Five years is much too long to stay away from Abaco! so when Michael and Brenda said they were taking Magic over and would I like to come crew, they didn't have to twist my arm! Unfortunately, the original plan, to have a 'mother ship' for us all to put our gear on and sleep on, fell apart when the 'mother ship' got sold. So it became more complicated as far as accomodations. This event involves a lot of moving from island to island and some of it means racing from one island to the next. Without a 'mother ship' it is difficult for small boats. I decided to fly over for the last 3 races, as these were mostly based out of Marsh Harbour so I could stay in one place. Magic would base at the Jib Room so I got a room at the Conch Inn just across the harbour.
 |
 |
|
My flight was supposed to be on July 5th at 2:20pm but Yellow Air Taxi is having trouble keeping their act together and they were way behind schedule and we were moved to July 6th at 6am. Even that was about 30 minutes late to take off, but at least I had a day to spare and didn't miss any races.
July 7th we raced and the crew was Mike, Brenda, Tom D, Debi H, two guys that Mike and Brenda had found (Dan and Dave) who were total novices, and me. I did my best to co-ordinate the crew and we didn't do too badly. Luckily we had about 6-10kts of breeze so there were no real 'fire drills'. Spinnaker sets and take downs even went well. We finished 5th of 11 boats. I ws very encouraged that we could do well for the next race, until I found out we were losing 2 of the crew! Debi and Dave were heading home. We were totally excited to have beaten both Wind Pirate and Glory Daze! That doesn't happen often.
 |
 |
The party that night was at Crossing Beach and I have no idea why I don't have any pictures from there but we didn't stay long. We caught a ride back with Wind Pirate instead of a land taxi.
 |
 |
July 8 was the Marsh Harbour to Hopetown race. We were now pretty short handed with Debbie and Dave gone and no replacements, but we did the best we could and finished 7th of 11 boats. This time Wind Pirate placed and Glory Daze was ahead of us by about 2 minutes, corrected time.
 |
 |
July 9th was a 'lay day' and we took advantage of the time. First we went to "the Mermaid" for a snorkel.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A trip to Abaco is never complete with out the climb up the lighthouse.
 |
 |
 |
 |
And then over to Cracker P's to catch up with the rest of the sailors and hunt for new crew.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Then back to Marsh Harbour for dinner at Curly Tails with Brenda and Mike (where the 'Barefoot Bandit' had been but didn't get us!)
July 10th and back to the serious business of RACING!!! This is our last chance for a trophy and we picked up 3 young ladies to crew with us. We knew little about them except that 2 were sisters and 2 had sailed around the world on a Tall Ship! OK, so we figured, they probably don't get seasick but Tall Ships don't have winches or spinnakers so we didn't know what to expect. We really LUCKED OUT!!! These ladies totally UNDERSOLD themselves. They were a JOY to have aboard and they knew way more about racing than we expected.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
We finished 5th in that last race. Wind Pirate and Glory Daze were DNF due to the grounding and Susimi managed to pull an 8th out of it despite the grounding.
So, overall we didn't do too badly, though I think we'd have done much better if we had the same crew each day and less cruising 'stuff' on the boat.
The final party was at the Hopetown Harbour Lodge and HISC burgee was autographed by all of the Magicians to be left at the Jib Room for display.
 |
 |
We went back to Marsh Harbour for the night and Magic left early the next morning to head for home. My flight out was not until the next morning, as there were no flights available that day. True to form, Yellow Air Taxi was running late and I was at the airport at 8:30am for a 9:30 flight that did not leave until about noon!
 |
 |
