Figawi 2015!
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the misty, humid, cloudy island of Nantucket! Great to be with you once again on a late Thursday morning, this 28th day of May, 2015. Sorry I haven’t ‘written’ sooner, but I was stuck on the island of Nantucket all week end, surviving the 44th Annual “Figawi Race Weekend” and it has taken all of this ‘time’ to develop the ‘dang ‘film’…
The now famous sailboat race from Hyannis to Nantucket is now considered the top flight sail boat race on the east coast and is well known both nationally and internationally. Truly the kick off to the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer season. 3000 sailors and visitors from several states compete in 240 plus boats (including 30 power boats). Early Saturday morning, skippers gather their crews and ready themselves and their vessels on Lewis Bay right off the Hyannis Yacht Club. The first boat officially begins at 10 a.m. off the Hyannis Port Jetty, but before it does, all of those vessels must head out of Lewis Bay, pass by Kalmus Beach (please note images below deck), and gather off Hyannis Port (as seen above deck). Then, 200 plus sailboats in 13 divisions cross Nantucket Sound, in various courses, to be the first one to reach Nantucket. Depending on the various conditions, the theory of the Pursuit Race format is that all competitors should reach Nantucket MO(A) at about the same time. They finish at the entrance of Nantucket Harbor and parade it into the Nantucket Boat Basin.
If you plan to witness this exciting nautical event–a must if you ever in ‘this neck of the wood–the best place to SEA the finish of the race is on the beach at Brandt Point Lighthouse on Nantucket Island itself. And that way, aftah, come on down and party with the good folks at Figawi who put on a big “Competitors Party” on New Whale Street, stalked to the gills with plenty of Mt. Gay Rum, Cisco’s (local) Brewery beer, Samuel Adams, Boissett Family Estates (wine), Jim Beam and of course, our friendly Coca-Cola. You go ahead and open up that smile!
May you have a pleasant day wherever this ‘message in a bottle’ is reaching you, and please consider a visit to our little sand bar created 11,500 years ago by the “Last Great Ice Age”, birthing magical places like the ‘far away island’ of Nantucket; rich in both history, natural beauty, and amazing old school architecture from the days of ‘yore–losing oneself in a land long on fable, lore and legend.
PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
