Why a Rendezvous for Catamarans?
Our goal with this annual rendezvous is two-fold. We lead our group on our own cruising catamaran to the islands to help them gain confidence and to show our boat owners a good time. But more importantly, we invite our industry colleagues from North Sails, Mazocean, Bali Catamarans and others to help educate the boat owners on how to operate certain components of their boats and therefor better enjoy their boats. It is a great camaraderie and a fantastic time for everyone. This year, we had 9 different brands of catamarans (Prout / Lightwave / Nautitech, Lagoon / Voyage, Fountaine Pajot / Bali / Leopard / Manta), 27 catamarans in total and 104 people join in the fun.
Florida Flotilla Kicks off the Rendezvous
For Catamaran Guru, the Rendezvous starts when we set sail with the Flotilla. As seasoned catamaran sailors, we organize a group known as the Flotilla for those that want to sail together to the Bahamas for the event — a great way to get to know and guide “newbies” as well as hang out with our other experienced community members. This is usually a great learning experience for many with a lot of firsts i.e. checking in to customs and imigration in a foreign port, doing an ocean crossing, etc.
Our itinerary for the Flotilla was to sail from Florida to Westend on Grand Bahama Island and on to Spanish Cay where we checked into the country. We love the locals here and the check-in process is super easy but watch out for the monster sharks in the marina! LOL Then it was off to Treasure Cay, Guana Cay, and Elbow Cay — first stopping in Tahiti Beach before finally landing in Hope Town to set up for the 2022 Rendezvous.
lets get the party started!
On May 15th all the boats gathered in the anchorage outside of Hope Town amid very rainy and dismal weather. But this did not damp anyone’s spirit. We were determined to have a blast anyway and after having to cancel the last two Rendezvous events for safety, it was so wonderful to bring everyone together again and welcome new members of our community.
Day 1: “PINK WELCOME PARTY” sponsored by Bail Catamarans
The party started at the Hideaway Pool (Hope Town Inn Marina) for drinks and Appetizers and local music. It is a spectacular venue and the tropical gardens lent itself beautifully to this year’s PINK part welcome theme. Everyone rose to the challenge and came decked out in all kinds of awesome pink attire. We had the best time despite weather issues. It rained buckets and we thought that we may have had to cancel some events, but for some reason, the gods smiled upon us and gave us clear skies whenever we needed it.
Day 2: “RUMBRELLA RACE DAY & GAMES” sponsored by Lagoon Catamarans
The fleet migrated towards Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay to anchor off the beach. We had our very own Puff the Magic Dragon floating off Tahiti Beach and a big batch of our special “Hooligan Juice”! The weather again put a dent in our plans and we had to check and adjust. After mixing and mingling and sipping Hooligan juice, the Coconut Toss competition began! It was hilarious!
The Rumbrella Race is a classic Rendezvous event where everyone brings their favorite floaties (duck, swan, arm bands) or paddleboards and we arm them with very powerful sail devices — Umbrellas provided by Lagoon Catamarans!
We also enjoyed the best Conch and Cheese Burgers in Paradise served by Thirsty Cuda. The Hooligan juice did it’s job and we were worn out. What a day!
*Our thanks to Lisa from s/v Hahalua for some of the pictures below! Instagram.com/svhahalua
Day 3:“RENDEZVOUS REGATTA” sponsored by North Sails
The fleet gathered at the start line for the regatta in the morning. Bearing in mind that most of the cruisers have never raced before and most felt a little uneasy about flying their big spinnakers but everyone was game! The course was 12 NM downwind between elbow Cay and Guana Cay and the breeze was extremely light, approximately 5 to 7 knots. The race started at 10am and we closed the race at 2pm.
There were a range of sail configurations on display, with some captains choosing to fly a genoa and screecher gull-winged, some had their asymmetrical spinnakers out, others tried their parasailors, others simply had to make do with basic Genoa and mainsails in a a wing on wing configuration. Everyone learned a lot about their boats and their own sailing skills! Bob Meagher from North Sails came alongside all the boats during the race with the committee powerboat and coached the sailors about how to trim their sails for optimum performance. And that is the object of the exercise for this get-together! All of us to try new things and learn along the way!
