The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The 62nd National Family Islands Regatta is underway in picturesque Elizabeth Harbour in Georgetown, Exuma, with the largest fleet of boats ever registered.

The regatta started on Wednesday with the Cup races. Light winds hampered the start of the class races yesterday, but Commodore Danny Strachan said they are still anticipating a fantastic regatta for the rest of the weekend.

In the Commodore Emeritus Cup for Class C, the Whitty K beat out Sacrifice, Bull Reg and Lady Dianna.

The Governor General’s Cup in Class B was won by the New Susan Chase, followed by Whiplash, the Cobra and the Lonesome Dove.

And the Prime Minister’s Cup in the Class A was won by the Tida Wave with the New Courageous, Running Tide and the New Southern Cross following in that order.

According to Strachan, they got off to a “good start” with the Cup races and all of the boats are looking forward to the rest of the competition.

“We had some light winds so far today, but we intend to get in as much of the races as we can,” Strachan said. “We have a lot of boats here competing and right now it has surpassed our burget, but we are going to accommodate all of them because we don’t intend to turn anyone away.”

Strachan said the competition is going to be keenly contested and based on what they have seen so far, all of the boats will have to compete at their best in order to be in a position to compete for the national title at the end of the weekend.

Boats are competing from just about all of the islands, including New Providence, Grand Bahama, Exuma and Long Island.

“This is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting regattas that we have ever held,” Strachan said. “We have the largest fleet of boats entered and there are a lot of people on the island. We expect that we will have even more come in over the next two days.”

Despite the fire that put a damper on some of the occupants of the straw market on Monday, Strachan said they have managed to reconstruct the area and there is minimum interruption of the activities around the regatta site.

He applauded the Bahamas government and the various private companies, including Sandals Resorts International, for coming to their rescue.