Saturday, April 30, 2011

International Rolex Regatta

The St. Thomas Yacht Club is in the "horseshoe" of the bay that our condo overlooks, and they have hosted a regatta for the last 38 years. Bob & I don't know much about sailing, but we do enjoy watching all the activity.

The week before the regatta, the moorings in the bay filled up with sailboats of all types and sizes.


One of the sailboats was this really huge catamaran:


See the man in the zodiac? That gives some perspective of the size of the boat! This boat didn't race, but was positioned out amid the boats when the races started, so it must have been involved with the starting.

Here are some shots of the sailboats I took from our balcony the first day of the regatta:



Each morning, breakfast was provided for the sailors at the yacht club. Afterwards, some of them had their own dinghies to return to their boats, but others had to wait for the yacht club transport. This lead to some long lines:


And some really full transport boats:


The last day, Sunday, they build the award platform in the water and give awards to all the winning teams. The team captains of the winners in the 5 large boat categories really do get Rolex watches!