All the boats are home and in safe harbor following another unprecedented regatta in this year’s 79th Annual Nassau Cup Ocean Race. On November 8th, headed by PRO Ken Batzer and his Race Committee, the day brought sunny skies and a beautiful NW 15 knot breeze off Miami’s Government Cut where fourteen boats were off and beam-reaching across the Gulfstream, then around Great Isaacs, Great Stirrup and down for the final run to the Nassau Harbour where a long-standing record was broken by the first boat to finish, Privateer, a 50’ Cookson. Their official time, recorded by the finish boat with Race officials Paul Hutton, John Lawrence and Brent Burrows, was 13 hours 31 minutes and 30 seconds beating the previous record by nearly one hour on the 176nm course. Followed closely behind and only missing the prior record by 20 minutes, was the second boat to finish, Decision, a Carkeek 40’. Different Drummer was recorded as the first PHRF boat to finish just at sunrise, although they were short of the overall PHRF lowest finish which was won by Silhouette, a 44’ Cherubini with a corrected time of 15:33:57. All of the boats finished in due course with the last finisher, Mystiko, having been delayed by a “recovery” of their spinnaker which seemed to have mysteriously left the boat during their run from Great Isaac. Everyone cleared customs expeditiously, stowed gear and headed for hot showers and the hospitality of the Nassau Yacht Club for some well deserved cocktails and a Bahamian style buffet dinner.
Saturday morning brought overcast skies and a 20 knot breeze, but eventually cleared in enough time for the Annual J22 Match Race. It seems many were laying low from the previous busy night, as the Committee was only able to rustle up four braves teams of three for the match race. This actually worked out well as during the second rotation of the race, the starboard shroud on one of the boats let go and the mast came tumbling down, ending the Championship a little short of a full regatta. A trophy was presented to the winner of the first race; and the team of Victory, helmed by Buddy Cribb and teammates Jim Bill and Scott Gehring were happy to collect a “not so hard-fought” title. With a little time still left before the Awards Ceremony, many of the sailors walked over to Montagu Beach to watch the conclusion of the 40th Annual Nassau Sloop Regatta which is sailed in Class A, B and C Bahamian workboats. It was a quite a sight to see with all the crews out on the prys in the windy conditions.
Saturday night’s festivities began with flowing drinks at an open bar and table after table of delectable hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, including shot glasses filled with freshly made conch salad, all courtesy of the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism with representation from the Director of Sports Tourism, Tyrone Sawyer. After welcoming everyone to the Bahamas trophies were presented, which were signed photographs from the glory days of the Miami Nassau Race taken by legendary photographer, Roland Rose. Perpetual trophies retained at the Nassau Yacht Club include the historic Nassau Cup for the first IRC boat on corrected time, the Arthur Bosworth trophy for the first in PHRF, and the Coral Harbour Yacht Club Trophy for the first yacht to finish. The evening went on late into the night with music from local DJ Vince Ritchie. Had there been prizes for dancing, they would certainly have gone to the party crew from Pilgrim, Rim Shot and Different Drummer.
Dates for next year’s race have been set for November 6-9, 2013.
Trophy Winners :
Coral Harbour Yacht Club Trophy
First monohull boat to finish
Privateer
Nassau Cup
First place corrected time in the IRC division
Privateer
Arthur Bosworth Trophy
First place corrected time in the PHRF division
Silhouette
Half Hull Perpetual
Best performance by a Bahamian boat
Ocean Warrior