Get your red baseball hats ready! the 76th anniversary Mount Gay Rum Round Barbados Racewill take place on January 21st 2012.
All are invited to join the festivities around the Island, and witness one of the greatest sailing events the island has ever seen.
Where other than Barbados would it be possible to win the Skipper’s weight in Mount Gay Rum for breaking a record time?
The first recorded race around Barbados was on 1st January 1936 when 5 Schooners competed for the prize of ten pounds sterling. The race was won by the Schooner Sea Fox.
The winning time was 10 hours and 20 minutes. Since then there have been various races and attempts to break the record for the fastest time to sail around Barbados.
The current records for sailing around Barbados are:
1. Monohull: 5 hours and 20 minutes 30 seconds
Destination Fox Harb’r a 43 metre custom built Dubois monohull yacht.
2. Multihull (Catamaran): 4 hours 40 minutes 33 seconds.
Silver Bullet. 30 Foot Supercat.
The five-day programme starts on January 18th as yachts enter the Inner Basin of the Careenage before the action shifts to The Barbados Cruising Club on Pebbles Beach where all Skipper’s will be weighed and their potential prize in Mount Gay Rum calculated. After the formal Skipper’s briefing, the Cruising Club will throw a welcome party for all our visitors. The Mount Gay Rum will be flowing and Pebbles Beach will come alive with music and dancing.
On Thursday 19th January yachts and their crews will have the opportunity for a practice session. An 18 mile handicapped race designed to be visible along the coast.
Friday 20th January will see all eyes focused on Independence Square as Mount Gay Rum host events in the Regatta Village in advance of race day it’s self.
As dawn breaks on Errol Barrow Day, January 21st, the first yachts will be setting off from the inner basin and making their way to the start line which will lie between the Barbados Cruising Club, and the race committee boat, Destination Fox Harb’r Too, courtesy of Ron Joyce. Starting first will be the smaller slower boats, with the faster boats starting between 9 and 11am.
Sunday 22nd January sees the final events of the programme, the Regatta Dinner followed by the Grand Prize Giving and party hosted at The Beach House, St. James. Will some lucky sailors be taking home their weight in Mount Gay Rum? Or will the existing records stand for yet another year?