The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@trribunemedia.net

FOR the 28th consecutive year, Eleazor ‘the Sailing Barber’ Johnson will host the Saint Valentine’s Day Regatta in Montagu Bay.

And for the third consecutive year, the Bahamian Brewery Company will play a significant role with the sponsorship of the E class and the staging of the Sculling Championships.

Lynden Johnson, representing Bahamian Brewery, producers of Sands Beer, said they are proud to once again be the official beer of the regatta, scheduled for February 14-15.

“On Saturday, February 14, our boats - Sands, Sands Light, Strong Back and High Rock - will participate in the E class regatta,” Johnson said. “On Sunday, February 15, we will begin our sculling season at 5pm.

“The winner (of the sculling race) will be declared the Sands Man in the Boat sculling champion of New Providence. He will represent New Providence later in the year at the Sands Man in the Boat Sculling Championships of the Bahamas.”

Clayton Bain, the three-time national champion, is contemplating not competing this year so that someone else can emerge as the champion, but Johnson said they are looking forward to a larger field of competitors and even some women coming out to participate.

Johnson is encouraging all sailing enthusiasts to come to Montagu to see sculling at its best in a truly Bahamian style.

Thanking the sponsors, including Bahamian Brewery, Johnson said he’s pleased to return to help stage one of the biggest regattas scheduled for 2015.

“We have a lot of things going on with Sands Beer and so we want to them along with the Minister of Agriculture, Mr (Alfred) Gray and all the people who will be around to make it a success.”

Johnson said without the support of the people around him as well as the sponsors, the regatta would not be a success because it’s something that the public looks forward to during the Valentine’s activities.

“This is our thing and we should not let it die,” Johnson said.

Another sponsor, Bacardi and Bristol Cellars, is supporting the regatta for the third year. According to Brian Major, it’s their duty to ensure that the regatta is a success and all proceeds made will be turned over to Johnson to assist with the continuation of the regatta.

Rev Dr Philip McPhee, consultant in the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine and Local Government, said they are appreciative of Johnson’s ability to continue the hosting of the regatta.

“The Valentine’s Massacre has been supported by the Government of the Bahamas since 1992 and this year is no exception. The government will again come to its aid and give to the St Valentine’s Massacre and Eleazor Johnson, a contribution, a grant that will help to pull off one of the regattas in 2015.

“Eleazor has always been one who has set the pace in sailing in this country. In fact, single-handedly, he has produced one of the greatest regatta sailing events in this country and so we are very proud once again to give support.”

The regatta, as usual, will be having the sculling competition, but the highlight will be on Sunday when Johnson’s B class boat, Lady in Red - Lady Nathalie, will be given a 10-minute head start on the A class boats and they will attempt to catch her before the 12-mile race is completed.

“The Red Stripe caught me seven times in the 27 years. The Thunderbird helped start the regatta and the Tida Wave was there too,” Johnson said. “If the boats from Long Island come down...they didn’t come last year, I think they will make it interesting. “Anything could happen, but the boat to look out for is the Red Stripe.”

Race coordinator Stafford Armbrister, who has noted that he enjoys working with Johnson from the inception of the regatta, said they intend to get the action started on Saturday, February 14 with the C and E class races and before the Catch Me If You Can race on Sunday, February 15.

And George Kelly, the coordinator for the sculling races, said they will start promptly at 5pm Sunday. The winner will receive 10 cases of Sands beers, second will get eight cases and third will collect six cases along with their trophies.

There will be heats of four persons each with the first two advancing until the final four are decided from which the champion from New Providence will be determined.

“The Sands Man in the Boat is the trademark for Sands Beer and so naturally it goes hand in hand that we will have sculling for Sands beer,” Kelly said. “It’s a cultural event, it’s something that has escaped many people in the Bahamas because of the invention of the motor engines.”

Kelly noted that in the past, sculling was the only way that persons were able to move about in the Family Islands on the water and that is why they are trying to reintroduce the sport to the Bahamian public.

Three years ago, Bahamian Brewery president James ‘Jimmy’ Knowles contracted Sheldon Gibson to construct the E class boats that they have been using for the sculling regatta, which has far surpassed their expectations in terms of the participation of the competitors and spectators on shore watching.

At the completion of the St Valentine’s Massacre, Kelly said they will be returning to the Family Islands to host sculling competitions in various regattas as they prepare for the national championship at the end of the year.