43rd International Sailing Regatta Bonaire

Just two days before we left for Bonaire at 3 in the morning we were rudely awaken by the refrigerator sounding like a skeleton jacking of in a tin can. Then the unit ran and ran without lowering the the temperature; we knew then we had a serious problem. Sid tried to contact Glacer Bay for two days but nobody answered the call. Even now two week later there is still no answer they must be either on vacation or busy with the Annapolis boat show. Luckily we have the option to use our freezer as fridge. Although a bit small it can only hold stuff for two dinners at a time which mean I will have to do more shopping trips into town, which is not very convenient from here. There is nothing within walking distance from Seru Boca, actually from the entire Spanish Water area. The Hyatt Hotel on which property we’re on provides a shuttle at 08:15 to the main entrance from where we can catch a local bus. Most of the time the Shuttle does not show up and by the time we finally get to the bus stop they now run only once an hour, if. One of the grocery stores Vreugdenhill sends a daily free bus to the marinas for a one hour shopping trip but for Seru Boca only twice a week. So we’ll be roughing it until we can get the fridge fixed.

Just good we had not much in the fridge left other than pickles jars, sauces and such things nothing on food was lost and freezer was empty as we were going to turn it off anyway while in Bonaire.

We are so out in nowhere that even the taxis don’t like to drive out here and charge outrages 45 dollars to get to the airport, it’s cheaper to rent a car and we did just that. Imka a local rents his cars out for 25 bucks per day, we rented it for three days and Jeannie our neighbor on Dragon Fly drove us to the airport in the morning and had the car for the rest of the day. The first rental day we hit every grocery store on the island. The second day we had to check out with the authorities which took half the day and as we finally started on our excursion around the island it started raining so hard we could not see the roads as they turned into rivers. We ended up in a little cove named Playa Porto Marie and sat in the car in a heavy downpour with roaring thunder for at least 20 minutes before it was safe to head for the restaurant on the beach and enjoy lunch.

The flight to Bonaire was short and sweet in a Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander which has room for 9 passengers. The copilot seat is open for a passenger and I was the lucky winner to sit next to the pilot. I was amazed that after take off it was a straight shot and only 25 minutes later we landed in Bonaire. Although we were sitting on the runway for at least 30 minutes as they lost communications with one of the towers. 5 planes were in front of us and when the runway was cleared we enjoyed watching their take off, especially the US Air Force tanker who is based here. Randy and Lourae were already at the airport and first thing at Villa Blue we all hit the pool. (Click on photos to view bigger).

The Bonaire Regatta is a huge event, so big the schools in Curacao and Bonaire close during race week. The evenings were filled with Regatta Festivities along the Sea Promenade, Wilhelmina Park and on the streets of Kralendijk. Stands with variety of local foods, souvenirs, games and handicraft attracted locals as well as tourists. International and local bands were performing daily until 3 in the morning. The 2010 Regatta also is a very special and unforgettable regatta as it was the last regatta within the Netherlands Antilles. Due to this they dedicated the 2010 Regatta to the Netherlands Antilles as gratitude for the support received from the sister islands and Aruba during the last 42 years. On Saturday October 9^th just before we entered the magical 10.10.10 at midnight, date of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and the official entry of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba as special municipalities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands the sky filled with an explosion of fireworks. Kind of funny to think that one minute before midnight on the 9^th we were still in the Netherlands Antilles and with the first second of the 10^th we were in Holland and didn’t even have to travel.

We had many racing classes: Racing Class 1 and 2, Cruising 1 and 2, Open Class, Multihulls, Optimist, Sunfish, Laser-Splash, Beach Cat, Sailboards, Traditional Fishing boats, Windsurfing and Microboats. Randy and Lourae’s “Moko Jumbie” is a 24 foot Corsair Trimaran a little bullet running away from our competition which had no chance, one was the new 42 foot Lagoon Catamaran “Jacky S” (Venezuela) which is as slow as a snail the other one was a Main Cat. The funny thing was the owner of Jacky S was talking with Randy about the boat rating at the Captains Meeting the day before the start and asked Randy: “How can your boat be rated faster than mine?” Randy just said: “I guess we have to wait and see out there!” He also introduces his crew to us, his sponsor, the chef and a Venezuelan Olympic sailor. We were not sure if we should be intimidated, he sure came across that way.

Race Day 1:

Not much wind just enough in the squalls and kept us moving all day on a 22 mile course. The wind was out of the W and SW which never happens on race week and we had a down wind start and that was the last time we saw our competition. We finished the race, sailed the boat back to marina, put her away, washed her, got in the car and drove 20 minutes up to the house, got into our bathing suites, grabbed a cocktail, jumped into the pool started looking at the boats and there was our competition only half way through the race. We pretty much sailed fast in light conditions because we finished at least four hours in front of our competition. Weather was rainy and squally all day and we were soaking wet and as soon as we cleared the finish line the sun came out again.

Race Day 2:

Was a 17 mile course and again a down wind start, light winds all day but no rain. Again we were in the pool before our competition finished. Jacky S had to finish with navigation lights on, poor guys. (Note all the last two photos of the boats we're passing is after our finish with juts our main up).

Race Day 3:

Race was shortened to 8 miles due to very, very light winds. Same thing again we started and left our competition in the dirt, by the time they caught up to the dirt it was settled. We passed every boat in the fleet except for four but our elapse time was faster than any boat in the fleet and our corrected time was also faster than any boat in the fleet.

Race Day 4:

They had us set for a 20 miles race while the rest of the fleet had the same 8 mile course, so we asked the judges if we could race the same as we really have no competition in our class, at least now we could compete with the bit the racing boats. This time we weren’t as fortunate to be the fasted but only by 2 minutes. The wind was pretty fluky anywhere from 2 to 15 knots causing a lot of grief to the boats with spinnakers. We did the 8 miles in have the time as the day before.Even the commentator at the finish line called us animals. The days top speed was 13.4

Coming to the finishing line (Chuck on Tusen Takk II took these two photos including the ones of the Trophy Ceremony, thanks Chuck):

Challenger, Clair de Lune, North Star and Tusen Takk II were still in Bonaire and cheered for us at the trophy ceremony.

We got our racing fix in, had a blast and truly enjoyed being spoiled at Villa Blue. Randy and Lourae thanks so much for everything this was an unforgettable event and just wonderful to stay with you. Many thanks.

The flight home was really kewl, we had the same pilot and he let me sit next to him again. After take off he turned the plane around immediately and so we flew right over Kralendijk and the mooring fields what a sight we recognized the boats on the moorings, saw the marina all the way up to Villa Blue.

In Curacao he flew across the island towards Spanish Water and right over our marina where Paradise was waiting for us. (Photos: Spanish waters including anchorage and our marina).

Then he followed the coast line along the western side of Curacao with the most spectacular few of Willemstad. What an incredible scenic flight, wow. (Photos: West Coast of Curacao and Willemstad).

We were surprised to see Pam on Sundial instead of Jeannie to pick us up. Imka rented our reserved car to somebody else; he’s obviously not very reliable. Really a bummer as we had planned to do the island tour on Sid’s Birthday which is today the 13^th.

His Birthday present was his first SSC check yeah, Happy Birthday Sid!