Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my own wonderful mother (and grandmother and aunts and cousins and mommy friends)!  

In honor of my mother, I am breaking my usual weekend silence on the blog to wish her and all of the Better Life mamas a wonderful Mother's Day.  You mothers do so very much for your children and families, and you deserve to be celebrated!

To my own mother, thank you for your unconditional love, ever-ready smile, intuition, comforting hugs, steadfast support, exuberant enthusiasm, patience, understanding, playfulness, wisdom, beauty, life lessons, address-sharing, island errands and grandpuppy-sitting!  You're my number one cheerleader, and I love you so very much.

My mother relaxing with her grandpuppy, Angel, during a recent island visit.

 Happy Mother's Day!

Regatta Photo Tour

My Dearest Better Lifers, thanks for your patience as I get caught up after a whirlwind regatta!

As you know, I've had Regatta Fever and have been posting Champion Sailboat Journals, Sailing Videos Clips and more.  Finally, I have sifted through more than 600 personal photographs of the race week to cull them to a far-more-manageable 59 to share with you.  These pics capture the essence of an incredible week.  Of course, NOTHING can convey the excitement, adrenaline, pride and sheer pleasure of being there, but I hope to give you a taste.

Just one picture of many you'll see in the Facebook photo journal.

Better Life Facebook fans got a sneak peek of the pictures.  (Join us by going to the Blog's Facebook page and click to "Like" the Facebook Page!)  It seemed an easier way to post so many photos, and I also wanted to give an early preview treat to those of you who follow the Blog on Facebook and Twitter.

So, today's blog post is a compilation of photo journal excerpts from the race week for you.  All pictures have captions accompanying them, which you'll see if you open the photos individually.  Start your photo tour here! (via www.facebook.com/IslandBlog)

Now that Regatta has officially come to a close, I am back to island living:  going out for junkanoo drums and chicken souse during election celebration; mopping up from floods after three solid days of rain; battling the mosquitoes that are on the attack after the rains; pulling ticks off my little island dog; cleaning house; cooking meals; doing laundry; catching up on emails and writing projects; dealing with taxes, doctors, health insurance, bill-paying, family requests and the usual "life stuff" that follows us to every corner of the world; catching up with friends near and far; planning summer activities for local children; and always, always, always taking time to admire the peaceful surroundings and remind myself how lucky I am and to keep Choosing the Better Life every single day!  

Have a great weekend, friends.

Return from Regatta & Sailing Video

Hellooooooo, Better Lifers!  I've missed you!  

Regatta was wonderful, and I'll fill you in soon.  Weather was pretty tricky - the same front that saturated Florida also doused the Bahamas.  Thankfully, Mother Nature granted enough of a respite that the boats were able to race, but then she kicked in again and delayed our return by several days.  Upon my return, I was greeted with a flooded downstairs in my own home.  Thankfully, my visiting mother had stanched the tide.  I helped with the cleanup and enjoyed the remaining days of her visit.  

It's also been hectic around here as passions run high for the Bahamian national election which takes place today.  Campaigning has been at a fevered pitch.  In this instance, I'm glad that I CAN'T vote and am able to remain peacefully neutral!  

Now, I'm wading through 600+ photographs to cull them down to share the Regatta experience with you.  Meanwhile, here's a video treat . . .

Never seen a Bahamian sloop sail?  Never been to a national regatta?  Never bounced along in the chase boat in the heart of the action?  This will give you a taste of it all!

I remain silent on the video, hoping you could hear the men calling out to one another on the boat.  But, the camera didn't pick that up - voices must have been carried away by the strong winds, which you DO hear.  This was taken during a practice sail on the last day (Saturday, April 28) of the series race.  It was choppy, windy and cloudy, so the typically-turquoise water of the harbor looks dark, too.

The chase boat follows along in case the sailboat needs anything.  (E.g., switch sail size, add or remove lead ballast, etc.)  Once the race starts, the chase boat can't pass anything back and forth, but we stay nearby to follow the action and be available in case anything happens.

