Regatta - Baseball

Feb 24-27

Things are happening at Mach 1 around here!!

The day after the poker run we moved the big boat over to Volleyball Beach for registration for all the events coming up this week. I made sure I was on the baseball team and I talked Rick into Beach Golf.

We collected all the pictures for next year's t-shirt design. There were 17 by the time we were done. Mine didn't win L.

After the registration we came back over to the town side and went for dinner on the deck of the BLU restaurant. There was a DJ who used the scratchy record style of mixing songs. The songs changed in the middle, sometimes with a completely different beat, and if people looked like they were enjoying dancing to rock 'n rock or jive, he screwed it up by doing that scratch-the-record thing again so you didn't actually know what he was playing. I know I'm old but I'm not the only one who didn't like it!

Saturday was an amazing talent/variety show put on by a mixed band of locals and boaters...great fun

Yesterday morning we had a skipper's meeting for the big boat races. Tomorrow is the first one so we should probably read the instructions today.

In the afternoon we played baseball...my favourite activity in the whole regatta! The Bahamian team was short-handed so I was traded. Halfway through the game the rest of the team arrived - all the off-duty police officers so I was traded back. 9 innings!! And today I am 'resting'.

 

Playing for the Bahamians

Now back on my own team

Hard to remember who to cheer for!

Handing out rum tots at the end

Had a great cheering section!

Feb 24-25

Sand castle building

Welcome party 

Morning after ...calm

OMG no wind today!!!

Sand castle competition

First day of Regatta, registration and Welcome party was great ...the waves were tremendous going over and we bounced on beach all morning. By evening the waves and wind had subsided and the water was like glass. Made the mosquitoes happy! But enough rum and garlic keeps them at bay!

Feb 16-23

Feb 16-23

Another whirlwind week of collecting prizes, laundry, meetings and...other stuff??

We were able finally to get together with Jillian and go for lunch at Tropic Breeze...it's the restaurant below the Tropic of Cancer...maybe. The Tropic of Cancer moves about 100 feet every year, depending on the amount of wobble of the earth on its axis, so the actual line drawn on the ground is a bit off right now.

We needed t go to the meat store but there is no pick-up truck this year. Yeah, no fun ride in an open truck...so, we rented a car and took people up in shifts. It was a Dihatsu...like a Nissan Cube but smaller!  We had it rented for all day so when it finally got to us...it was almost an hour late...Rick took a bunch of boaters up there while Jeanne and I worked on regatta stuff. We were the last load so we got to finish up at the Market and the Pet Salon next door and Jeanne ran into a couple of other people who gave certificates so it was a valuable trip. All the boaters kicked in some money for the ride and we were able to pay for almost half the car!

When that was done C-Soul came with us for a tour of the island...north to south, and we went to Emerald Bay to see the entrance to the Marina...don't think we'll try that one. We went south to the very bottom of the island to have a look at the channel we will be travelling when we go to Long Island. We stopped again at the Tropic of Cancer line...it's a great spot but the line is now across the road, according to the earth science.

 [The line moves .47 nautical seconds south every year. That's 6076.1 feet divided by 60 [seconds in a minute] = 101.2 feet so half that is 50.6 feet and in 2013 it was at N23.25.26 so now it is at N23.25.22. I'm sure Quentin can check that for me!

So after all that I forgot what I was telling you! Oh yeah, that makes it go through the baseball field!

We had couple of baseball practises and at the last one, a new young girl, who had never played in her life, hit the ball and threw the bat! It hit me in the shins and now I'm a little sore but that won't stop me playing!!Can't wait!!

Yesterday, Rick and I were dealers at the Poker Run at Shirley's Fish Fry. It was a wild day...the winds were up a bit and we took the big boat into the little harbour, and waited for people to come to pick up their cards. By the time it was over, there were squalls coming through and we got caught in Kidd Cove and couldn't get over to the final party. L

It was a wild night...winds at 35 knots on our meter but others across the harbour saw 39. Didn't sleep much but we didn't drag! Had 155 pounds of steel hanging off the bow to hold us down!!

Shows water temp / speed and location - this was not last night

Morning after...very grey and calm

Pick a card...any card

Tropic of Cancer windvane

Tropic of Cancer beach...that's not me, it's the wind lifting the dress!!!

