On Monday, February, 20, Chris Parker began his seminars on weather topics and I signed up for all, but the most basic one so my commitments began on Tuesday (all day) and each morning through Friday. I took away some gems from the sessions that explained the reasons for some of the not so nice weather we have experienced in the past. For example, if the synoptic forecast is for winds from the west along the east coast of the US (south of perpendicular to the coastline) the local wind, during the day, near the coast will be from the southwest, parallel to the coastline, right on the nose if you are traveling southbound. Winds tend to blow parallel to coasts. Chris discussed several cruising tips for exploring the Bahamas, ways to obtain weather data and how to interpret the data. I think the best message I took from the seminars is to be aware that weather forecasts tell what forecasters know, and are great for pilots of airplanes, but for the small areas that sailboats cover it is easy to overlook a small, but significant squall that can ruin your day. Ultimately, the more you know the better. It is your responsibility to make your own observations and see if they compare with “the models” (or, even if the models agree with each other.) If they do, great. If they don’t, try to figure out why, what might be going on in the atmosphere and make decisions based on your own reasoning. It was a good experience to spend time with the fellow who has helped us many times as a voice over the radio as we sailed from place to place over the years.
On Wednesday, after class, Barb and I went to a beach party at Volleyball Beach and met up with Bob and Annette from S/V Tempest, friends from 2008, when we first met in Rio Dulce, Guatemala. We sailed with them in 2009, from Guanaja, Honduras to Bocas del Toro, Panama and again from the San Blas Islands of Panama to Cartagena, Colombia.
On Friday, after class, we had Liam and Annie (S/V Gone With the Wind) aboard for dinner. We discussed the upcoming 32nd annual George Town Regatta and Barb pretty much convinced Liam that if he would enter the races, we would very happy to crew aboard Gone With the Wind. Saturday was the day for registration for the various events. Liam entered his boat in both the in-harbor race and the around-the-island race. Barb and I joined two men we didn’t know (and who didn’t know each other) for the Coconut Harvest Challenge and we joined the opening day dinghy parade through the anchorage on Sunday. Other events included a Pet Parade,Trivia, Bocce, Bridge (cards), Fun Volleyball and Regulation Volleyball, Scavenger Hunt, Sand Sculpture, Arts & Crafts, Desserts, “Golf”, Texas Hold’em (cards) and various small boat races along with the big boat races.
On Monday evening, the Pet Parade and the Opening Show took place followed by a dance on the beach. On Tuesday, Barb and I met with Ed from M/V Margret Lee and Phillip from S/V Kathleen Ann to prepare for the coconut challenge.
It was decided that we would use our light, maneuverable dinghy and our 3 gallon bucket while each of us would bring a personal flotation device (life jacket) and a swim fin for propulsion in accordance with the rules. Then we practiced the coconut catch and then the coconut toss. On Wednesday, we and 25 other teams, lined up our dinghies on the beach.
We watched as 22 bags of 50 coconuts each were emptied into the water in various locations. At the whistle, everyone pushed their dinghies from the shore and paddled, each with his own swim fin, to collect all the coconuts.
We were sort of fast, but it turned out that some of the coconuts had not been released initially and several of the slower boats were given a gift of several bags tossed later. The event was over in a record breaking 11 minutes! We collected only 16 coconuts (not the least amount) while a few boats collected over 100!
We took our points and went to the coconut catch event. Just beyond one centerline of a regulation beach volleyball court stand two team members, the catchers, with one large garbage bag between them. On the other sideline, across the court, are the other two team members, the loader next to a pile of 25 coconuts, and the tosser, with his back to the catchers. The loader feeds the tosser a coconut and the tosser, without looking, throws the coconut in the direction of the catchers who catch it. Feed, toss and catch as many coconuts in the bag as possible in thirty seconds. Barb fed me and I tossed to Ed and Phil, who directed and corrected my tosses verbally. The best team caught 21, 20 for second place and we caught 19, for third place. We had three coconuts left untossed at the end of thirty seconds, three on the ground, uncaught, and eighteen in the bag. Are you counting??? It is important! The missing coconut was still in the air and it was caught as well. That made us feel better after our poor showing in the first event. The catchers from one team stopped catching at the whistle and one of them was hit on the head by their last coconut. He was alright, but it may inspire a rule change. The catchers may need to wear pots on their heads next year.
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| Ed, Jay, Barb and Phillip - The Hardheads! |
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| Liam, Barb, Jay & Annie. Liam and Annie's team beat us by one point and they took 15th place. |
It was decided that we would use our light, maneuverable dinghy and our 3 gallon bucket while each of us would bring a personal flotation device (life jacket) and a swim fin for propulsion in accordance with the rules. Then we practiced the coconut catch and then the coconut toss. On Wednesday, we and 25 other teams, lined up our dinghies on the beach.
We watched as 22 bags of 50 coconuts each were emptied into the water in various locations. At the whistle, everyone pushed their dinghies from the shore and paddled, each with his own swim fin, to collect all the coconuts.
We were sort of fast, but it turned out that some of the coconuts had not been released initially and several of the slower boats were given a gift of several bags tossed later. The event was over in a record breaking 11 minutes! We collected only 16 coconuts (not the least amount) while a few boats collected over 100!
We took our points and went to the coconut catch event. Just beyond one centerline of a regulation beach volleyball court stand two team members, the catchers, with one large garbage bag between them. On the other sideline, across the court, are the other two team members, the loader next to a pile of 25 coconuts, and the tosser, with his back to the catchers. The loader feeds the tosser a coconut and the tosser, without looking, throws the coconut in the direction of the catchers who catch it. Feed, toss and catch as many coconuts in the bag as possible in thirty seconds. Barb fed me and I tossed to Ed and Phil, who directed and corrected my tosses verbally. The best team caught 21, 20 for second place and we caught 19, for third place. We had three coconuts left untossed at the end of thirty seconds, three on the ground, uncaught, and eighteen in the bag. Are you counting??? It is important! The missing coconut was still in the air and it was caught as well. That made us feel better after our poor showing in the first event. The catchers from one team stopped catching at the whistle and one of them was hit on the head by their last coconut. He was alright, but it may inspire a rule change. The catchers may need to wear pots on their heads next year.
For the last event a target was put in the center of one side of the volleyball court and 8 coconuts, two for each team member were placed along the center on the other side. Without crossing the line both coconuts were thrown over the net and toward the target. Sometimes coconuts roll and sometimes they don’t. All four of us did poorly. We finished 16th over all and had a good time. George Town is known by some as Day Camp for Adults.
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