What you'll see is a classic Bahamian sloop, all wooden hand-construction, 28 feet on deck, with a 60 foot mast and large boom, the largest A-Class type.  The sailors are all Bahamian, except for the maximum of four foreigners.  The man at the stern (back) is working the main sail and talking to the man just in front of him, the skipper who controls the tiller and captains the boat.  The man standing at the bow (front) is the bowman, the eyes of the boat who calls back to the Captain what he sees so they can strategize.  The other men have various roles, too.  Most apparent in the video are the men shifting their weight on the pry - the long board sticking off the side of the boat - to serve as human ballast and make adjustments as the race proceeds.

You may notice that only men are on this boat.  While that is still the dominant gender in Bahamian sailing, women crew sometimes, too.  Our local C-Class boat even boasts a champion female skipper.

My favorite part of this clip is that it shows you how the sailboats tack, or make a turn.  Here, the boat is on a starboard tack - the wind is coming from the right (starboard) side.  When the captain gives the command, the crew slacks the sail, slides the pry to the next side, swings the boom over, catches the wind in the sail again and the men scramble out on the pry to balance out on the boat.  This is a pretty calm tack.  Sometimes it can be a fierce scramble, especially during a race if another boat is right there.  Exciting stuff!

Have a wonderful day, and I'll share more with you soon.

Regatta Farewell

Dearest Readers, consider this my TEMPORARY farewell.  Regatta fever continues.  Now my adrenalin is really racing as we are about to set sail!  Literally.  We are leaving on a friend’s sailboat and leisurely headed down to the Regatta.  (My family is visiting and taking care of the house and Angel, and I’ll be delighted to spend more time together upon my return.)

I won’t bother taking my computer with me, and I don’t have any mobile gadgets other than a very basic cell phone.  Upon leaving the States, I gave up the old Blackberry!  While Bahamians also have all the latest iphones, ipads, etc., part of my Better Life is controlling myself against the lure of constant-internet-everything.  So, while I’d love to update you periodically from the middle of it all, I will remain unplugged and “in the moment” and just enjoy it!  Of course, I’ll be snapping photos like crazy and will fill you in upon my return.  Since I’m going to be unplugged, any new comments you make won’t post until my return.  Thank you for your patience, and I’ll certainly respond then.

Have a wonderful couple of weeks and I’ll talk to you early May!  Hugs and Better Life blessings to each of you!

At Home With A Champion Sailboat

Regatta fever continues!  While I ready myself for the trip, I thought you might enjoy some journal excerpts from our local sailboat from earlier this year . . .

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Gently, I bob in the turquoise waters of my home in the out islands of the Bahamas.  All 28 on-deck feet of my wooden hull bask in the new year’s sun, while my seven foot draw drifts on a single keel below and my 60 foot mast stands regally above.  The massive canvas sheet which serves as my mainsail is drying out on land nearby.  Thanks to my caring and competent crew, I am securely tied to the government dock, and I float above conch shells, small fish and the occasional nurse shark.  I am resting after stretching my sea legs over the holidays.  I raced four times over new year’s weekend – winning, every time!

The first three races were a series in the annual local regatta.  I sailed, along with my ever-present-contender sister boat from here.  We were also joined this year by another competitive A-Class sailboat.  What a delightful challenge!  This annual regatta is a more relaxed race because the purpose is to give all of the holiday visitors a taste of Bahamian sloop racing, even hosting visitors as guest crew on all three A-Class sailboats.  However, even “relaxed” races are taken seriously by Bahamian sailors, and we raced our hearts out.  Our guest crews performed well, and everyone had a great deal of fun on a gorgeous day.  My captain also took a lot of teasing about me being so fast.  “Do you have a motor in there?”  “Why don’t you take it just a little bit easy on the other boats?”  We just smile and know that we sail as best we can sail, every single time, in the great tradition of the great captains that charted the course of Bahamian sloop racing.

A few days later, I raced again, this time with visiting boats in the local New Year’s Day Cruising Regatta.  For this race, I was the only Bahamian sloop, racing against other sailboats – 20 foot to 80 foot – and even some catamarans since monohull and multihull vessels race together in this unique local Cruising Regatta.  Two especially beautiful sailboats provided some excitement with a near-collision on the start line – yikes! – but the skilled captains and crew averted catastrophe.  After that, the race was fairly straight-forward.  It was a cloudy day, but the winds were just right for my large sail.  Since humans comprise a large percentage of my ballast, we have them stacked up on the wooden pries perched off my side, hanging on for dear life, and then scrambling to the other side every time we tack.  And when I am on a strong reach and keeling hard, oh how my crew flies high in the air at the end of the pry.  Of course, when winds fall out suddenly, these fine folks often get dunked into the sea until I get myself righted.  

