Last December, Captain Stefan Knowles was sailing Susan Chase V to windward in B-Class off Montagu. When he reached the weather mark, he did not turn. He kept going for about a quarter of a mile past it before he tacked toward the next mark. He laid that mark exactly and won the race.
A few hours later he sailed the same leg in Running Tide, the A-Class boat. This time he tacked much sooner. According to Scuttlebutt Sailing News, the current had slackened between the two races, and he changed his approach to match. He laid the mark again and won again. Bahamian sloops carry no navigational aids, and Scuttlebutt reported that skippers with less experience misjudged the current all day.
That is the key to watching this regatta from the beach. At Montagu, the water moves under the fleet all day, and the skipper who reads the current best tends to win, even over a faster boat. The 2026 Best of the Best Regatta is scheduled for December 3 to 6 at Montagu Foreshore, so Winton and Eastern Road residents have about three weeks to plan their time on the shore.
The Opening-Day Leaders Did Not Hold
The 2025 regatta opened on Thursday, December 4. The Tribune reported early leads for New Legend in A-Class, Lonesome Dove in B-Class, Sassie Sue in C-Class and Miss Agnes in E-Class. The championship was sailed on Sunday, December 7. The final standings published by the Bahamas Information Services are quite different.
| Class | Opening race, Dec. 4, 2025 | Championship podium, Dec. 7, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| A | New Legend, Running Tide, Silent Partner | Running Tide, New Legend, Silent Partner |
| B | Lonesome Dove, Susan Chase V, Ants Nest | New Susan Chase, Ant's Nest, Lonesome Dove |
| C | Sassie Sue, Bul Reg, Sacrifice | Sassie Sue, Whitty K, Sacrifice |
| E | Miss Agnes, Mako, Paps | Miss Agnes, Lady Kayla, Papa |
The B-Class champion appears in the official standings as New Susan Chase and in Scuttlebutt's account as Susan Chase V. Two of the four class leaders lost by Sunday, and the second-place boat changed in every class. Sassie Sue and Miss Agnes led from the first race to the last. In A-Class and B-Class, the boats that won the Thursday opener finished second and third.
Scuttlebutt reported that Knowles won all three classes he entered: Running Tide in A, Susan Chase V in B and Sassie Sue in C. That earned him the nickname "Tripple Crown." Captain Alvington McKenzie took E-Class honors in Miss Agnes, which comes from Exuma. In its opening-day report, The Tribune credited David Knowles with skippering New Legend. Knowles is a common name in Bahamian sailing. The Nassau Guardian describes Drake Knowles, the two-time Bahamas Sunfish junior national champion, as Stefan Knowles's nephew and the grandson of Long Island sailor and boatbuilder Lauren Knowles.
What the Water Off Montagu Is Doing
The course sits on the Nassau Channel, which Scuttlebutt calls "legendary among sailors for its extreme currents." During last year's regatta, the water flowed back and forth all day between two very different areas. To the west, the water is dark blue and thousands of feet deep. To the east, the shallows average only a few feet, and the turquoise water is clear enough to show the bottom.
That flow changes the racing from hour to hour. A weather mark can be laid perfectly in the morning, and the same approach can overshoot it in the afternoon. A boat that seems to be sailing a strange course past a mark may be the one reading the current correctly, as Susan Chase V was. Spectators can follow the same signs:
- Watch where the leaders tack. If the front-runners tack well beyond the mark, the current is pushing hard. If they tack early, it has eased.
- Compare the morning and afternoon heats. In 2025, the same leg called for two different approaches a few hours apart.
- Watch the middle of the fleet. Boats that misjudge the set end up below the mark and have to make an extra tack to recover, and that tack shows up clearly from the beach.
- Weigh the lighter days most. Last year the wind ran 5 to 15 knots. When the wind is that light, the current has a larger effect.
Scuttlebutt described the 2025 conditions as close to perfect. Air temperatures were in the high 70s and the water was warm enough for crews to sail barefoot. Early December off Montagu can be very pleasant to watch.