Checking out Shirley's Fish Fry...that's  Shirley!

Feb 5-10

February 10

OMG! It has been 6 days since I last wrote a decent post. Is that like Confession?

Anyway, first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby brother, JACK! I have no idea how old he is but I am a lot older!

We had four fabulous days with Nick and Rachel!  We showed them the best of George Town and where the good snorkelling was. We took them to a Rake and Scrape.  They went off exploring and Nick got in a couple of games of volleyball. They said it was so much fun here they will come back. On the third night we got take-out from Eddie's and sat on their boat for a quiet dinner and managed to catch up on 20 years without having to scream at each other over the music.

SO great to see them again! We will try to catch up when we head back to Thunder Bay.

In the meantime, Nauticuss arrived and we've spent the last three days since Sandy Gal left,  with Ross, and new friends from northern BC, Gerry and Veronica, on Kiskatniss. We had dinner on Ross's boat the first night they got in; and I managed to convince them to come play ball. We all had dinner here last night and tonight we are going to their boat.

Baseball seems to be doable as long as they don't make me play too many innings. So far nothing is bent or broken and I can manage to avoid napping after the practises.  I'm good for about 3-4 if I don't stop moving. Man, it's not as easy as it was 30 years ago!! But I got on base twice in the practise. I think the second base is too far away from first base...just sayin'...

I'm catching right now and that suits me as long as they don't knock me over coming in to home! A few more women showed up so I'll catch a break there. I think I'm 10 years older than all of them.

C-Soul is on the backside of the island. They came down from Little Farmer's and headed into the shallows. They are waiting for the winds to die down, so they can come around into the harbour proper. It seems we are getting nothing but wind this winter. We've only had two days of calm that I can recall, and one of them was the other day when Sandy Gal left.

So, have a good day everyone. Not that you care, but we are not having Paradise weather yet either, so... but Regatta is coming and we hope everything calms down for the events the big boat races...we NEED wind for those !

Ttyl

Touching up the backdrop for the Regatta stage

Snorkelling on the little reef

Diner on Sandy Gal with Nick and Rachel

Wild ocean today

Calm morning yesterday

Parrot fish

Feb 3-4

February 3

No clue ...oh, wait, yes I do. Jeanne and I worked on the schedule and gathered more gift certificates for the regatta.

Rick and I went to Two Turtles after dinner to practise for the next night. The band was very good, and our little buddy, Rashad is a pretty good singer! We danced and got home well after midnight [9:30 pm]

February 4

He got lots of birthday wishes, and says "thanks everyone"!

Goran and Diane came over from PEPA, a Prout and visited with us. We are going over to inspect their super-Prout later. 

I hope that everyone who owns a 1980+ 36-39 Prout Snowgoose appreciates the fact that we got the try-it-out-and-see-if-it-works model...the one they build with popsicle sticks, plastiscene, and scraps. Then they built the good ones!!

Huge surprise!!! ENDEAVOUR, a Gemini from the Apostle Islands [US side of Lake Superior near Thunder Bay] came over to see us! Yes, Jim they found us, and as we were talking NICK & RACHEL pulled in !!!!

We were next door neighbours of Nick and Rachel [Sandy Gal II] in 1978. They were 21, we were older [Liz was 7/8 yrs old!] and members of the same yacht club in Thunder Bay for years!  They still look 21...maybe 25!

We all went over to Lumina Point to hear Papa G...great time and had dinner before heading home for bed. Awesome day for Rick's 70th and me too, so thanks everyone!

Feb 4

Happy 70th Birthday to Rick, my best friend, partner, husband and deck fluff!

Feb 3

OK... past another milestone today!!! played baseball without getting hurt or passing out...not such a good fielder but I managed to hit almost every ball thrown at me in practice!! Jeanne is an awesome fielder...we're the only two women so far!
Unfortunately this is the 37th year we've tried to beat the Bahamian team...I suspect they are pros but no-one admits that... they'd have to bet to beat us that many times in a row, wouldn't they??I think the average age of the team this year is 60...maybe 65 by the time we are done!
And so far ... I don't hurt that much! But I could have eaten a whole cow when we were finished!