Tropic of Destiny: 50th Bonaire Regatta

Historic Fishermen's boats on the start line. I'm on the committee boat with the flags.

A couple of weeks ago, the 50^th Bonaire Regatta was celebrated on this small Caribbean Island of Bonaire. This exuberant annual festival was everything it promised and more. As a volunteer on the race committee, I had the best view of the races – on the committee boat at the start line, raising the flag to start the races.

This year, the Regatta had historical significance to the Bonairian culture and the families of the fishermen who continue the tradition of wooden boatbuilding. With the help of Budget Marine, funds were secured and a group of volunteers engaged to restore historical fishing boats to sail for the first time in many years. It’s significant because it was the local fishermen racing their fishing boats that started the regatta fifty years ago. Since then, the Regatta has grown into races for many types of boats from many countries, including kids sailing races, windsurfers, kite surfers and even micro boats. Over the years, events were added to the Regatta such as a parade of flags representing the many nations celebrating the event, a boat parade, kids activities, carnival rides, hundreds of street vendors and multiple stages set up for international music talent concerts. In the days leading up to the Regatta, waterfront seating and stalls were set up, people getting their boats ready, musicians practicing… the entire island was alive with excitement.

The shore race committee overlooking the kids boats

For several months, I had been volunteering for the Bonaire Historical Sailing Boat Project, a project to rebuild the fishermen’s boats and we had four sea-worthy boats ready for the regatta. Well, almost ready. The day before, they were still painting the boat “Papagayo”, and it wasn’t until the morning of the race that the mast was installed and it was put in the water. But it was a success, and they were off!

Papaguyo and her crew. This couple gave up their vacation plans to help restore the boat, and the owner gave them the honor of crewing in the race for their efforts.

Arantsa with Giovanni's American Flag ready to race.

For the regatta, I volunteered to be on the race committee, and it was an important job. There were over 100 races to be held over three days, and each boat had to be accounted for at the start as well as the finish. We had a team of 5 people on the committee boat, which was positioned at the very end of the start line, so we had a perfect view. There was little time for photos because we had to keep precise timing with the starting horn signals and the raising of the flags.

It was an interesting group of people, the man in charge, Edwin came over from Curacao to officiate at the race, and he managed a group of volunteers, most of whom had no experience. I had been on race committee before, and sailed many races, but none on the scale of this race. We had a Dutch and Bosnian couple, a kitesurfer, a local high school girl and our leader. Everyone on the boat spoke English, and everyone except myself spoke Dutch, we also had speakers of Papiamento, Spanish and Bosnian, so it was a very diverse group. Even though everyone spoke English, all the conversation was in Dutch, and it was frustrating but by the end of the three days, I believe I was able to understand a great deal of it!

The first race to kick off the regatta was the race for the fishermen’s boats. The boats were interesting because of their wooden construction, so they don’t have as much weight in the keel as modern boats. When the boats are put in the water, they put a dozen sixty pound lead weights in the bottom of the boat. It’s the crew’s job to move the weights around to keep an “even keel”.

In the months leading up to the regatta, I worked with a crew to restore the historic fishing boats, and my favorite boat was owned by our work leader, Jopi. It was named after a beloved girl in their family, Arantsa. His brother, Jovanni came from Oklahoma to skipper the boat in the race, and we painted a Bonairian flag and an American Flag on the side of the boat. I still remember the discussion about how many stars should be on the American flag as I was painting them; it was towards the end of the day on a Friday and everyone had too many beers to be able to count the stars, and we laughed about it for days. It was a proud moment for me when Arantsa crossed the start line to kick off the 50^th Bonaire Regatta.

The most impressive sailors of all were the kids. There were kids as young as five years old sailing in the regatta. There was a morning and an afternoon race every day and the kids were excellent sailors. They worked together with kindness and cooperation, earning a young girl an award for her efforts, coming in with a smile no matter what the result and always helping others.

Very young sailors excited and having lots of fun!

This young girl won an award for her exceptional sportsmanship.

I enjoyed immensely my time on the race committee, I especially enjoyed Edwin’s enthusiasm for the people racing their boats, shouting at them, “Success!” as they passed over the starting line. The sailors were a happy group, but all around town, you’d see smiles everywhere. With spectators on the benches along the shore, cheering on their friends and kids, every restaurant and bar offering their goods, and music playing all day and night long, there were happy people and kids, kids, kids everywhere!

If you love sailing or festivals, this is a great time to visit the island of Bonaire. Next year, I hope to be crew in the races, but if that doesn’t happen, I will very likely be on the start line again.