Workboat Regatta

The setting is beautiful Grand Anse Beach in Grenada, early February, 2018, crystal clear blue water with a bit of surf coming in on two kilometres of white sand beach with lots of locals and tourists mingling about and laughing while stopping at food stalls with mouth watering smells. The sun is shining and loud music gets everyone moving to a thumping Caribbean beat. A gentle breeze washes over the bay keeping things cool. Coconut palms are waving gently to provide shaded spots over the sand for blankets, coolers and picnic baskets. Perfect.

Meanwhile about 25 small work boats – fishing vessels powered by sail – get prepared for the intense annual competition. Skippers are eyeing the ripples in the sea, studying the wind patterns, to prepare their optimum approach to the race. Everyone is feels the electricity in the air. They are all waiting to see which skipper will out-sail all others to win the prestigious sailing event known locally as the Work Boat Regatta.

Here is a link to a local paper with 2018 info: http://thenewtoday.gd/local-news/2018/01/08/celebrating-25-years-of-traditional-workboat-racing/#gsc.tab=0

Here is a link to a Youtube video from the 2016 Regatta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyL7c-gcYy0

`The Grenada Sailing Festival is a week-long event that attracts sailors from all over the world to race against each other in a variety of races and boat classes, each day ending with a party. There are 5 classes of large yachts that race each other within the class and each yacht is raced multiple times. Results of each race are tallied up to determine the overall winners. It's beautiful watching the sleek, expensive yachts with their modern gear and expensive rigging doing maneuvers that just miss each other as they slice through the water.

But the work boats are a different challenge altogether. Seaside towns in Grenada - Gouyave, Woburn, Grand Mal and Sauteurs are well known for their fishing culture and there is a friendly, but rigorous, rivalry between all of them each year to claim the prize of fastest boat and best sailors. The races also attract fishermen from Carriacou and Petit Martinique, Grenada’s sister islands, and sailors from the Grenadine Islands like Bequia and Mayreau.

The 2018 Work Boat Regatta is the 25th consecutive year that this two day event is held at the end of the Grenada Sailing Festival, right on Grand Anse Beach. The boats taking part are painted in a variety of bright colours and designs. These are the traditional 16 to 17 foot wooden boats that the local fishermen build and use on a daily basis to bring in the “catch of the day” to restaurants, stores, lucky residents and savvy visitors. The boats are all hand-made from local hardwoods and are normally powered by oars and motors. They do not have sails when used for fishing, but for the work boat races, motors are removed and bamboo masts and booms are cut and temporarily rigged - made up of whatever materials the teams can get their hands on. This photo is a good example, and most of them use at least some duct tape!

The races have been highly attended for many years. The boats and rigging have gotten more professional each year – especially for the final race of the regatta with traditional masts and better sails. Apparently, in the early days half the fun was watching the sailors try to figure out how to jury rig their boats with the bamboo masts and sails and get them to stay upright. You can imagine the jibber-jabber going on that none of us can understand. Over time, as the races have become more organized, some of the charm and hurried preparation of rigging to set sail is gone, but the rivalry, excitement and fun is still there in full measure. A lot of betting between rival camps takes place as they race each other for the final prizes and trophies.

To start the event, teams of sailors from each of five communities race against each other to determine which team will represent that area in the bigger and more important cross community competitions.

They stand in the shallow water at the beach and hold their boats in place until the horn blares to start the race. Then they dash out and push their boats into the waves and jump in at the last second. The last guy will be almost neck deep in the water when he needs to pull himself up, over and in. Boats wobble wildly when this happens with masts raking up against one another until the crew is fully seated.

Occasionally one of those rouge waves comes along and gives the crew a bit of trouble while holding steady at the start line....

The races start with a horn and starts are spaced about 15 minutes apart. The boats sail out into the bay and navigate their way around large yellow buoy markers that make up the course. With the staggered starts, boats that are assigned to depart in the third or fourth heat to leave the start line will mesh with other boats that are about half way though the course already. Yes, it gets messy out in the course too as the "rules of the road" are rarely observed.

The winning boat from each of the preliminary rounds is announced and the skippers and their crew are invited to participate in an additional race with specialty "class" boats - see photo - all built the same and with the same weight and rig. These boats are supplied by the regatta organizers to create a fair contest so the sailors can battle it out for the best sailing team of that day.

The stats for both days are tallied up here and then the top skippers battle it out in the final races.

Imagine the pride of the skipper and his crew when they are named the best of the best, and winning US$1,000 / EC$3,000 plus a Yamaha outboard motor from a local Marine Chandler. The cost of a brand new motor is way out of reach for most boat owners and the cash prize of EC$3,000 is about double the average for a month’s wages in Grenada. The winning team this year is from Gouyave - the skipper and crew from the boat named "Classic". Bragging rights for a year! This was the second time they won and they did it back to back with last year.

We stayed for both Saturday and Sunday race events while we ate delicious local foods, sipped on a few..., and soaked up some sun.

A hat and sun lotion are a must...

The event is capped off with the trophy presentation and fireworks presentation, followed by partying well into the night.