The summer Regatta Time in Abaco began 34 years ago with a different goal. It began as a collective effort to finance and build a sloop to represent Abaco in the George Town Regatta, a sailing event for Bahamian fishing sloops. Man-O-War has subsequently built several
boats for this event. The Abaco Rage, now based in Hope Town, is one
of these original sloops.
The first race of the Regatta Time in Abaco series was held off Marsh
Harbour in September 1976 with ten cruising boats, four sloops from
Nassau and one built in Man-O-War. It was intended that participation
of the work boats, or native fishing sloops, would increase over the
years.
However, this initial exercise caused Abaco promoters to recognize the
high cost of hosting the native boats from Nassau. Effort and funding
was then put into establishing a race series to promote sailing
visitors during our slow summer season.
Regatta Time in Abaco has grown from this first September race. The
second year had 15 boats which included two sloops from Man-O-War and
the remainder were cruising sailboats.
By the third year, the event had expanded to three races with the
first off Marsh Harbour, The second race in this 1978 series took
place off Green Turtle Cay and joined with the eleventh Fourth of July
Soveral race. The third race was hosted by Treasure Cay. In this third
year, there were three different venues but there was not a unified
management as each location had its own team in place.
A Hope Town Race was added in 1980 with a race off Man-O-War included in 1982.
It is unclear but it may have been in 1981 when we began using
trophies of bronze art-work from the Johnston Studios foundry in
Little Harbour. The bronze fish, birds and animals have proved to be
very popular.
The series has endured over the years with a shifting of venue to
accommodate sponsorship interest. Management of the different races
evolved into a single committee with responsibility for the entire
nine or ten day event. In 1989 the Treasure Cay race was moved to
Guana Cay to continue the five race format.
Since 1991 the series begins with its first race held off Green Turtle
Cay on July 4. This started the Regatta in our northern waters for the
convenience of the majority of boats that come from Florida.
We have been able to incorporate a mix of traditional Olympic
triangular courses and the ever popular round-the-islands courses. The
dedicated race boats prefer the triangular courses while our less
professional fleet of Mother Tub boats enjoy the races from
island-to-island.
The series began during a slow summer season in hopes of increasing
our summer visitors. In this regard, the Regatta has succeeded
admirably.
A secondary goal was to increase our boating visitors’ exposure to our
superb cruising area. The venue moves to different towns and resorts
giving everyone a taste of Abaco’s towns, resorts and our pockets of
remote isolation.
The five races are interspersed with awards and lay day parties. These
social events have a large following of land-based visitors, probably
equal in numbers to the sailors.
Our restaurants, guesthouses and marinas now look forward to the
Regatta and the financial contribution made to the various
settlements. This is a result of hundreds of visitors, both on land
and sea, who come for the festivities.
Summer is no longer a slow period but is now our busiest season.
Regatta Time in Abaco is a significant contributor to our vibrant
summer activity.