Fast Turtles and buddy Boats

Racing turtles can be fun if you have the fastest turtle! This is a big deal in Georgetown Exuma where there are more than 300 turtles (sailboats) anchored. The morning of the race Bob on Paragon had to get SeaVeyor to move his boat because his anchor was directly under SeaVeyor, Then Paragon was maneuvered to the side of Godspeed and we "rafted up" (tied the boats together) and they both swung on Godspeeds anchor while a bunch of stuff like spare anchors, fuel jugs, etc were loaded onto Godspeeds deck to lighten up the 15 ton Paragon. We had to turn this turtle into a rabbit! When all the work was done and right on time this sailor named German showed up, tied his dinghy to Godspeed and jumped on, he was the rest of the crew. After a bunch of jocking for position the race committee said GO!!! And that we did. We were first across the start line which was quite exiting until we realized we had no one to follow. This race was 20NM or so and it is around Stocking Island which is surrounded by treacherous reefs. in addition to that it requires rounding certain way points (Latitudes and longitudes). So here we are out in front adjusting sails and such and Bob says: Where are going! Bob was the helmsman (steering wheel guy) German stood on the foredeck and yelled orders, Pat was the brawn on all the winches and lines, Pam and Lorrie assited where they could and were great help. Bob had a wadded up piece of paper in his pocket and he handed it to Lorrie and she read off the waypionts as Pat put them into his handheld GPS. So the next three hours went something like this: German was constantly shouting stuff like, gimmy some ginny, OK stop now gimmy some main, let's work on that mizzen. So while all this constant sail trimming is going on Bob the driver is shouting "where am I going". Pat would yell something like gimme 5 degrees more to port, OK maybe a couple more, looking good Bob, hold that course. It was crazy, thirty or so boats behind us an we held them off. After our victory, We sailed Paragon through the anchorages and were "real big deals" as we took the victory laps between all the anchored yachts. It was definitely the "odd bunch", German was a brilliant sailor, Bob a great helmsman, Pat and lorrie beginners but navigating and trimming sails along with Pam and sending this 1969 41 foot Morgan Yawl to victory. "We had the fastest turtle" so heck yea, it was a blast!
So this was regatta week in Geogetown and there were other events as well. The Blackbeards Sailing club entered the "Coconut Challenge" and needed help so Pat was included in this event. Basically this is designed to make grown men look like idiots! Four guys get in a dinghy with their life jackets on upside down, no motor but each guy gets a swim fin to paddle with, and pick up coconuts that were dropped in the water. We stuffed about 100 or so and it was aload on Blondie with the four of us too. It was a battle but team "Our Freedom" won 2ND place and had a ball.
Shortly after dawn on March 15Th, Bob and Pam from Paragon boarded Godspeed with coffee and breakfast. Out of nowhere came the kazoos and then they played happy birthday! They then gave Pat an official Paragon shirt which is very cool, Great start to a fiftyth birthday. We spent the rest of the day preparing to head south into the Jementos and Ragged Islands. At dawn we weighed anchor and followed Liberty out of Elizabeth harbor and into the wilderness of the Bahamas. We sailed south to Hog Key where there is narrow shallow cut that would save us a day if we could get through. At high tide we would barely have enough water to pass if at all. Liberty has been through before and said "no problem, we will go ahead and call depths back to you, and that he did. Godspeed crossed the cut with maybe a teaspoon under her keel. It turned out to be a great day, we sailed another 35nm and saw several masts on the horizon. As we parted ways with Liberty and wished them "Godspeed" the radio bellered: Godspeed Godspeed, Our Freedom. Well here comes "Our Freedom and Non-linear" from Blackbeards sailing club along with a few other boats we know. We all ended up that night anchored in Water Cay. We spent the next few days lobstering, spearfishing, and Blue hole fishing which will be covered under the title "fish On". We then parted ways with our good friends on SeaVeyor as they headed north and we headed south.
We were within 100 miles of Cuba when trouble struck. The Ragged islands are nowhere to breakdown. There are no services, no search and rescue, and if you have trouble you are on your own. Boaters tend to Buddy up to help each other in case of trouble and these islands are not traveled much due to this. Tom on Our Freedom came over one morning with a jar of transmission fluid that looked like mud and said,"No Go"I have no motor. Well we all talked it over and decided that his boat is a sailboat. The big problem is setting anchors and the numerous reefs will not always be safe to sail, so he said he was heading back north to Georgetown right now. Lorrie and I decided that we would stay by Our Freedom's side until she was safely anchored in Georgetown. So off we went, and as luck would have it the wind shifted and it was dead on the nose. To add to the fun Tom was having GPS problems and this was no place for this. We turned around and led Our Freedom into safe waters while John and Marsha on Non-Linear launched their dinghy into the 2 to 4 foot swells. Tom prepared a tow line while Pat prepared a tow bridle on Godspeed. John maneuvered his dinghy along the underway Our Freedom and took 150' of anchor rode from Tom and fed the coils off with one hand as he maneuvered the dighy to underway Godspeed shouting "get closer, hold your course", stuff like that. Now John is a little guy that is a computer tech with a belt with radios, tools, basically a "Bat Utility Belt" At that moment seeing this unlikely guy pull this off so well we named him "JOHN WAYNE". Well the fun continues as Godspeed Tugged Our Freedom which is twice her weight to Water key and safely to anchor. The next morning Our Freedom sailed off the Hook and was headed for Hog Key Cut 35NM away. Godspeed stayed by her side until we had the cut in site and left her behind as we raced forward with Non-Linear (John Wayne)to get our vessels through the cut and anchored on the other side so we could deploy our dinghys for the next ridiculous feat.
Pat and John Wayne raced their dinghys back through Hog Key Cut and then about three miles across the banks to the now anchored Our Freedom. John Wayne tied his dinghy to the port side and Ollie (Tom's wife and first mate) tied theirs to the starboard aft and Pat and the blond tied to the starboard bow. We all had radios and Tom said "gimme some power, lets do it". So we we started our dinghy motors and gave tom about 40 horse power. This was one violent ride! Ollie and Pat were on the windward side and taking seas that slammed us into the hull. After Our freedom gained speed the Blonde was in the bow wave and within a few seconds was rapidly filling with water. I(Pat) began to analyze an exit strategy when I realized "Hey I'm in the Blonde, she is full of hot air and therefore can't sink" and it was true. The bow wave flowed over her port side and over the stearn, at times only the powerhead of the motor and the bow were above water but she was gittin' it. Ollie took one heck of at beating and John Wayne had it made on the lee side and stood up the whole time, I love that guy! Anyway, a few hours later Our Freedom "set the Hook" safely in Georgetown with a show of excellent seamanship. We would not have missed it for the world! Now let's talk Fishing!