It has been a busy couple of days with duty free refuelling on Saturday followed by the Prizegiving for Leg 1 on Sunday. With a heavy squall line coming across the island it made for a very wet and windy day but cleared up nicely going into the evening and crews descended on the Dinghy Club balcony which has the best views of the harbour. The evening kicked off with a rum tasting hosted by Gosling's rum, in the upstairs bar at the Club. Kanhai and Nick gave crews the chance to taste four different rums including the Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum which is aged for up to 16 years and certainly a premium rum. It's not just the knowledge of the rum but the history of Bermuda and the Gosling's family arriving here in 1806 that makes for an educational and entertaining hour.
A packed dining hall was served a traditional fish fry supper by Brenda and her team and they did a fantastic job to serve everyone so quickly and with tasty fish caught the night before and filleted on the docks at the Club earlier that morning. As desserts were served the prizegiving began and the biggest cheer was for our distinguished guest the Honorable Mayor of St. George's Town Quinell Francis. We were also joined by Pat Fairn from the Bermuda Tourism Authority and Officer Harrington from HM Customs. Fun prizes were awarded for the best pirates, best blog and the Sol Petroleum Customer Appreciation Award - given to the boat that recorded the most number of engine hours!
All of the ARC USA boats were presented with an engraved whisky tumbler, and Ken from Kristy Sue was presented the signed rally flag in recognition of his continued participation in the ARC rallies with this his 9th rally. The awards were presented for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class and the winner of Class A, GarliX, was presented with the Brian Oatley Award - a perpetual award that will be engraved with their boat name and remain at the club in memory of the former Commodore and friend to many at the Dinghy Club.
All of the results can be seen here