Some boats did not finish the race due the very light winds, mostly because they did not have downwind cruising sails and with only small jibs, the boats were pretty much just drifting along. They retired the race after about two hours. Zuri was the start line and did not officially participate in the race. We commend them all for participating since many of these cruisers have never raced before and some of the boats were charter boats with complete novices onboard. Our thanks to Martin from “Old Peculiar” for doing the boat ratings and race results for us!
Some sailors, who shall remain unnamed, “made light” of the very light conditions by using Lagoon umbrellas from the “Rumbrella Races” to get a little extra sailing area to get across the finish line!!
Thank you Anastasia from Sands Beer!
Our biggest shoutout goes to Anastasia from Sands Beer. Not only did they donate a case of beer to our first boat over the line but they donated a six pack of beer to every participant in the race! Safe to say that we are all very grateful and that we are all converts and drinking this local Bahamian beer at every opportunity around the Abacos bars and restaurants!
DAY 4: “SEMINARS AND FAREWELL PARTY” sponsored by Catamaran Guru
The fleet migrated towards Green Turtle Cay, anchoring off New Plymouth settlement or off the beach at Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar.
This was a day of knowledge sharing with Bob Meagher from North Sails who demonstrated sail trim and spinnakers on Zuri, our Bali 5.4 and we also deployed our life raft so that people could see what happens when a raft opens and what is inside. Everyone also jumped in the water and attempted to climb into the raft to see how easy / difficult it would be.
Then it was time for the Dinghy Parade! Crews decorated their dinghy and sailed past Zuri for an awesome prize — and again they went all out. Cavemen, sharks, a bathtub, water gun, rainbow wings, pom poms, flamingos flags and more! The creativity was astounding and so much fun.
Lastly, we headed over to Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar for dinner, prize giving, music and evening bonfire on the beach. Just lovely!
Hope Town Youth Sailing Club Donation
Great job to all our attendees for your enthusiastic participation in each event! It was such fun and we all made friends and every team felt supported. All our participants generously donated to the Hope Town Junior Sailing Club. We collected $735 for the kids’ programs and Catamaran Guru will match that for a total donation of $1,470! Thank you to Maz Ocean for donating a Garmin InReach as the raffle prize.
Happy Birthday, Alina
Alina and Edward from s/v Serenity was one of the first boats to sign up for this event and they were super excited to celebrate Alina’s birthday with all of us here in Abaco. Unfortunately they could not make it due to engine problems (it’s an FP powercat)! But they nevertheless celebrated in style in port on the boat, dolled up in their pink outfits, LOL! Happy birthday Alina!
Local Restaurants and Beach Bars
All of the venues we chose for our events were outstanding! With 100+people and iffy weather, logistics were a little difficult. But every venue did a great job to accommodate us and give us superb service, food, music and fun! We thank the Hope Town Inn & Marina, Thirsty Cuda (Tahiti Beach), Grabbers (Guana Cay) and Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar & Marina (Green Turtle Cay). They all did an fantastic job for us!
Thank You to All Our Sponsors!
- Bali Catamarans
- Lagoon Catamarans
- North Sails (email bob.meagher@northsails.com)
- Bank Newport Marine Mortgage (email dustin.howard@banknewport.com)
- YBS (Yacht Business Services)
- Loggerhead Marina Hollywood (Dockage) Tel: 1-954-457-8557
- Bluff House Beach Resort & Marina on Green Turtle Cay
- West Marine Fort Lauderdale
- Boat US Towing Services
- Maz Ocean Technical Yacht Services
Tender Care Dinghy Sales & Services - Cruise Abaco Charter Company helped our group in every way possible! They did a late pick up of guests in Marsh Harbour and ferried them to Hope Town. They collected our trash outside of Hope Town, a huge favor to the yachties and collected our coconuts for the coconut toss competition. Chad also collected the Sands Beer for us and delivered it to Zuri, who have had to race with a ton of beer onboard! LOL
Thank you Catamaran Guru Team!
A heartfelt thank you to our Catamaran Guru team for the help and support to make this happen. Sharon especially had her hands full with all the administration for 100 plus people. It was a bit of a challenge with organizing a multi-day event in a foreign country with a small budget and it took much planning to put it together. We hope everyone enjoys the bags, shirts, cups and other trinkets!
