Coconut Challenge

We were in George Town for their annual Regatta Week.  Lots of activities, from volleyball to poker to kayaking, to my personal favorite, the Coconut Challenge.  

The attire was casual (as if there's anything else), the objective was simple: gather as many coconuts into your dinghy as possible.

                     THE RULES:

•      inflatable dinghys only, motor removed
•      4 persons per dinghy
•      each person must wear a PFD in some way  (although some of the ladies had their own SAFD's- Surgically Attached Foatation Devices)
•      each person must keep 2 appendages in the dinghy at all times
•      the only paddeling devices allowed were swimfins
•      only 2 swimfins per boat



900 coconuts had been gathered and were deployed across the lagoon from the start line.  The competitors were all seated on the beach and at the signal, they sprinted to the dinghys and shoved off. We could tell who among the entrants had done it before as they had their PFD's on their backs, out of the way and they had some massive swimfins to paddle with.  It was a hilarious race of bumper boats with buckets of water being dumped into other boats to sabotage their seaworthiness and people falling into and out of their dinghys, sometimes with a little help.



The race  is on, coconuts are visible between the moored boats.





The official count was taken VERY seriously as there seemed to be a bit of pilferage going on!  After the counting, each contestant chose one coconut and used it for the rest of the Challenge.  There was a ring toss: throwing the coconut through an old bent porthole. Bowling for Kalik bottles: bowling in sand with a non-round object and a toss over the volleyball net: throwing the coconut into different sand rings, with the most points for hitting the smallest ring. Steve and I had a great time watching and plotting strategy and I'm sure if we're here for another Regatta Week, we'll be in the running for Coconut Champs.