Thousands gathered at Clifton’s Jaws Beach to Celebrate the country’s 40th Independence!!

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Bahamians want Prime Minister Christie to keep Clifton Bay under state control for locals to enjoy – MESSAGE WAS CLEAR TO CHRISTIE – NO CLIFTON BAY FOR BNT OR BACON COALITION!!!

Regatta sponsor Peter NyGard and his team on the Asue Draw Thunderbird that included Colin Cartwright from Long Island pose for a picture after defeating ‘King’ Eric Gibson at the Unca John in their dual challenge C-Class race at the first Independence Regatta at Jaws Beach in Clifton Bay on July 10th. (Photo: Archie Cambridge)

Nygard victorious over King Eric

Nassau, Bahamas — After Independence celebrations thousands at Clifton surrounding Jaws Beach in a loud voice warned the government not to give away Clifton Bay to anyone! NOT THE BNT NOR LOUIS BACON!

Bahamians celebrated the first Independence Regatta held at Jaws Beach in Clifton Bay was a tremendous success on Independence Wednesday July 10th 2013 as The Bahamas celebrated 40 years as a sovereign nation.

Even though the regatta was planned on relatively short notice there were hundreds of Bahamians including entire families that flocked to the historic beach for swimming, eating, drinking, socializing and to watch the C-Class sloop sailing showdown in the beautiful harbour that can rival Elizabeth Harbour is George Town, Exuma.

There were at least 12 sloops entered in the main three race series, but in the end it was Crazy Partner skippered by Lundy Robinson winning the title holding off the other sloops that included Jungless, Sands Beer Sweet Island Gal, Asue Draw Thunderbird, Melba B, Lady Eunice, Lady Ruthnell, Unca John and the Whitty K skippered by Stefan Knowles that won the first race before Crazy Partner came storming back to win the next two races.

In the special challenge race, regatta sponsor Peter Nygard on the Asue Draw Thunderbird blew away King Eric who was on the Unca John C-Class sloop.

At the starting line that was about a mile off shore just off famous NyGard Cay, once the starting gun sounded and the sails were hoisted  the two veteran skippers headed in a different directions with Nygard heading south west and Gibson heading south south-south east towards the buoy that was east of them.

At the first turn on the one and a half lap race NyGard reached the buoy approximately five minutes ahead of Gibson who was struggling to maintain speed despite the brisk winds.

At that point it was clear who the winner would be, but fans of ‘King’ Eric was hoping he would make up some distance and make the race a little closer, but that did not happen and NyGard won by more than 15 minutes.

NyGard talked about the spanking he put on King Eric.  He said it was a lot of fun and despite wining handily he has a lot of respect for ‘King’ Eric and that at the end of the day “King Eric is still the king.”
“I think if you ask ‘King’ what happened he would blame it on his crew,” he joked.

Continuing NyGard said, “The boat just felt great.  It makes me want to get my own boat and get back into sailing again.”

“Sailing is such a great sport and I think it must be declared the National sport of The Bahamas.  It is a sport that would allow the people of The Bahamas to enjoy the natural beauty of the land especially these beautiful waters like we have here at Jaws Beach.”

Hardly ever at a loss for words, Gibson tried to put the loss into perspective saying, “Well I let him have that one.  I was setting him up because I really want to beat him in Acklins.”

‘King’ Eric also noted that the sloop that he chose was not trimmed properly and that is what caused him to lose distance in the race.

The Independence Regatta is expected to become an annual event. Next Year they plan to introduce the B and A Class to the regatta.