Log 10: Race to the Rock

Heeled over, side rails skirting the water, sails tight, tiller at full power, and uncontrollable giggles. We raced our new buds on S/V Dacia, a beautiful Tayana 37, down the west side of Great Guana Cay from Black Point to Oven Rock.

Both beam reaching at 6-7 knots in 20 knot winds – not wanting to give an inch – our full keels sliced through the crystal-clear water. Halfway, Dacia puts a reef in their mainsail, but we don’t let up. Continuing down, we knew our sails were overpowered, so we furled in our jib. We are now neck and neck! No more than two boat lengths apart, still trailing out dinghies behind our boats, we get a call over the VHF radio. “…to the two monohulls racing just west of Great Guana Cay, please come in…” Hey, that’s us! Brendan answers and they switch up a channel.

“Hey! Looks like you guys are having fun out there,” the lady’s voice said over the radio, “…have to admit it’s the first time I’ve seen two sailboats racing with dinghies riding behind haha!” Brendan and I burst out laughing. “I have some cool photos of you if you want to call back later!” She says. “Ok, that sounds great, will do! Thank you!” We hop off the radio and get our heads back in the game.

Rails dug into the water; Dacia maintains the lead! We’re almost to the anchorage! We unfurl the jib and try to milk every puff of wind we can. Can we catch up?! C’mon Belly, you can do it!!

But before we know it, we’ve arrived, and Dacia wins the race!

We drop the sails and the anchor. Dacia stops by on the dinghy as we laugh about how much fun we just had. Although Dacia insisted it was a tie, if you’re not first you’re last Rick Bobby! Haha it truly was a blast! It was the first time we’ve raced another boat that was similar to ours, which makes it interesting and exciting. We all end the day having dinner and playing card games together on another friend’s sailboat, S/V Reef’n It.

We conclude if we would’ve put a reef in our main, we probably would’ve made better speed, but we’ll have to wait to test the theory. The winds die out tomorrow and won’t pick up until possibly next week. Time to settle in and get ready to explore Oven Rock!

~ Day 50