On April 13 we motored down from Cocoa Point, Barbuda back to Five Islands, Antigua, where we spent the night before moving on down to Falmouth Harbour, where much of the Regatta activities would be centered, and where Barb and I and many of our friends would attend that afternoon an organizational meeting for Regatta volunteers.   We received our volunteer T-shirts and our assignments and enjoyed complimentary drinks and sushi.   On the 15th Barb and some others went for a walk east of English Harbour and happened upon a restoration project of a historical building.   That night gazillions of folks gathered at the Mad Mongoose for an informal social organized by Tom (Farhaven) for participants of the Coconut Telegraph, the SSB net convened every morning at 8 am on USB 8070.   The place was packed, a testament to the popularity of the “Nut Net”, as it is informally called.

Wednesday, April 16, was the first of the official parties for the Regatta held at the Antigua Yacht Club lawn.   We got there early, which was fortunate, since we learned on our arrival that Barb and I were among those on “clean-up duty” during the party, which meant that we were to patrol the lawn and the nearby eating area and keep the tables (and lawn) cleared of empty cups and plates, etc., an assignment that we had somehow missed at the volunteer meeting on Tuesday.   Barb dashed back to our boat to get our official volunteer T-shirts, and we spent the next couple of hours performing duties somewhat below our educational levels.  It actually wasn’t such a bad gig since we got a free dinner and had plenty of time to chat with friends and listen to the band.  At the end of the evening the Mount Gay sponsors gave away the coveted red hats that were not collected by Regatta crew members.  Due to our duties, we were there to collect two of them — thank you!

Thursday we gave our livers a rest and stayed on the boat, missing the activities associated with the Single Handed Race.

Friday, we joined 18 others on board Nirvana for an expedition out among the boats racing on the first of four days of general races.   Anticipating the problem of dealing with stowing the many dinghies used to arrive at Nirvana for the voyage, Morgan had set a separate anchor with two large buoys attached.  As guests arrived, passengers would be let off at Nirvana, the dinghy driver would go to the dinghy float and attach the dinghy and then be brought to Nirvana with a dinghy reserved for the task.

The different categories of racers started at different times.  Some categories had already begun, but our venture out to the race venue was delayed, because some of Morgan’s intended guests were volunteer “wranglers” — drivers of dinghies used to assist the competitors in leaving their slips (and getting back into their slips at the end of the race).  Morgan was idling some distance from the dinghy float while awaiting the arrival of the wranglers, when he noticed that a would-be competitor was approaching the float as if to tie on.  He shouted out a warning that the floats (and dinghies) were not securely attached to the bottom but were merely on an anchor.  The skipper responded “we will only be five minutes!”   Yah, right.   They approached the floats from the wrong side; the wind blew them into the floats. The painters on the dinghies and floats became entangled with the keel of the sailboat.  The windage of the assemblage proved to be much too much for the anchor and the whole kit and caboodle went “sailing” down the harbour toward the distant and then not-so-distant rocky shore.   For many many minutes the crew of the vessel ineffectually poked at the painters with a boat hook, all the while drifting away.  Finally, they dropped their anchor to keep off the rocky shore and our wranglers showed up and went dashing off to help.  Many many more minutes went by.   Someone got in the water and untangled most of the lines.  The skipper got impatient and tried to raise a center board and jammed Morgan’s anchor line between the hull and the board, locking the board in a position neither totally up nor totally down.  Eventually, our wranglers freed the dinghies, and brought them back to Nirvana, leaving the sailboat to continue floundering.   A quick decision was made to tie all of the dinghies to the stern of Hoofbeats.   That took many many more minutes to accomplish.   By the time Nirvana finally got to the race venue, many of the categories had already begun and disappeared.   So we missed many of the starts, as did the inept sailboat in its own category.   Served them right.

This all happened on Good Friday, a holiday on Antigua which by law is alcohol-free, so there were no parties scheduled for that night.   A night at the Classic Regatta without a party?   That could not be permitted to stand.   Dave and Trudie (Persephone) approached Jack and Jo (Bodacious) and it was decided to have a dinghy concert off the stern of Bodacious.   See the next post for an account of the concert.

On Saturday we joined Jack and Jo at the evening lawn party in making and serving complementary “Dark and Stormy” drinks.  (Recipe:  Ice, Mount Gay Rum, ginger beer and a slice of lime.  Evaluation:  delicious!)   Later a bunch of us went to an “all you can eat” sushi dinner at the restaurant overlooking the AYC lawn and stage; from there we watched the acts in an “open mike” talent show.

Sunday after the race was the Parade of Classics at Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour, and that evening back at Antigua Yacht Club in Falmouth was a party with complimentary lobster bisque and rum punch.

On Monday we joined Bill & Coleen (Dolce Vita), Rob (Miclo III), Eric (Viking Angel) and Jack & Jo   aboard Bodacious for another close-up view of the racers on their prescribed routes.   Jack took us close enough for me to get some satisfying photographs.

Tuesday — the last day of the regatta — the Cream Tea Party in Nelson’s Dockyard in the afternoon, with the ladies all decked out in pretty dresses and hats, followed that evening by a slideshow (where, with many others, some of my race photos were shown) and the Trophies were awarded to the winning racers.