First Regatta Flags!

Monday was a busy day for us as we had signed up for two events. We started first thing in the morning with the Scavenger Hunt. This, of course, was my idea. I'm like a 12 year old when it comes to these things. I was so excited I could hardly stand it! We had teamed up with two other boats, whom we did not previously know, and were going to split the list into thirds. There were five other teams of 6 competing as well, so we would have to be fast!

The list was long - two whole pages - and we had two hours to complete the hunt. We quickly went over the list and separated the items into areas around the harbor. Meaning, one team went to town, one went South and Brad and I went North. Some of the items we had on our boat so we were able to run and get those and then others were things that we had to collect off of other people's boats or questions about buildings around the harbour - how many butterflies are on a wall, who is the contractor of this building, etc...

We made it back before the allotted time and were thrilled to find that our team had collected all but one very elusive item (a cruisers regatta tshirt from 2000?!). We gathered our items and had the judge check us in. Once all the teams had returned, they announced the results - and we came in First Place!!! I was so excited! We each got a blue Regatta Flag and a gift certificate to a local restaurant. It was already shaping up to be an excellent day!!

Next, we wandered over to the beach to watch the small boat races. These were very entertaining, especially the blind rowing race. Two people were in a rowboat, the rower was blind folded and the other acted as a guide. They had to row quite a ways out around two buoys and back in. It was hysterical, with boats ramming into each other and going far in all kinds of wrong directions; most boats ended up having to be towed back in, but it was very entertaining to watch. There were also kayak races and downwind dinghy sailing races (homemade sails only).

In the afternoon, we, along with our friends on Hello Texas, had entered into the Coconut Challenge. This involves four people in a dinghy with no outboard, rowing out to collect as many coconuts as you can from the 1000 coconuts that they dump into this little inlet. The kicker is, you can only use snorkel fins as paddles and there are over 30 other boats in this tiny area with you, all trying to collect coconuts. Every team member must wear a life jacket in some way. Sinking other boats and soaking other players is encouraged. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a bottleneck and couldn't get out fast enough. We did not get anywhere near enough coconuts, but we had a blast anyway. And I think it is just as funny to watch this event from shore as to participate, if not more so. Watching adults paddle with fins, flailing around in the dinghies and acting like 10 year olds has to be an amusing sight for all.

All in all a fantastic day and when we got back to the boat, we had a flag raising ceremony and hoisted our first Regatta Flags up. Tomorrow Holly comes and more regatta events commence!