The summer Regatta Time in Abaco began 34 years ago with a different goal. It began as a collective effort to finance and build a sloop to represent Abaco in the George Town Regatta, a sailing event for Bahamian fishing sloops. Man-O-War has subsequently built several
boats for this event. The Abaco Rage, now based in Hope Town, is one of these original sloops. The first race of the Regatta Time in Abaco series was held off Marsh Harbour in September 1976 with ten cruising boats, four sloops from Nassau and one built in Man-O-War. It was intended that participation of the work boats, or native fishing sloops, would increase over the years.
However, this initial exercise caused Abaco promoters to recognize the high cost of hosting the native boats from Nassau. Effort and funding was then put into establishing a race series to promote sailing visitors during our slow summer season. Regatta Time in Abaco has grown from this first September race. The second year had 15 boats which included two sloops from Man-O-War and the remainder were cruising sailboats. By the third year, the event had expanded to three races with the first off Marsh Harbour, The second race in this 1978 series took place off Green Turtle Cay and joined with the eleventh Fourth of July Soveral race. The third race was hosted by Treasure Cay. In this third year, there were three different venues but there was not a unified management as each location had its own team in place. A Hope Town Race was added in 1980 with a race off Man-O-War included in 1982. It is unclear but it may have been in 1981 when we began using trophies of bronze art-work from the Johnston Studios foundry in Little Harbour. The bronze fish, birds and animals have proved to be very popular.
The series has endured over the years with a shifting of venue to accommodate sponsorship interest. Management of the different races evolved into a single committee with responsibility for the entire nine or ten day event. In 1989 the Treasure Cay race was moved to Guana Cay to continue the five race format. Since 1991 the series begins with its first race held off Green Turtle Cay on July 4. This started the Regatta in our northern waters for the convenience of the majority of boats that come from Florida. We have been able to incorporate a mix of traditional Olympic triangular courses and the ever popular round-the-islands courses. The dedicated race boats prefer the triangular courses while our less professional fleet of Mother Tub boats enjoy the races from island-to-island.
The series began during a slow summer season in hopes of increasing our summer visitors. In this regard, the Regatta has succeeded admirably. A secondary goal was to increase our boating visitors’ exposure to our superb cruising area. The venue moves to different towns and resorts giving everyone a taste of Abaco’s towns, resorts and our pockets of remote isolation. The five races are interspersed with awards and lay day parties. These social events have a large following of land-based visitors, probably equal in numbers to the sailors. Our restaurants, guesthouses and marinas now look forward to the Regatta and the financial contribution made to the various
settlements. This is a result of hundreds of visitors, both on land and sea, who come for the festivities. Summer is no longer a slow period but is now our busiest season. Regatta Time in Abaco is a significant contributor to our vibrant summer activity.