During this particular race, sailors were spared and mostly dry except for a few dangling legs.  Your own Better Life Blogger participated in her first race and clung tightly to my pry.  She knew that her primary responsibility was NOT TO FALL OFF!  In Bahamian racing, if a crew member falls overboard, the boat must turn around to retrieve the person, which of course means lots of lost time and dooms a boat’s hopes for winning.  Thankfully, everyone remained aboard and did well.  One of the catamarans gave me a run for my money towards the end, pressing too close for comfort, but I was able to hold steady and cross the finish line in first place.

During our local regattas, all of the races take place on a triangular course in the harbor just west of the public beach.  From here, the shoreline gives me views of the big marina, rental cottages, health clinic, a restaurant, a bar, a bakery, a few small stores, the church and the brightly colored homes dotting the Village and other areas of the island.  But today, I rest up near the shore, mast standing proudly while the rigging gently slaps against it in the wakes from passing boats.  I know I must rest.  Regatta (around here, there’s only one regatta that gets that shorthand – the National Family Island Regatta in George Town every April) is coming up in a few short months.  I will be ready.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

I was dozing in the spectacular rays of the setting sun when a flurry of activity called me to attention this evening.  The “mail boat” – one of several cargo ships contracted by the Bahamian government to deliver mail and freight to the out islands – had pulled in to the government dock on its return to Nassau.  Very graciously, the mail boat planned to use its large crane to remove my immense mast, and the mast of my sister boat, until time to re-set them for Regatta.  My captain and crew bustled around, loosing me from my current mooring and pulling me around to the other side of the mail boat.  My sister boat and I took turns and oh-so-carefully had our masts removed.  The crew closed down all the rigging, then wrapped everything tightly with a line.  My captain looped a thick rope on the crane’s hook and raised the loop around my mast up to the middle.  From below deck, one of the crew hammered loose the supports for my mast.  Then, as the mail boat captain shouted directions to the crane operator, the crane began to pull and lift, while my captain and a crew member guided my mast up, up, up.  All sixty feet leaned long over the bow of the mail boat and tilted down toward land.  About 10 men from the crews hurried to the dock to ease the mast gently onto the ground.  Oops, it bounced a bit, but my talented boat builders made all parts of me strong, so it was just fine!

From there, the guys carried my mast up onto shore where it will wait for me to join it in the boatyard for a fresh coat of paint before Regatta.  Meanwhile, my captain and other crew moved me back around to tie up at the government dock and batten down all my hatches.  It was a chilly, windy evening, but the shouts and laughter of everyone warmed every wooden plank in my body.  There is a lot of love on this island, and in this country, for sailing, and I am so thankful for the special care given to me by my owners, sailors and fans!

Blogger’s Post-Script

This beloved sailboat proceeded to rest until a few weeks ago.  The men hauled her up onto shore, set braces against the hull so she would stand upright, and proceeded to give her a fresh paint (turning themselves as blue as smurfs in the process).  They then slid her back into the water – about twelve strong men pushing from each side – and she was anchored by the dock again.  A week or two ago, the mail boat set her mast – reversing the process described in the journal above – and the crew rigged her up and placed the lead ballast.  She’s now ready for a tow to Regatta where she will race in all her glory!

 

Regatta Primer

I HAVE REGATTA FEVER!  And you're going to be hearing about it, so I should give you the background scoop now . . .

All over the world, of course, regattas - or sailboat races - take place.  Even within the Bahamas, various regattas occur during the year.  However, in this context, "Regatta" is shorthand for the one-and-only, like-no-other, national sailing championship of the Bahamas that occurs in George Town every April and is more formerly known as the National Family Island Regatta.

