The regatta had to be postponed by a day due to strong winds (over 25kt) and huge waves on the previous day. It would be too dangerous to sail in such condition.
The next morning we woke up to beautiful blue sky and calm sea. The wind was still fairly strong with average 16-18 kt and gust over 20 kt. The race was on.
We changed the format of the regatta. Instead of parent sailing with their child as teams as in previous regattas, we paired up big kid with a younger kid as teams. We had four kids teams.
- Yogurt (Arabella 12, Filip 11)
- Pickle juice pizza (Kai 15, Alexandra 9)
- Simba (Tama, Sid)
- Bacon (Luca, Sasha)
The second half of the regatta was for husband and wife teams to compete against each other. Of all the wives, only Amandine knows how to sail a dinghy. So it was going to be interesting and scary, with a lot of yelling and shouting anticipated. We had four couples team
- Frozen Margarita (Grant & Delphine)
- Scotch (Simon and Amandine)
- Blaze (Blaz and Masa)
- Sangria (Alys and Susanna)
The race started at 830am. The parents were watching the race from Arabella’s flybridge and all our hearts were pumping hard and we were all panting with anxiety. It was terrifying to watch. Since the kids were very light in weight and the wind was strong, the boats were flying and there was plenty of almost capsize and a few complete capsizing moments. Fortunately no one was hurt and the kids were brave and unfazed. In fact they had a blast! The race was close and finally Bacon (Luca and Sasha) came first!
As for the adult race, I was hoping all morning that it might be cancelled due to bad weather. Even though Grant tried teaching me how to sail a Smartkat a few times already, I am still clueless. I often confused 'up' from 'down' and 'tack' and 'gybe'. The race wasn't cancelled. We had three races to sail. We lost the first, and won the second and third. We actually won!!!
After each regatta, we always finished with a beach braai (BBQ). Everybody contributed yummy food and drinks. Grant scouted the beach and found a shaded area. He directed all the children to help clear the area, collect fire wood and start a fire. The setting was magical - 270 degree panoramic view of the reef and the lagoon. Adults were sitting around chatting, big kids were shooting targets with Luca's air rifle and the little kids were running around the beach collecting sea shells and splashing water. The sunset was breathtaking and we went back on our boats after dark. We all felt so blessed to share this epic day on our favourite atoll.