Regatta Winners - RTIA 2002
By Alice Bain - The Abaconian - 15 July 2002

The 27th annual Regatta Time In Abaco concluded with much fanfare on July 11. Fifty-six boats competed this year in six classes, sailing in the five different races held on Abaco Sound between Green Turtle Cay and Hope Town. Jeff Gale's boat Abbey Normal placed third overall in the RTIA class this year with wins in the Guana and Hope Town races overcoming a handicap from a bad placing in the Green Turtle Cay race. Overall RTIA class winner was Five Speed, a 38-foot Beneteau crewed from Melbourne, Florida. Lachlan Smith skippered Five Speed to victory this year, aided by his brother Warrick who acted as tactician.

Five Speed has competed in the Regatta for the past four years and was moved up to the RTIA class two years ago. "We did well in this flukey wind we had this year; in the heavy air we made good use of our heavy crew." said Warrick, pointing to a very large member of their crew-a man about 6 feet 4 inches tall with a huge butterfly tattooed on his chest. Indeed, Five Speed's two wins came on the days with the heaviest air, the Man-O-War and Hope Town races.

Local Ron Pagliaro sailed on both the Abaco Rage and Abbey Normal and commented on the quality of the air. "In general the racing was good. We had two heavy air days and three light air days, and that made for good competition. The boats got to test their limits in different conditions, and that's nice to have in a regatta." The Rage placed fifth overall in the PHRF class, winning a second in the Marsh Harbour race the day that Ron skippered her.

Overall PHRF class winner was another Bahamian boat, the 42 foot Beneteau Further Folly owned and skippered by Nassuvian Oliver Liddell. Further Folly carried first place in every race except the Marsh Harbour where she was handicapped by the extremely light air. Matt Spencer, a Bahamian who worked the foredeck on Further Folly said of the regatta, "As usual it was a lot of fun, with good serious racing in between!"

"It's about time that some Bahamian boats showed well in the Abaco regatta." Mark Wood, the tactician on Further Folly commented, "Fourth time is the charm. Finally, Ollie put it all together-this is a well-deserved win."

The "Mother Tub" classes were hard fought. Sea Turtle and Sea Urchin dominated the "D" and "E" classes respectively-both boats garnered only five points each, indicating a win in every race. The "C" class was won by Tom Bell's boat Whisper. Three F-31 trimarans divided the spoils in the Multihull class, with Adios placing first, Training Wheels placing second, and Lucky Star placing third overall.