Abaco, Bahamas

Marsh Harbour Sailing Club

The Marsh Harbour Sailing Club, Abaco, Bahamas RC Laser Fleet #6 actually got its start in Sarasota, Florida when the Kaighins received 4 Lasers as a family Christmas present in 1998. Jim, Mike, Dave, and Lorri Kaighin enjoyed racing together in Sarasota Bay. In 2001, the Key-Stratton-Kaighin families in Marsh Harbour bought 8 boats as an activity that we could all do together as a family, no matter what the age or skill level.

By letting other friends outside the family sail our fleet of boats, a few new members bought boats and our fleet began to grow. As of 2010, there are about 25 boats around Abaco. We have sailed at many different locations depending on the venue and wind direction. Although we don’t have a dedicated location, we can always find a good spot on the water and a little wind. We usually set buoys with a kayak, and sometimes we are lucky enough to have race committee.

We get the best turnout when the winter residents are in town, which is from December thru May. The summer is very hot and people are traveling, so it is difficult to get enough boats together to do some racing. If you happen to be passing thru Abaco, send me an email jimkaighin@batelnet.bs and we’ll throw a race together.

Most of our sailors have some sort of boating experience, whether it be racing or cruising, and some others have no big boat racing experience. This year, we decided to do sort of a “tour” and have received a good response from spectators, and we have added some new sailors to the mix. We hope those spectators will be next year’s sailors.

FLEET MEMBERS
Jim Kaighin, Randy Key, Anders Ljungholm, Dwayne Wallace, Roger Hedge, Loren Hall, Jay Manni, Dave and Duran Lowe, Jeff Gale, David Muloch, Charlie and Shane Cooke, and others around Abaco.

FLEET CAPTAIN
Jim Kaighin