Like any sport with a high profile throughout the country, sailboat racing in the Bahamas brings with it fierce competition and immense pride.  The basic rules are that the boats must be Bahamian-made and Bahamian-owned.  They are wooden sloops, approximately 28 feet long, with a seven foot draw, a huge boom and towering 60 foot masts.  The inside of the hull is mostly empty and is also where the crew stores its lead ballast.  The moveable ballast allows the crew to add or remove weight as needed.  Additionally, real live people serve as ballast!  Wooden planks - the pry - lie across the width of the boat and slide from side to side.  The crew pile up on the pry to add weight to the opposite side as the strength of the wind in the sail pushes the boat on a hard lean.  (This is one of the most exciting parts of Bahamian sloop racing!)  The boats harken back to the boats of traditional Bahamian fishermen, and they carry tradition and honor along with the thrill of sport.

The island where I live has a strong tradition of boat-building, skilled craftsmanship, knowledgeable sailors, brilliant racers and championship boats and crews.  The boats of this island are a huge source of local pride and camaraderie.

Regatta offers races in multiple categories, based on the size of the boat.  "A Class" are the largest (28 foot) and our island usually sends a couple A-Class boats to compete, along with an occasional B-Class, a champion C-Class and various others.  I won't attempt to describe the rules because I would surely miss something. If you're a true boater looking for the technical descriptions, the official Regatta website posts the rules and regulations.

Rather, my love of Regatta focuses on the sheer THRILL of the experience, coupled with the community bonding aspect.  My beau and many friends are avid sailors.  They race together and on competing boats, which serves as great fodder for bickering and trash talk at the local bars throughout the year.  But now, as Regatta looms next week, the chatter is at fevered pitch.

I'm so doggone excited!  My beau and the other sailors will help coordinate getting the race boats towed to George Town (which takes almost an entire day), anchored securely and readied for last minute preparations.  Then he'll motorboat back home, and we'll eventually travel down together - leisurely - with friends on their private sailboat.  Once in George Town, we'll reunite with local friends and those we haven't seen in a while who have come in for Regatta.  (Don't worry, I have family visiting and staying in my home to keep Angel company!  She's not low-maintenance enough to go with me!)

And then, let the racing begin!  The Race Committee fires a start gun, the sailors pull hard to raise the spectacular sails, and the boats are off.  I follow along in a "chase boat" in case one of our boats needs anything (e.g., offload lead ballast before the start gun if the boat is sailing too heavy in practice) and just to enjoy the thrill of being up close and personal.

For example, here are just a handful of pics from April 2011's Regatta . . .

Just some of the A-Class boats clustered together during one of the races.

Beautiful water of the Exumas!  Smaller C-Class boats racing here.

A-Class boats rounding an orange buoy.

A beautiful line of A-Class boats on a final leg (with our local boat in the lead)!

So pretty.

Sometimes dangerous and fierce, as these two battle for right-of-way nearing the buoy.

If this little teaser has whet your appetite for more, No Worries Mahn!  Plenty more to come!

Gorgeous Aerial Views

Welcome to a new week!  I was in Nassau over the weekend, running errands, visiting with my beau's family and attending the funeral of a friend's son.  As tragic and sad as that was - a life cut far too short - it was a good day with family and friends.  Reminders in so many ways, large and small, to make each and every day count!

The flight home from Nassau is about 30-40 minutes in a small, single-engine plane.  After dozing as we left Nassau yesterday, I roused myself for the last 15 minutes to enjoy the spectacular aerial views of the island chain.  I've posted some photos like this before, but the beauty never ceases to amaze me.  Like a snowflake, each photo is unique - the islands remain mostly the same, but the difference in tides, winds, currents, etc. make for nuanced patterns in the water on any given day.

The photos below show off the myriad colors and patterns.  Some of the aqua swirls have white in them.  Those are the very shallow parts with sand bars or the sand showing through.  The water is simply that clear and it sometimes appears as though there is no water at all!

Yesterday's weather was very windy.  (With a strong cross-wind, that also made for a very bumpy descent and landing!  Glad my local pilot makes this trip several times a day in all kinds of conditions!)  Because of the wind, the water was choppier than usual.  In some of the photos, you'll see whitecaps and waves crashing against rock from the eastern windward side.

To me, these pictures are like the swirls of color in an impressionist's painting.  Even better, because it's REAL.  And best of all, because it's my neighborhood!  :)  Enjoy the flight.