Final regatta post for a while, I promise ;)
There was one more day up at Barretarre and the boys were begging to go feed the 'Rock Monster' over by the Blow Hole.
It was a gorgeous cloudy, windy day!
We were pretty excited to see what the wind would do to the races.
They are playing their sea turtle game again (Hagen, Joss & Mason).
Our little Explorers! (Mason, Joss, Hagen & Caleb) Emit wouldn't venture too far from me, and I was cool with that. We were on the lookout from some bird eggs anyway....
And we found some!
The blow hole was really firing off this day with the swells coming in.
Recap on the "Feed the Rock Monster Game"---they throw sand in the hole to feed the rock monster. When the monster is full he spits it back out at them. They came up with it all on their own, and every time it really blows, they get a little spooked because in their minds it is the Great Rock Monster! So cute to watch.
Joss feeding the beast!
Emit feeding the beast :)
Playing in the tide pool.
The crew getting ready for the races! They usually only have 4 guys in the boat, but word got out with Dallas' friends and a few more wanted to join. Around here, we usually 'over book' our invites because almost ALWAYS someone backs out at the last minute (at least), but this time they all showed. And they had a pretty eventful day.
Ready for the start!
Winds were way up this day, so it made it even more challenging.
On top of the wind being a factor, the boat's bilge pump wasn't working properly, so they had a low riding kind of day with extra rocking going on.
I get cracked up by some of these photos with the guys out on the pries there (the plank that extends out over the water).
I'm not a seasoned sailor, but even I know that their weight needs to be all the way out on the end to be effective. {{Those rear ends should be hanging off the far end}}
I'm not sure what the captain of this yellow boat was doing, but he was right in front of our guys for a bit coming up on the next buoy. I wanted to throw out my best Jim Carey accent with "Move Or Lose It Sister!" All the while Dallas was not concerned one little bit. Good thing he's captaining Two Friends and not me.
I got so many poses from Theo (in the green). He even fell in once the day before, you'd think he had learned his lesson.
Below Dallas is in the middle of a tack, sliding under the tiller because they were so crowded on board. Just fyi, this is not a typical maneuver.
Emit explaining rules of the races (or something very important) to Hagen.
I don't think he really wanted to pose for me, but I love his serious scowl nonetheless.
Crossing the finish-line, way way after the other boats...I'm thinking we've got a little too much weight in our boat (both human and water).
They turned right back around and started the next race. I had Ann Ligon, her three boys, Lyndsay and her little girl, and me with my two on board for the races this day. After the first race, the kids were all getting a bit anxious (can you blame them?).
This last race started with a near-collision right off the bat.
I hold my breath when these things happen until I see that everyone made it out without colliding. It's such a hard perspective to be able to see how close it all really is. Some boats get to bumping and rubbing out there, but it has been known to happen where boats all out collide in the races and get pretty damaged, or to put it in Bahamian terms they get "Buss Right Up!"
Coming around a buoy leaning pretty hard.
Gaining ground for once this day.
We dropped the ladies and their kids all off at the dock around this time because they all had reached their max and were ready to go. A quiet boat was just what Emit needed to grab a quick power nap. :) Notice he is still wearing Daddy's swimming medal from the day before.
Joss was pretty delighted to get some time on the iPad. We keep this thing put away when we have a boat full of folks. Especially with all the other kids too. Just takes away a lot of the unnecessary fighting or chance of getting destroyed.
This is when things turn south for Two Friends. Big ole gust of wind....
Rocking back down...
Water...
Water...
More Water...
Still flooding in...
Last man standing...
She's under boys! I love it though because they are still smiling, and full of laughter when I pull up.
Now back track just a bit... I'm almost on fumes with the gas at this point (just me and my two boys in the powerboat). One of my engines had already stalled on me a couple times because of my low fuel level. I am literally about 30 yards (or less) off their stern when I started snapping the pictures when I saw them take on water and then BOTH of my engines quit on me. NOOOOOOO I was a little frazzled, but still managing. I don't know what protocol for a sinking is, so I'm trying to get my anchor out because the wind is pushing me so fast that I would have been out of reach of them in no time. I toss my anchor out and sit and wait for instructions. In the words of Joel's body language below, "What can ya do?"
I would have been totally bummed had I left with the other moms and kids, and I think my boys would have too. We got to experience the fun of a sinking first hand! The Morton Boys had been cheering for a sinking boat all day.
These boats are full of lead bars, approximately 30 lead bars to be exact, and each weighing in at about 50 lbs. Do the math with me... 30x50=1500 lbs of lead in these boat!!!!!! They can't get the boat off the bottom without taking all that lead out. Since our boat was the rescue boat... you got it, they hauled every bit of it on our boat. I was SO scared at this point. I could just see them dropping one of these bars and 1) someone losing some toes or 2) a huge hole in our boat. Praise The Lord, neither of those happened. I think we had one stubbed toe and that was it, pretty good in my books!
After you 'get the lead out of your pants' it is time to dismantle the mast. I was the go-to-gal for this too. They fastened the mast, with rope, to our boat, and I had to tow it out of the sailboat. By the way, we got the engines going again, but we were running low for sure. So I'm in Overdraft with a few fellas on board while Dallas and the other guys are in the water or securing the ropes and all of them are yelling different things at me. Not in a bossy way or anything, just 'dudes telling the gal what to do cause there's no way she can drive a boat without a play-by-play' kinda way. They obviously don't know how Dallas and I operate and work as a pretty good team in stuff like this ;)
So... I'm revving our boat and zigging and zagging and stopping and repeating until the mast gets released. Then another boat towed a few of the guys back to shore on the sailboat hull. Once they get to shallow water and get another bilge hooked up to it, it comes right back up pretty easily.
Oh and before I forget... one of the other boats, Fugitive, which has a rep of being the arch nemesis with Two Friends to begin with, was giving these guys a hard time when they came up passed them after this happened. This was on the first lap of the last race, so Fugitive was behind them, and when they came by they were harassing them and yelling all sorts of stuff at them for sinking. Well, karma bit them in the tush because on their final lap about 300 yards behind this spot in the course they went down as well. The wind got two boats this day, and Dallas felt much relief to know that he wasn't the only one that went down.
So much excitement!
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