37th Annual Rolex Regatta 3/26/10
A sailboat sandwich going every which way!
Nice shot of town and the boats sailing in a circle (or it seemed to me)
I always think they are going to tip over!
heading back from the harbor downtown to the Yacht Club along the coast.
My favorite shot of all the sailors hanging on the sides of the sailboats. Whoa, what a ride huh?
More Recent Stories »
How can you tell that the Rolex Regatta is here again in St. Thomas? Just take a peek at the amount of boats in the downtown harbor, Redhook and Yacht Haven Grande and when you say to yourself "hmmm, there sure are a ton of sailboats that I never noticed before" and you will know! You will also notice that the traffic gets crazy in Redhook (where it usually isn't) and the marine stores seem to be filled with tons of boaty people all dressed in matching shirts and hats (and they are new and colorful too). I really enjoy seeing the various shapes and some of the huge sailboats that race each year (not to mention the sailors hanging on the side of the boats-it's crazy!)
This regatta is a three-day racing event which started today and runs thru Sunday. It is one of the premier race events in the Caribbean for everything from beach catamarans to 80-footers (and boy did we see some today!). Today's "town races" were the regatta's entire 69-boat fleet, sailing along the coast to Charlotte Amalie, where they finished in the harbor and then started again for the return trip to St. Thomas Yacht Club on the island's east end. On Saturday and Sunday courses will snake between and around islands vs. being right in the downtown harbor. The best place to see the racing was either at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef or at the cruise ship dock (Port of Sale, Havensite), where we were for these shots. It really was a thrill to see them racing by. We weren't the only ones taking in the sites at Havensite, many of the dock workers and other locals were parked along the dock taking pictures and cheering them on too.
We thought we would take out our own boat yesterday (early morning when everything was just getting started) and while heading to St. John for lunch, we passed the St Thomas Yacht Club ( it's the only major Caribbean regatta that is run by a yacht club). It seemed to be buzzing with activity already and there were racing boats leaving from there to head to the Buck island area to race. We passed on of the racing boats with a big red "Mount Gay Rum" banner flying high and the crew decked out in their red caps and shirts. I thought of my friend David in San Diego who is from Jamaica, where Mount Gay rum is made and I knew he would be proud they were a big sponsor of the event as usual. I also was thinking that they had a super hard day of work ahead of them too.
It was super swelly for us today (being on a motorboat), but I knew it was a great sailing day for the Regatta and I was thankful for sunshine and good windy weather for them (not really me because I was damp with salt water splashes by the time we got to St. John).The weather report for the next 2 days is windy and sunny, a perfect forecast! I was trying to take pictures the whole ride over while riding the large swells and it was kind of comical when I arrived back home to see those pictures with half of the shot either blurry or cut off. Sun and Wind are great except when you have to steady yourself to take pictures on a moving boat!
Tomorrow night there is a big party at Yacht Haven Grande with dinner at Wikked and Cool Sessions Brass band will be jamming out for the big crowd as well and on Sunday the award ceremonies at St. Thomas Yacht Club. I wonder who will win the coveted Rolex's this year? I will have to wait to hear all about it on Monday when all my sailor friends will fill me in.
Comments »
It is Sea Sand Designs company policy not to accept or consider unsolicited creative ideas, suggestions, materials, or business proposals from persons or entities outside our company. If at our request you send certain specific submissions (for example, a photograph, or story), or if despite our request that you not send us unsolicited creative materials, you send us other suggestions, comments, feedback, ideas, postcards, opinions, concepts, graphics, text, drawings, or other materials (all of the foregoing, collectively, the "Materials"), all such Materials, submitted or offered to Sea Sand Designs on or by this Site or otherwise disclosed, submitted, or offered in connection with your use of this Site shall be and remain Sea Sand Designs property. Such disclosure, submission, or offer of any Materials shall constitute an assignment to Sea Sand Designsof all worldwide rights, titles, and interests in all copyrights and other intellectual properties in the Materials. Thus, Sea Sand Designs will own exclusively all such rights, titles, and interests and shall not be limited in any way in its use, commercial or otherwise, of any Materials. Sea Sand Designs is and shall be under no obligation (1) to maintain any Materials in confidence; (2) to pay to the user any compensation for any Materials; or (3) to respond to any user Materials.