June 21^st, 2026 witnessed the first race of another Regattas In The Abacos event near the charming island of Green Turtle Cay.  The week of 5 races was held in gentle conditions of 6 to 12 knots, all but 1 of which went off without a hitch.  The rarely held challenge race that started near Green Turtle Cay and ended near Great Guana Cay was the only one impacted but the common summer squall.  In this distance race, being entirely an upwind battle the newly created Multi-Tub fleet did not finish the course and all vessels retired after a valiant effort by all the crews.  The series entailed 2 distance ‘point to point’ races and 3 ‘round the bouys’ races where 22 boats competed in 4 classes for coveted local artist made trophies. 

Our Platinum banner sponsors this year were the esteemed Ministry of Tourism, Sands Beer, Mount Gay Rum and Titos Vodka.  The Bahamian Brewery provided the delightful after race cocktails while the Ministry of Tourism featured a hotly contested “Snag the Flag” side challenge where daily winners went home with a bag full of locally made Bahamian goodies.  This year also featured a highly competitive scavenger hunt that sent participants snooping around The Abacos picking up points, one of which was a photo eating a conch pistle.

Special thanks go out to our other Gold sponsors without whom the event would not happen.  These keys players include CIBC Caribbean who generously support the ‘Wynsome Award’ which included a donation to Hope Town Junior Sailing program.  Other valuable gold sponsors included Bluebird Juices/Abaco Groceries, Abaco Yacht Charter Services, Bahamas Protected Areas Fund and HGC Christies Intl. Real Estate.  The organisers and participants all expressed a wealthy of gratitude to everyone who helped to make another successful regatta around The Abacos. 

The overall winners this year were ‘Rockstar’ (C&C 115) helmed by Tim Tucker representing the St. Augustine Yacht Club in the spinnaker fleet while the non-spinnaker fleet trophy was kept home by ‘Old Nassau’ (J22) skippered by John Pinder a local Hope Town sailor.  The Multi-Tub fleet is a new addition to the annual event that is expected to grow – a Multi-Tub is a multi hull sailboat that is a live-aboard cruising vessel which is not typically used for racing performance.  The Mother-tub and Multi Tub classes are for the less serious sailors who are out to have a fun time on the water and all have a chance to take home one of the locally made trophies.  Sailors hailed from all over Florida and we had a crews visiting from Georgia, Texas and Colorado.

Local artisans for the trophies included Johnston Studios, Lori Thompson and Bahama Dawn ceramics.  Commodore Dwayne Wallas as very pleased by the turnout and camaraderie and especially happy to see the scavenger hunt was such a success.  More information and photos can be found at sailRiTA.com.