Waiting for Peter

I have not had Internet access since the last post, so here is an update. Peter is returning today from 10 days in Antigua, where he, along with his brother Rob, was crewing on an Oyster 49 in the Caribbean 600. I am sorry to say, the boat came in last, but I think he had fun anyway.

While he was gone, I stayed aboard Mantra, which is anchored close to Chat 'N Chill Beach on Stocking Island across Elizabeth Harbour from George Town on Great Exuma. Peter missed the 39th Annual George Town Cruising Regatta, but I was able to enjoy and even participate in some of the events. After he got the taxi for the airport on Thursday, Feb. 15, I got a help from a fellow sailor on the dinghy dock in Lake Victoria in starting the motor. (It's not just me; it took him about 20 tries.)  I motored to the Chat 'n Chill beach to enjoy the Regatta's Variety Show. There was a lot of amazing talent, and the show finished with the Conch Blowing Competition as the sun set. Some of these yachties have amazing lung capacity.

Great Big Band music

Unbelievable talented musician with obvious performance experience

The next morning, on the 8:00 a.m. cruisers' net on the VHF, I heard Evan on the boat anchored ahead of us ask for two more crew for the Coconut Challenge that morning. I volunteered. It was so much fun. Here is how it worked:  From the back side of Chat 'N Chill, 19 dinghies removed their outboard engines in preparation for the race for the coconuts!  Meanwhile, launches set out with large trash bags of coconuts which they dumped into the water just before the start. We could only use fins for propulsion as we maneuvered to reach clumps of the floating fruit before others did. The four golden coconuts were worth 50 points each, compared with 1 each for the regular ones.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any of the gold, but we did collect 33 of the plain old coconuts. The next part of the competition was a 30-second coconut toss and catch in which one person on the team handed coconuts to another team member who had her back toward the two guys holding a large garbage bag about 15 feet away. She tossed them over her head and they scrabbled to catch them. We were pretty good at this. Jill had consistent tosses, and Evan and Rick did not even need to scramble much. Only one didn't make it into the bag, and we scored an additional 150 points. Some of the participants were veterans, so we probably didn't stand a chance of winning the prize (rum, as usual in the regatta), but it was great fun.

On February 19, I swam in to shore with my mask, fins and snorkel to watch the small boat races. There was a downpour at the beginning, but spirits were not dampened. There were races for kayaks and for SUPs in the kids', men's and women's divisions, followed by the blind dinghy race, in which engines were removed and two people crewed each one. The rower wore a blindfold and the other crew shouted out directions for the course. It was bumper boats at the start. One boat pulled ahead but the navigator had misunderstood the instructions and went for the wrong mark, so a sure win was lost. Another fun race was the home-made wind propulsion dinghy competition. The man using the large beach umbrella won! Jillian, the organizer for this event, was overwhelmed trying to get heats organized and get results, and her notes were becoming illegible in the rain (which cleared up after the second race), so she asked me to help with the recording. In the end, I got to announce the winners while she handed out the prizes (gift certificates for food and t-shirts, sexy underwear! and, of course, rum).

Blind Dinghy Race Start

Bumper Boats 

Alternative sails

More alternative sails

That afternoon was the homemade (only) costume contest for kids, adults and teams. There were a lot of great costumes for the theme Under the Sea. Of course, there were mermaids. The best kids' costume was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. My favorite was the scuba divers who had 2-liter soft drink bottles wrapped in duck tape with rubber tubes running to their "regulators." I think pure rum was substituting for the air in the tanks!

Jillian's mermaid hat 

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Scuba divers

Mermaids

In addition to the Regatta events, I've enjoyed hanging out with people on the beach and spent time reading a novel a day and studying Spanish in preparation for Cartegena, Colombia later this spring.

I would be lost without Evan on S/V Cordelia! He is such a sweetheart--and he knows engines. He has put his best efforts into getting either one of our temperamental outboard engines running, with limited results in no way related to his skills or perseverance. The larger engine does run, but it is a bear to start, and I have not been able to do it by myself. After Evan had worked on it a few days ago, I dinghied into the beach and anchored on the shore. While I was chillin', the tide went out. I had forgotten to raise the engine, but only one blade was about an inch in the sand. A woman on the shore helped me drag it into the water, where I struggled to get the engine back down. Then I tried to start it as I drifted away. No luck! The woman's companion dove in and swam out to rescue me.  He was able to get it started after several attempts. Then I noticed the plug was out and I was taking on water. I shoved it back in and steered to Evan's boat to have him check that I wasn't going to sink! Finally, after four failed approaches trying to get a line on the swim deck in the choppy waters, I hauled myself onboard! What an adventure!  (I went back to swimming to shore after that!)

Evan came to my aid again this morning as I was sitting in the dinghy, unable to even get the cord to pull. (It probably didn't help that I had forgotten to push the little red switch up!) But I made it to George Town this morning and have spent the past few hours getting caught up on all things Internet. Now I do not have enough power to add photos, so they will have to be added post-publication.

Peter arrives in an hour!