Why a Rendezvous for Catamarans?
Every year, we host our Annual Rendezvous for two reasons:
- To to help our newer boat owners gain confidence and learn from the “veterans” through sharing their knowledge and to show them a good time.
- Invite our industry colleagues like Mazocean and North Sails, amongst others, as well as the boat manufacturers to help educate the boat owners on how to operate certain components of their boats and therefore better enjoy their boats. The result has always been great camaraderie and a fantastic time for everyone, which is why we continue to do it every year in May.
This year, we again had a variety of different brands of catamarans like Lagoon, Bali, Leopard, Catana, Outremer, Fountaine Pajot Lightwave, Voyage and others, totaling 27 catamarans. It is a nice cross section of brands and owners who no doubt enjoy meeting each other and touring each others boats, catching some tips and ideas from each other. We even had a famous boat join the festivities! The “La Vagabonde” Outremer 45, the former home of Reily and Elena, is now a sailing school boat in the Abacos!
Opening Party Festivities sponsored by La Victoire Finance
On May 7th all the boats gathered in the anchorage in Marsh Harbour. We did things a little different this year and started with a Lithium Battery Seminar in the late morning, followed later that evening by the opening party at the Jib Room. Our opening party always has a theme, and this year everyone dressed up as their boat name. We saw so much creativity and what a great way to get folks sharing the origins of their boat names, but also sharing stories about why they chose their particular catamaran, not that it’s a hard task for this crowd. See the fun story highlights we have of each boat posing as their boat names! The Bahamian brewery who makes the famous Sands Beer that we have all come to love, gifted each boat a case of beer and a bottle of Mount Gay rum! There is surely nothing that sailors love more than some good libations!
First Day “Fun Run”
While none of us are professional racers, it is simply a given that when sailors see another boat on the horizon, the “race” is on! So we thought it would be fun to pit all these guys against each other on our migration from Marsh Harbour to Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay. As predicted, everyone enthusiastically jumped at the chance to test their skills. Mind you, many of these guys are total newbies (and some of them have just recently received their boats from the factory) and have only standard sails. Their enthusiasm was fantastic! Here are the results for line honors on the first day. The “adjusted” times with handicaps are below.
FUN / PRACTICE RACE – DAY 1 (Marsh Harbour to Tahiti beach on Elbow Cay) RACE Results(NOTE – Results are for line honors, NOT adjusted times!)
- Endangered Species – Voyage 430 1996
- Old Peculiar – Lagoon 450 2016
- Mithril – Catana OC 50 2022
- Akaroa II – Outremer 51 2015
- La Vagabonde – Outremer 45 2017
- First Light – Lightwave 37
- Got no Problems – Bali 4.4 2023
- Wind Palace – Lagoon 52 2015
- Interlude – Bali 4.8 2021
- Persistence II – Lagoon 450 2017
- Kia Ora – FP 42 2019
- American Honey – Bali 4.4 2023
- C Dreams – Bali 4.6 2022
- Crazy Knot Nuts – Bali 4.8 2022
- Mystic Breeze – Leopard 40 2018
These boats did not finish or did not race
- Undaunted Lagoon 450 2018
- Nomadic Lagoon 450 2015
- Island Girl Leopard 2016
- Resolute Bali 4.4 2023
- Nauti Dogs Bali 5.4 2023
- Airtime FP 1995
- Corazon Bali 4.3 2019
- Turnerbout Leopard 46 2008
- Nomad Lagoon 42 2020
- Akani – Bali 4.2 2022 (Mothership)
Tuesday May 9, 11am – Rumbrella Races and Beach Games on Tahiti Beach
Shenanigans Fueled by Hooligan Juice!
Every year, Stephen makes his famous Hooligan Juice for our rumbrella races and beach games, like the RUMBRELLA races sponsored by Lagoon Catamarans, coconut toss, and blind paddle board races. We again had amazing weather and everybody was laughing, cheering and giving it their all in all of our competitions.
Fun Run to Guana Cay
Our final day was the big “race” day where we sailed from Elbow Cay to Guana Cay. We had very light winds so it was a slooow sail to Guana but again, all the boat owners wanted to get to the finish line first! We met at Grabbers Bar and Grill for our prize giving and bon voyage dinner sponsored by Bali Catamarans. Along with the “races” this year we did a scavenger hunt, prizes and giveaways and ended the festivities at the beach for some dancing around the bonfire. Many were there until two in the morning! See the results for the various competitions below.
