Each day of Georgetown Regatta week had planned events and competitions organized by cruising volunteers. Our contribution to the event was a 4 CD compilation of “newer” music that we created for Rockin’ Ron. The events we missed included: a pet parade, coconut harvest challenge, bocce ball, volleyball, softball, ocean beach golf. Participating in Kids’ day, the rowing events, the scavenger hunt, sand castle building, and two days of sailboat regatta racing was plenty. The events were run on a tight schedule with pre-registration required. We found this out the hard way as the kids were not allowed to enter their hermit crabs at the last minute. Tears flowed.
The children showed Oma their tree climbing, rope swinging and fort building abilities. Alvina enjoyed the adult “summer camp” scene with most of the people being her age. We entered the dingy scavenger hunt with DC while the kids had their own team. One problem was discovered from the start, the kids had the same list as the adults (which included getting a cold beer)! We had to negotiate sharing items…like pirate CDs, flares. In Georgetown, wearing a U of M t-shirt got me an unsolicited ride back to the dock from a recent alumnus. After a judge’s conference about our water bucket, we got a respectable 3rd place, missing 1st place by one entry! The kids settled for second with an adult/kid team winning. More life lessons as there was no second place prize.
Barefootin’ it to “Beach Church” Sunday morning gave us a chance to pray for strength for the rowing regatta immediately following. The events did not start well with all of the men’s rowing competitors lined up to start as we pulled up 5 minutes late. I start strong… too strong and pull the rows right out of the holes. No prize in this race for Johnson 1. Parker, by far the youngest of the group, started great until Malcolm rowed into him… he finished at the end of the pack. Again, more life lessons. Angie got third in the women’s rowing, out of 4 competitors, getting beat by a 75 year old woman. This is much harder than it looks. Blind rowing...now this could be our sport..an adult rows while a kid directs. Turn right..whose right, yours or mine! Parker and I got a second place..even after going way off-course. Sabrina rowed with Nicole (DC). Angie watched and yelled from shore as the blind teenagers smacked both girls in the head with their oar. They got a special ribbon for getting injured. More tears…don’t forget this is supposed to be fun!
Sabrina, our go-getter, entered the kayak race as the only girl and 4 years younger than everyone else. She paddled the entire women’s course without giving up and finished last. Angie started out strong in the women’s kayak event but ran out of gas nearing the finish….a respectable 4th. The “13 feet of fun”, Dave (DC) and I paddled for our life. The kayak was plowing through the water with all of the weight. The teenager girls won and the photo finish for 3rd did not go our way. (Our photo clearly shows us taking third… oh well).
For kids day they did GPS treasure hunts, hole digging, crafts, obstacle courses, long jump, and all the kids favorite, the homemade sailboat races. The kids’ came home with lots of ribbons. Parker’s rig used an old foam cooler as the hull and was called “litter box”. Sabrina using a Styrofoam catamaran with Mylar sails won her first heat handily but was unable to get her boat to sail straight in the finals. In the afternoon, 70 local Bahamian children played team games with the cruising kids for a great cultural experience. The adults had a great time dancing to Bahamian Rake-n-Scrape that night.
The children showed Oma their tree climbing, rope swinging and fort building abilities. Alvina enjoyed the adult “summer camp” scene with most of the people being her age. We entered the dingy scavenger hunt with DC while the kids had their own team. One problem was discovered from the start, the kids had the same list as the adults (which included getting a cold beer)! We had to negotiate sharing items…like pirate CDs, flares. In Georgetown, wearing a U of M t-shirt got me an unsolicited ride back to the dock from a recent alumnus. After a judge’s conference about our water bucket, we got a respectable 3rd place, missing 1st place by one entry! The kids settled for second with an adult/kid team winning. More life lessons as there was no second place prize.
Barefootin’ it to “Beach Church” Sunday morning gave us a chance to pray for strength for the rowing regatta immediately following. The events did not start well with all of the men’s rowing competitors lined up to start as we pulled up 5 minutes late. I start strong… too strong and pull the rows right out of the holes. No prize in this race for Johnson 1. Parker, by far the youngest of the group, started great until Malcolm rowed into him… he finished at the end of the pack. Again, more life lessons. Angie got third in the women’s rowing, out of 4 competitors, getting beat by a 75 year old woman. This is much harder than it looks. Blind rowing...now this could be our sport..an adult rows while a kid directs. Turn right..whose right, yours or mine! Parker and I got a second place..even after going way off-course. Sabrina rowed with Nicole (DC). Angie watched and yelled from shore as the blind teenagers smacked both girls in the head with their oar. They got a special ribbon for getting injured. More tears…don’t forget this is supposed to be fun!
Sabrina, our go-getter, entered the kayak race as the only girl and 4 years younger than everyone else. She paddled the entire women’s course without giving up and finished last. Angie started out strong in the women’s kayak event but ran out of gas nearing the finish….a respectable 4th. The “13 feet of fun”, Dave (DC) and I paddled for our life. The kayak was plowing through the water with all of the weight. The teenager girls won and the photo finish for 3rd did not go our way. (Our photo clearly shows us taking third… oh well).
For kids day they did GPS treasure hunts, hole digging, crafts, obstacle courses, long jump, and all the kids favorite, the homemade sailboat races. The kids’ came home with lots of ribbons. Parker’s rig used an old foam cooler as the hull and was called “litter box”. Sabrina using a Styrofoam catamaran with Mylar sails won her first heat handily but was unable to get her boat to sail straight in the finals. In the afternoon, 70 local Bahamian children played team games with the cruising kids for a great cultural experience. The adults had a great time dancing to Bahamian Rake-n-Scrape that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment