Sports
Starting on time
Fish trap pulling is one of the categoriesto win $10,000
H.E. Ross
The International Management Services (IMS)sponsored the first Cayman Catboat race in the year 2000 thatstarted on time. Up to last Saturday, there have been ten officialand unofficial Catboat races with the obstacle of timeliness aselusive as a green flash.
This thing of time has set the mood of the other Catboat races,in that the contestants found a bad taste lingering at the conclusionof the events because of the inability of the whole to simplystart at a marked hour. Spectators complained they were not ableto fit in another race that day. Family and the interested didnot have the time to experience rides aboard the vessels; allkinds of things like that.
This last Saturday had moderate breezes; only the slightest roundedchop of seaway and seven Cayman Catboats on the beach at one time.Maybe the CCC (Cayman Catboat Club) should get IMS to sponsormore Catboat races. At 11:00am, the $10,000 Best Cayman CatboatCompetition began with three judges, all seafarers with extensiveCatboat experience, looking over the competitors. Sadly, of the17 Catboats on the Island of Grand Cayman, only four put the painton the brush, dried the calabash, brought out the striker andpole, carved the oars and raised new sails for the event.
It is too bad that those with the vessels did not temporarilydonate them to some district or not-for-profit organisation asa youth program, with the aim that the $10,000 might be used forfurther youth projects.
The sponsors of the races and boats put up the money to pay theprizes with those intentions in mind: Texaco; Cable & Wireless;Kirk Freeport; Cash To Payday; Tropicana Tours; NDC; RCIP.
Kem and Joey Jackson, and Captain Asley Ebanks went all-out toprovide a Cayman Catboat for public viewing that held the workingtools of the Catboat of years past. They even had a drinking calabashand a jar of strong coffee. Their boat, Brac Cat, also won theoaring contest in the event.
Captain Crosby Ebanks' newly-reconstructed See Her Go, sponsoredby Kirk Freeport and Tropicana Tours, showed remarkable detailwork in construction with wrapping caprails and a sleek, almoststraight sheer. The Cable & Wireless sponsored, Skinny LeeLee,accented her beautiful, aristocratic lines with a paint job thatalso showed to be as rugged as any other Catboat. Elford Dilbert'sHeritage, sponsored by Thompson Shipping and NDC/RCIP was dressedin no-nonsense and ready to go.
The fish trap pulling contest, in place of a turtle trapping contest,was a Surprise, as no boats turned over and all the contestantsscored high. The two boats in the lead at present are Brac Cat,followed closely by See Her Go.
The IMS Race Day started at 1:00pm on the dot, leaving CaptainCrosby just getting his fast boat in the water and not completelyrigged. He just sailed along with the course without seriouslycompeting.
First over the line was Skinny LeeLee with Captain Tim Austinand crew Paul Lawrence and Tim Hubbell. Captain Nick Joseph andcrew Richard Stewart were second across onboard Tradition II,sponsored by Cash To Payday. Captain Asley held the close triowith Brac Cat just aside and under the stern of Tradition II.The two crew men of Tradition II had never before been on a Catboatalone.
Captain Mark Clark with Peter Cosa and David Thursfield did nothear the sequence of horns or see the flags, and found themselvesin a disgruntled fourth place but gaining.
At the first mark, Skinny LeeLee took a longer lead with BracCat passing Tradition II. The third mark saw Skinny LeeLee's leadbecome greatly enlarged due to a collision between Brac Cat ona starboard tack and Heritage.
Heritage acknowledged their error with a 360-degree turnaround,but Asley, Kem and Joey had a long way to go to catch Skinny LeeLeenow. After turning the fifth mark, Captain Asley took a strategicline of sailing out north, while Skinny LeeLee took a short lineand tacked, turned the boat on a new course.
Skinny LeeLee over-shot the finish line and was forced to tackback north in order to line up and tack again to cross. MeanwhileBrac Cat was bearing down on the finish line, having eaten upSkinny LeeLee's lead with their gambled strategy. At the buoy,the two boats met with Skinny LeeLee, which had the right-of-way,starboard tack. Shaking their heads, Asley and Kem had to allowSkinny LeeLee to cross over five seconds ahead of them.
Skinny LeeLee was 29 minutes 25 seconds; Brac Cat was 29 minutes30 seconds. Heritage came in third. The racers wanted to havea second race so they had one with Captain Crosby's See Her Goand Jerris Miller at the helm of Tradition I out competing thistime.
It was a racers' race and unofficial as far as the IMS Race Daywas concerned. And, it was competitive.
Tradition I started three seconds too soon and had to recrossthe starting line. Heritage was first across the starting line,Skinny LeeLee was second, Tradition II third, Brac Cat was fourth,See Her Go fifth and Tradition I last.
At the second mark, the pack was evenly distanced from each other.Heritage was being challenged by See Her Go after the roundingwith Brac Cat third. See Her Go went. Captain Crosby's hours ofwork to redesign and build this 43-year-old, cut off sterned CaymanCatboat into her present sharp-ended speedster, proved itselfright as the boat left the pack.
Brac Cat had another bout of collision as they rammed TraditionII making
for the third marker buoy. There was an amiable disentanglementand Brac Cat
moved on after the leaders. Again, their momentum was lost. Therace was
between See Her Go and Heritage, with See Her Go having a commandinglead.
Then, something happened and Captain Asley was all of a suddenright behind Heritage. So, the race became a race of who wouldbe second. Captain Crosby, in See Her Go, sponsored by Kirk Freeport/Tropicana Tours, crossed the finish line at 26 minutes 30 seconds.Mark Clark came in at 29 minutes even. Brac Cat came in third.Captain Crosby's unofficial time is 1 minute 47 seconds fasterthan the series leading time, set by Skinny LeeLee in the TexacoRace Day event.
Too bad Captain Crosby did not start the official race on time.