By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH sailing now officially declared the national sport of The Bahamas, the hype has intensified as the skippers and their crew get their boats ready to compete in the sixth Best of the Best Sloop Sailing Regatta in Montagu Bay this weekend.

The event is expected to feature more than 80 boats competing in classes A, B, C and D as well as a junior segment and according to Clyde Rolle, one of the members of the organising committee, they anticipate that the competition will be extremely fierce.

Boats from Long Island, Exuma, Acklins, Ragged Island, Cat Island and Mayaguana will participate in the four classes when the

competition gets started on Thursday and wraps up on Sunday.

However, Rolle said a lot of excitement will be brewing during the Skippers party 7pm Tuesday at Government House.

“This is definitely the biggest and the best sailing event in the country,” Rolle said. “All of the top boats will be competing, except the Tida Wave and Lady Muriel, who might be competing because they were under repairs.

“We have been looking forward to this event all year and now it’s here. The skippers and the sailors have been preparing themselves and so we anticipate that we will have some very keen competition on the waters in Montagu Bay.”

For those who are interested, Rolle said there will be all sorts of entertainment onshore for both the adults and the children and vendors have been preparing a number of scrumptious Bahamian meals from all of the Family Islands to satisfy a hungry person’s taste buds. The event will be livestreamed once again and large televisions are expected to be displayed on the site for persons to follow the action on the water.

After years of deliberation, the Bahamas Government finally announced in April that sailing is now the official sport of the country, replacing cricket, which was on the books for a number of years.