Position: N24 05.978 W076 24.137
We mentioned in the last Khronicle that many of the Black Point locals had gone to Staniel Cay to attend a funeral. It was for a local hero named Rolly Gray (pronounced like “Raleigh”). Mr. Gray was described to us by another cruiser as “sort of the ‘Babe Ruth’ of Bahamas sloop racing”. He and his boats named “Lady Muriel” and “Tida Wave” won the ‘A’ class (the big boats) in the Family Regatta in Georgetown about a million times (for his actual record, see http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/BahamasWeb/VisitingTheBahamas.nsf/Subjects/Regatta+Winners!OpenDocument&Click= ).
He was called “The Grand Master” due to his dominance in the sport, and up until just a few years ago piloted one of the mail boats, also named “The Grand Master” in his honor. He was known as a real gentleman and a loving father. It sounds like he was quite a man – we wish we’d been able to meet him. We’re even considering making our way to Georgetown at the end of April for the Family Island Regatta – we hear from other cruisers who have attended that it’s not to be missed. To learn a bit more about Rolly Gray see http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=131&a=15880.
A fellow named Von (Vaughn?) across from Lorraine’s is building a ‘C’ class sloop (one of the smaller ones) in his side yard. Local lore has it that he built his first one at eighteen, then proceeded to take it to Georgetown and race for a win in his class. He’s now in his fifties and the
one currently under construction is hull number six. We hunted him down yesterday evening (he only works on it for an hour or so some days after work) and talked to him about his boats for a few minutes.He doesn’t use any plans other than some bent pieces of copper tubing that he uses for the general shape of the hull. He can only get small amounts of wood delivered on the mail boat – it’s really expensive – so he has to make do wherever possible with local materials. He’ll hold up a piece of wood - maybe part of a 2x4, maybe part of tree limb or some driftwood, look at it, cut it, smooth and shape it, and add it to the boat, all by eye. The last one he built, “Smashie”, has finished in the top three in its class in Georgetown for the past three years.
One of our cruising friends told us that a few years ago he and his wife watched a crowd of locals help Von decide where to put one nail – a single nail - for something like two hours!! Our friends were standing outside Lorraine’s watching the proceedings (which apparently included a lot of gesturing, arm waving, and “discussion”) when Lorraine stepped outside, looked at the crowd, looked at our friends, shook her head, and on her way back inside said “Too many cooks stirring that stew”.
