Mount Gay Barbados Regatta 2014 edition

First held in 1936, the Barbados Mount Gay Regatta is one of the premier events in the Caribbean sailing calendar, and is held each January 21, to honour of one of the Barbados Cruising Club’s founder members, The Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow Barrow, first Prime Minister of Barbados. 

 

Jan 21 is also a public holiday in Barbados, “Errol Barrow Day”.

 

Several days of offshore class racing end with the round the island race, and first across the line in 2014 was Rabbit Allen in “Stiletto”, racing solo.

 

 

As expected, the multi-hull category was won by “Silver Bullet”.

 

The monohull record was broken in 2014 by "Monster Project" with a new time of 4 hours, 42 minutes and 20 seconds.

 

 

The famed Mount Gay hat is treasured by participants, and can be found trading on online auction sites for several hundred dollars.

 

In the old days, the slowest boat was awarded a prize of a barrel of Mount Gay Rum. That prize was discontinued after two boats remained at sea for 2 days, each one trying to be the last to finish!