The race was the last in Hopetown Sailing Club’s “Cruising Boat” racing series for the season. Announced on the morning Abacos VHF net it sounded like a great way to spend a day on the water – and I wanted to participate.

Now, KR is no racing boat. Her tacking angles when beating to windward are horrible, her light air performance, never great, is currently further hampered by the small yankee headsail furled where the 130 genoa used to be (the genoa bravely sacrificed her life in a blow earlier this winter) and the forecast was for 6-10 knots of wind at race time.

There was no way I would be showing up at the start line in KR.

I set out to try to find a crew berth on another boat. There were two such aspirants that showed up at the skipper’s meeting on the morning of the race hoping for an invitation – and we both got one. Dave and Mary have cruised on their Benetau 424 “Luck of a Fool” for the last two years – they had previously been Rocky Mountain trailer sailors living in Rapid City, SD. They took both Jerry and I on as crew for the race – a crew which turned out to be far less than experienced racers but very congenial in all regards. We had a great day.

Thank you to Dave and Mary. While I am at it, let me also thank the Hopetown Sailing Club for welcoming us transient types both to participate in the race and also to enjoy the social gathering after the race.

As it turned out, the term “Cruising Boat Race Series” was very loosely applied.

The picture shows a great stern shot of the Abaco Rage, a Bahamian racing sloop, that would normally be competing against her own kind in regattas throughout the islands. Spreading a vast amount of sail (mostly in a huge gaff rigged main) these boats are only held upright by the large number of “rail meat” that sails as crew. And, as you can see, even with the light winds that day, “rail meat” which is actually on the rail is not enough to do the job. Wooden planks are rigged to windward across the beam of the boat and some of the crew crabs out towards the end of the planks and sit, tenuously perched, trying to avoid falling into the water rushing by below. Crew dunkings are common which can make these boats especially fun to watch. The “Rage” finished 4th on corrected time.