the trophies were distributed.

 The trophy presentation was broadcast live over Nassau radio via telephone held to the loudspeaker. 

 The whole event was filmed for a television show called Island Pulse.

One of the dignitaries appropriately dressed for the occasion.

At the after party we had a couple of drinks and shared a serving of traditional BBQ ribs. Tom was pretty wiped after two days of racing and ready for some rest. With the hatches battened down tightly we could still hear the music on shore until the wee hours of the morning. Seahorse was rafted up to us ready for the return trip to Black Point.