Baron Bliss Harbour Regatta planned for Sunday

On Monday, Belizeans will get the day off to commemorate the death of one of the country’s greatest benefactors, Baron Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss. In his will Baron Bliss asked that every year a harbour regatta be held in his memory. The tradition began in 1927 and continues this Sunday, March ninth in the waters off B.T.L. park. According to Baron Bliss history buff Captain Nicholas Sanchez, while the event’s popularity has waned in recent years, the regatta is a day of family fun.

Capt. Nicholas Sanchez, Member, Harbour Regatta Committee
“In our case we have the lighters, the little small sailing sloops and the sailing dories. The sailing doreis are very touchy. If you ever heard the slang, “cranky dory and upstart man noh gree” well these are the dories they must be talking about, because they won’t even stand up on their bottom, they will fall over. As soon as you put them in the water, you gotta hold them up. You put the mast in, you rig them, you put the sail up and everything else and you hold on to them, you have maybe two or three people holding it up for you. You get in, the Helmsman and the sailor and then you have two men, a kindolla man, one on each side and they looking out. You may see the waves coming, but when you see a small ripple on top of the waves, you know there is a gust coming and you prepare for it and you see the man hang right out, hang kindolla?”

“Let the kids come out, see what it’s like. We hear that we will be having a very nice breeze and this is a nice one today. It might be a little too much for the doreys because they are very, very touchy, but for the bigger boats like the lighters and so on, this will just be perfect.”

The Harbour Regatta gets underway at eleven on Sunday. On Monday morning at eight, the celebration moves to the Animal Park where an official ceremony will be held in memory of Baron Bliss.