The Robertson & Caine Leopard 45 is actually 44'7" LOA and 39'8" on the waterline ... so I think the committee was just being fair to the entrant. The designation of "45" is just part of the name for marketing purposes, it doesn't actually reflect the true length of the yacht.
A friend of mine on the committee asked if I could help out this year as they were short handed. Although I wanted to go, I am kind of glad I wasn't able to be there ... you guys are a tough crowd!
The West End Yacht Club was established in 1978 by a rag tag group of sailors who liked to get together in Soper's Hole and Race each other from time to time. Their meetings" (read drinking parties) were held at Walter's Suprette (a tiny little general store) on Frenchman's Cay. Walter just passed away a couple of months ago.
Anyhooo, the club managed to get themselves recognized as a legitimate yacht club, and their "clubhouse" eventually moved to the Jolly Roger Restaurant, now known as Fish N' Lime.
This is a club that basically takes nothing seriously, protests aren't permitted and almost everything about it is tongue in cheek. The only rule is that you have a good time. That is the entire premise the club was built upon. I mean, how many races have you sailed that permitted people to run their engines up to the start line?
When the BVI Yacht Club applied for and received the prestigious designation of "Royal", our members decided we could not be outdone, so we added "Loyal" to our club name. At the time, there was some discussion about making the "L" in Loyal on our shirts kind of blurry and written in scroll.
What Manpot said ... they are all volunteers, and from what I heard, there was more than one greenhorn on the committee this year since many of the old guard have moved on. I'd like to thank Lou, Martin, and all the other volunteers who, over the years have made this a great race for all!
By the way, Galeaux and Freedom are both Voyage 500's and are exactly 50' LOA. They belong in the 50 and over class. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
Laura, it is my understanding (from being on a team that won the baddest cat award a few years back), that the award goes to the boat who's crew dresses in the spirit of the race, who decorates their boat and makes every effort to win ... despite things like markers being missing or (in our case that particular year) floating off into the far reaches of Cane Garden Bay and going unseen by all ... except yours truly!
We were first to round that mark while most other boats just picked a spot close to where the mark was supposed to be and pretended to round it. Yes sure, some people were ticked off and called it unfair, but the mark was out there ... it was just a moving target. LOL!
We used to have a big old red Budweiser blow up sofa tied in front of the windscreen on the bow and we had a few other Halloween decorations as well.
