2008 Coral Bay Thanksgiving Regatta

More than two decades ago, a handful of industrious boaties built the first fleet of eight Coral Bay-made Cowhorns and decided to race them to see whose was the fastest. Thus was born the Coral Bay Thanksgiving Regatta.

This year's races, held on November 28 & 29, marked the 27^th year of the tradition, and the founders of the race would've been proud of the enthusiasm and seafaring skill that participants and onlookers alike displayed. In fact, one of those very founders, Augie Holland, was at the Regatta and was presented (to the sound of thunderous applause) with the Steve Dawes Spirit of the Race Award at the after party.

The races took place in Coral Bay and beyond and were spread out over two days. Friday's race was a single-handed competition, and the first prizes went to Zing in the under 30-foot category, Dreamtime in 30-40, and Mangele for the over 40. In the single-handed gaffer race, the winners were Sweet Ting for under 35-feet and Ushuaia for over 35.

Saturday saw a change to the practice of previous years in that race organizers opted for a pursuit race - boats were assigned staggered starting times based on a handicap determined by the organizers. The big advantage to this change was that all of the competitors rounded the final stretch at roughly the same time, resulting in a couple of exciting near photo finishes. Winners were Thetes in the under 30 category, Ocean Wave in 30-40, Levana in 40 and over, Eleanor Louise in the traditional under 40 and Breath in the traditional over 40 category. Osprey took home first place in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) category. Captain Larry Best, who has sailed the Thanksgiving Regatta for more than 15 years, was very proud of the win. "Sometimes there's some real dedicated race boats," he says, "but this year I think there was only one - and we beat them."

In addition to the race winners, one crew, who shall remain nameless, was awarded the Barbie in the Dinghy Award for sailing around the wrong island.

After two busy days on the water, the Regatta crowd returned to Skinny Legs for an evening of well-earned booze and camaraderie.

December 4, 2008