This blurb is about the famous Bahamian Class A racing sailboat, TIDA WAVE. This TIDA WAVE is not dangerous except for every other Class A Bahamian racing sailboats.
When you look at her resting on the sand your sailing senses kick in. Can you imagine 12 men on her decks hanging out on hiking boards? These "hiking boards" have to be reinserted on on the other side after every tack! The boom is enormous and the sails are huge. They have a unique way of putting a head board in their main sail that allows them a super long foot on their mainsail. She is the same length on deck as PAVITI TERN. I can not imagine 12 on a hiking board on the Tern. I was not too many years ago Bahamian fisherman sailed boats like these daily to catch conch, not just yearly to race. Racing has always been a component of every fisherman. They compete daily for the "high-line" (most fish caught). The Bahamian fisherman are the worlds number one conch fisherman. I will have a future blurb on Spanish Wells home to fishermen that land eighty percent of the worlds lagnostino (algae eating lobster).
Today's fishermen use everything from huge diesel motors to outboard motors to catch their fish. The days of using sail only ended a few years after WWII. It is not hard to imagine what it would be like setting hooks out from tub trawls from the cockpit of S/V Paviti Tern in 1938. The Regatta in Georgetown gives the Bahamian fishermen the opportunity to celebrate their heritage once a year in their wooden racing sailboats. This once a year event takes place in Georgetown in the lower Exhumas. A unique part of the Bahamian way of starting the race is they start the race at anchor with sails furled. By starting this way all of the arts of the sailor go into winning the race. TIDA WAVE has won more Class A Bahamian Regatta races than any other boat. I am told more races than all other boats combined! Like all the Americas Cup boats she was built for one thing and one thing only, "to race and win". She is strip planked with spruce, her seams filled with 5200. The old man (Richard Cottreau), that helped me restore the Tern told me spruce is the strongest wood for its weight! Unlike the Americas Cup boats, these boats are locally built and maintained by the men who sail them. The race has remained with the same class of boats for over fifty years! The first day I arrived on Staniel Cay, I spotted a wooden sailboat sitting all alone on the sand, no name on her stern. She looked abandoned and unloved but on a closer inspection I could see she had been sanded in places! I hoped this was the famous TIDA WAVE I had heard so much about. She had no name on her so I thought I will come back tomorrow morning to see if anyone is around When I returned the next day she had been moved out to the beach, closer to the water. There was one lone man working on her. That's when I met Joel.
The “Labor of Love” comes from a man by the name of Joel. I know not to disturb a man when he is hard at work! When he took a break, I introduced myself and shook his hand. It was a warm hearty handshake. I asked him if I could take some pics of him. He replied sure! I took a few pics of him and told him I will come back to take more tomorrow. When he finished for the day he came over and we commiserated about TIDA WAVE. It turns out Joel is the Sailing Master of TIDA WAVE. Joel along with his crew, sand, paint and perform all the yearly maintenance necessary for her to compete in the race. He donates his time as an act of love for the boat he sails once a year. This year was a first for the old girl! She needs a bilge pump because the chain plates open up in heavy racing so the pump has become a necessity. My friend Teddy Colebrook (S/V Topaz) was at the race last year and told me TIDA WAVE started out very strong and fell off later in the race! The reason may have been her decks were leaking badly at the chain plates and they had no way to get the water out of her. Joel informed me TIDA WAVE is going to undergo a refit of the chain-plates to the outside of the hull instead of through the decks!
The third afternoon at the yard, while the crew of TIDA WAVE were putting the finishing touches on her I got to learn a little bit about the man that provided the “Labor of Love. When I first met Joel I knew this was no ordinary man. You could see the ocean in his eyes along with the twinkle. Well, it turns out this unassuming man dressed in coveralls is the Master of a 58 foot Hatteras the M/V Temptation out of Charlotte NC. This is his real Job.
On the fourth day a small group had gathered to watch Joel and his crew hard at their labors. Laughing, Joel informs me this is the competition from the Lady Muriel that has come over to spy on him. Lady Muriel is in the same class as Tida Wave and has won her fair share of the Georgetown classic races. The Lady Muriel without her mast on a mooring in the harbor swelling up her planks. Lady M (as she is affectionately called here) was shining in the sun all gleaming white, she was waiting for some one to take her to the races! Right behind her the TERN is resting, preparing for her next passage. The sea birds sit, sh_t and chat on the rails of Lady M. What they talk about I have no clue but if I had to guess it's probably the upcoming Regatta in Georgetown. All fishermen know when a seabird sh_ts on you it is good luck. I think that is why they put Lady M out in the harbor so early. I am sure TIDA WAVE will get her share of bird poop before the race but she will be much lighter than Lady M because of her later launch date. We will know the outcome in a couple of weeks. I may take the mail boat from Bimini to Georgetown to see the race? Stay tuned for my Blurb on the Staniel Cay Yacht Club coming soon!
Hope you enjoy the gallery?
Ciao! For now,
Mike
