The Tribune

We’ve become so inured to statistics about death due to COVID that it took the startling images on the front page, online and on-air Monday to shake us out of our zombie-like acceptance of death on a daily basis.

Over the past year, we have talked about the sadness of someone dying alone in a hospital. No child by a mother’s side to squeeze her hand, no wife whispering to her husband of half a century that she still loves him as much as she did the day they wed.

We have focused on the alone-ness surrounding dying rather than the sharp knife that instantly slices life and death into two.

Sunday’s tragic boating accident in waters off North Eleuthera changed that. The pictures of two beautiful young woman and a handsome young man who died in that boating accident, all so alive one moment and their lives over the next, rattled us to our core. Even National Security Minister Marvin Dames could barely muster more than words of caution. He, too, felt what we did. Why, why did this have to happen and what could have prevented it?

Why, on the same day, was another young man killed in a jet ski accident?

Sunday dawned beautifully. After days of heavy winds and rough water, the winds laid down, leaving the sea a bit choppy but do-able. Vaccines had arrived in the country. Politicians were out politicking. It had been one year since the first case of the virus had been identified in The Bahamas and with a few more visitors trickling in, hotels re-opening in stages, there was an air of optimism. An oppressive weight inexplicably lifted. Light from somewhere flooded the day.

It was a day for celebration and how do Bahamians celebrate? We go to the beach and if we have the privilege of having a boat of our own or an invitation to join a boating party, we jump at the chance.

A whole lot of people jumped at that chance last Sunday. A friend who was aboard a boat at the popular Palm Cay Marina at the southeastern tip of Nassau said he had never seen it so active. Every available spot where a car could be parked was taken as people piled aboard boats, many of which had sat for a year or more without use. Many were headed for a poker run to Eleuthera.

Closer to the centre of New Providence, the vacant property across from Montagu Foreshore was jammed with parked trucks, their empty trailers ready to trek boats back home when they returned to the ramp across the street. Views from the Nassau Yacht Club and the Royal Nassau Sailing Club revealed a stunning array of boats of every size and make buzzing back and forth, heading out the Narrows or east to Porgee Rock and beyond – as if some deity had declared this national boating day.

It was a sight to behold, but it was also unnerving. Because my husband is a certified veteran marine surveyor, I was unsettled by what I saw. Many of the boats were overloaded. It almost felt like the water was alive with giddy boaters happy to throw illegal wakes and rooster tails and zig zag as if they were playing a game. Even in the harbour there were troubling signs.

Or maybe, I told myself, I was just being too nervous and I should just keep my mouth shut and enjoy the scene.

And then the news started to come in. On a day so enticing, even exhilarating, everything about the beauty of that promising sunrise vanished in the shadow of four untimely deaths. It would never be our place to cast blame, but it is our responsibility to explore what it would take to ensure that it is less likely to happen again.

The problem lies in the fact that we believe, and rightly so, that boating is our right. We do not think we need to be licensed to drive or operate a vessel on the water unless we do so for commercial purposes although we fully accept that we have to be licensed to operate a vehicle on the road.

We do not feel compelled to take a course like Chapman’s Piloting as required for USCG approval to operate a vessel in parts of the US because our ancestors operated boats and they didn’t have to take a course so why should we?

We also expect our Defence Force to patrol tens of thousands of miles of open ocean and borders without making busy harbours a priority.

We almost resent their presence interfering with our leisure if we are sailing or motoring to Rose Island, Lower Harbour, Green Cay or Eleuthera. Why aren’t they out there catching poachers instead of bothering responsible families, asking for papers, we wonder?

Maybe we need to re-think our expectations of the RBDF and how satellites and drones can assist as well as how marinas can play an important role.

If the Defence Force lacks staff power to do all that is expected of it, firstly employ nano satellites or drones to provide evidence of violations which can be ticketed, fined or argued in court.

Secondly, ensure that all safety equipment is aboard and marked with the vessel’s name so it cannot be transferred from one vessel to another when it is time for an insurance eligibility survey.

Thirdly, in the same way the Bahamas National Trust deputises park wardens and assigns them certain authority and responsibilities, consider deputising experienced boat captains who have demonstrated an excellent record for responsibility and safety and are willing to save lives and prevent serious injuries by reporting and documenting by cell phone video violations they see at sea.

Fourthly, engage the Association of Bahamas Marinas to post posters with regulations and distribute a fact sheet about safety in Bahamian waters to every transient boat that docks and reinforce with an electronic copy of the regulations with emphasis on different sections with dockage fees statements for permanent or long-term renters.

Tragedy is an awesome teacher, but the lessons it leaves in its wake could save another parent from ever waving goodbye in the morning to a son or daughter going out for a day of fun on the water only to find it was the last and final goodbye until they wailed over a gravesite and cried, Why? Why?

And the momentum continues to grow for sailing to become official national sport

A FEW weeks ago, I suggested that sloop sailing be named the official national sport. My apology - I should have said sailing, not just native sloops, so as to include sloops but also account for all the other vessels powered by wind and crew – Prams, Sunfish, Lasers, 5.5-metres, Stars, other one-design and larger boats built for racing or just enjoying the journey.

The immediate and ongoing response has been unanimous, but one, and I think he was exercising his right to be sarcastic. To a person, you want sailing to be named the official national sport, replacing cricket which is at best an imported sport and one it takes a genius or a few dark ales to understand.

Every single response has been in favour of sailing as the national sport. I’ve received notes from ‘It’s a non-brainer, sailing is the national sport, it just hasn’t been declared” to a long and thoughtful reply from one of the founders of Abaco’s RSSA calling for the uniting of all sailing associations and clubs into a federation.

Years ago, a group of us - including sailors whose names you would recognise - prepared and presented what we hoped would be a white paper to government when Zhivargo Laing was Minister of Youth, Sports and in those days, Education. The idea is not new and it’s a clear win-win without political prejudice or colours.

Someone wrote, “Use your pen and keep pushing it.” I certainly will. And keep those responses coming. Leave a note on Tribune242.com at the end of the column or directly to me at diane@dpa-media. com.