DRESS UP AS YOUR BOAT NAME | ||
1st Place | West Marine $100 /Rum | American Honey |
2nd Place | West Marine $75 / Rum | Akaroa |
3rd Place | West Marine $50 / Rum | First Light |
PRACTICE RACE “Fun Run” | ||
1st Place | Trophy and Rum | Old Peculiar |
2nd Place | Trophy and Rum | First Light |
3rd Place | Trophy and Rum | Got No Problems |
DINGHY PARADE |
| |
1st Place | Speakers and Turkish towel | Interlude-Music |
2nd Place | Nav Light and Turkish Towel | Akaroa- Hawaii |
3rd Place | Nav Light and Turkish Towel | Resolute-Sea Aneneme |
RUMBRELLA RACES |
| |
Hard Floaties | ||
1st Place | WM $50 /Beach Tumbler x2 | First Light |
2nd Place | WM $25/ Beach Tumbler x2 | Interlude |
3rd Place | WM $15 / Beach Tumbler | Endangered Species |
Soft Floaties |
| |
1st Place | WM $50/ Tropical Coozie | Nauti Dogs |
2nd Place | WM $25 / Tropical Coozie | Akaroa team #1 |
3rd Place | WM $15 / Tropical Coozie | Akaroa team #2 |
COCONUT TOSS |
| |
1st Place | Lats & Atts Subscription & Coozies | Mithril – Hannah & Craig |
2nd Place | 2 x Latts & Atts Jacket | First Light |
3rd Place | 2 x Latts & Atts Beer Cooler | Nauti Dogs team #2 |
SAILING REGATTA | ||
1st Place | Trophy and Victron Instrument | Old Peculiar |
2nd Place | Trophy and Victron Instrument | Endangered Species |
3rd Place | Trophy and Binoculars | Wind Palace |
4th Place | Trophy and Turtle Tray | ?? |
Hope Town Youth Sailing Club Sponsorship
Thank you so much on behalf of the Hope Town Jr Sailing program! A quick history – It was first started in 1966 and went on through the mid ’80’s. It went dormant for a while then in 2005 the Hope Town Jr Sailing program came roaring back! And boy did they ever as they have produced some outstanding award-winning top sailors!
Just 2 weeks ago, the Hope Town Abaco Rage Sailing Syndicate team raced in the 67th National Family Island Regatta down in the Exumas. And they WON IT as the 2023 National Champions in class B and C!
Quite a few sailors including Stafford, Jeff & Andrew were graduates of the Hope Town Jr Sailing program! And now sailing has been declared the national sport in the Bahamas!
Another graduate of Hope Town Jr Sailing program that we also know is 18 yr old Jack Guinness. His J22 junior team won 1st place in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series also 2 weeks ago! There are many more graduates including females who have excelled from this program.
Hurricane Dorian destroyed most of their fleet. Every $ that is donated gives these young sailors a chance to rebuild their fleet.
Each one of the students in the Hope Town Jr Sailing club, their families and the community here super appreciate all of your generosity! Thank you!
RACE Results (NOTE – Results are for line honors, NOT adjusted times!) RACE – DAY 2 (two start times: 11am and 12pm) Tahiti Beach to Guana Cay – Here are the results for line honors on the second day. The “adjusted” times with handicaps are below.
- Mithril – Catana OC 50 2022
- Endangered Species – Voyage 430 1996
- Akaroa II – Outremer 51 2015
- Old Peculiar – Lagoon 450 2016
- La Vagabonde – Outremer 45 2017
- Mystic Breeze – Leopard 40 2018
- Wind Palace – Lagoon 52 2015
- Interlude – Bali 4.8 2021
- American Honey – Bali 4.4 2023
- Got no Problems – Bali 4.4 2023
- First Light – Lightwave 37
- Persistence II – Lagoon 450 2017
- Nauti Dogs – Bali 5.4 2023
- Nomadic – Lagoon 450 2015
- Corazon – Bali 4.3 2019
- Kia Ora – FP 42 2019
These boats did not finish or did not race
- Undaunted – Lagoon 450 2018
- C Dreams – Bali 4.6 2022
- Island Girl – Leopard 40 2016
- Resolute – Bali 4.4 2023
- Crazy Knot Nuts – Bali 4.8 2022
- Airtime – FP 1995
- Turnerbout – Leopard 46 2008
- Nomad – Lagoon 42 2020
- AKANI – Bali 4.2 2021 (Mothership)
BIG THANKS to our sponsors that supported this fun-filled event! Thank you also to Martin Cooper for doing the race results. It is a big task and we very much appreciate the effort! Also a great big thank you to the support staff whom you all know; Sharon, Nick, Steele, Lynda, Hannah, Craig and Donald These guys all work extremely hard during these events. Thank you everyone!