Four Classes, Four Different Races
All four classes sail Bahamian wooden sloops. Boat size changes how much the crew matters and how much the current costs a boat.
- A-Class, 28 feet. Crews can number up to fifteen. Many of them sit out on the pry boards, which are planks held to the deck with large staples and run out to windward so the crew's weight balances the boat.
- B-Class, 21 feet. These boats carry a great deal of sail for their length. Lonesome Dove displaces about eight thousand pounds and has a 32-foot boom, longer than the boat itself, and a 48-foot mast, twice the boat's length.
- C-Class, 17 feet. Sassie Sue won this class in 2025. Scuttlebutt reports she is named for Knowles's mother in Mangrove Bush, Long Island.
- E-Class, 12 feet. This is the junior class. Last year junior sailors made up most of the E fleet. Some sailed alone, and the youngest and lightest sailed three to a boat.
Sail area explains the most dramatic moment of 2025. Captain Jeff Gail was fighting for the B-Class lead in Lonesome Dove when a strong gust knocked the boat down, and Scuttlebutt wrote that it looked as if she would sink. Two crew members jumped off the pry board, grabbed the gunwale with their fingertips and hung over the side until the boat came upright. She did not lose her position in the race. That kind of seamanship is easy to miss from the far end of the beach but obvious from closer in.
Ages range widely in all four classes. Scuttlebutt counted sailors from pre-teens to captains in their 80s who have sailed since childhood. Juniors sailed on the larger boats as crew members and sometimes as captains.
The 2026 Week on the Foreshore
The Hon. Mario Bowleg, Minister of Youth and Sports, launched the 2026 regatta at a press conference at Montagu Foreshore on October 26. According to the Bahamas Information Services, the people pictured with him were Stafford Armbrister, Ronnesha Smith, Director Kelsie Johnson-Smith, Rev. Philip McPhee, Director Donald Rolle and Dr. Michael Pateman. Racing runs Thursday, December 3, through Sunday, December 6. That follows the same Thursday-to-Sunday pattern as 2025, when racing opened on December 4 and the championship was sailed on December 7.
The event has been growing. Scuttlebutt reported that 94 boats registered in 2025, the most since the first Best of the Best in 2016. Ashore last December, crowds watched on big screens and placed bets on the results.
For anyone deciding which day to attend, the 2025 standings give a practical answer. Thursday shows which boats are fast. Sunday shows which skippers read the current best. In two of the four classes, those were different boats. Running Tide, Susan Chase V, Sassie Sue and Miss Agnes return as last year's champions.
The Fort Above the Finish
Fort Montagu was built in 1741 and stands behind the beach where spectators gather. It has been in the news this fall. At a September event at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, US Ambassador Herschel Walker and Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Leslia Miller-Brice marked a $245,000 US investment to restore the fort. The Tribune reported that the money comes through the United States Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and the Freedom 250 Initiative. The government's release describes the grant as the launch of the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation.
Dr. Michael Pateman, executive chairman of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, said the work will cover the fort's roof and the cannons. "Salt, moisture, and the coastal environment have caused serious corrosion," he told The Tribune. He said the cannons will be treated by electrolytic reduction to remove damaging chlorides and salts, a process he estimated "will probably take about 12 months." Dr. Pateman is also one of the people pictured at the regatta launch on the foreshore below the fort.
The salt and moisture that have corroded the fort's cannons come off the same channel the sloops race on in December. Montagu Bay hosts other racing during the year too. The Ministry of Tourism lists the St. Valentine's Day Massacre Regatta there, with A-Class and E-Class sloops, sculling races and a "Catch Me If You Can" race. For residents of Winton and the rest of the eastern end, the December regatta is the year's largest event on this water and only a short drive away.
If you are thinking about a home on Nassau's eastern end and want to know which waterfront streets have the best view of a December regatta, our team can walk the shoreline with you. Chancellors KW Bahamas is happy to help. Schedule Your Concierge Consultation.
