About — Anguilla Boat Racing Association

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome to the heart of boat racing passion! Whether you're diving into our riveting origin story, meeting the incredible faces behind the scenes, or exploring our proud achievements, you're in for an exhilarating ride.

The Anguilla Boat Racing Association promotes the national sport of Anguilla through exciting boat races and events, social activities and workshops throughout the year.

We are dedicated to the development of young sailors and novices within Anguilla and to helping them overcome any barriers so they can thrive within this sport that is steeped in history and tradition.

History

A small community of 5,000 former slaves on a tiny island in the North Eastern Caribbean, mold the accidents of history with their struggle for survival and develop a unique brand of boat racing practiced nowhere else on earth.

Every year the villages of Anguilla join together in celebration of the competitive sport of boat racing. This is no gentleman’s sport. The stakes are high and often dangerous. Although this fierce competition courses through the blood of every Anguillian native, many do not know where or how this story began.

A story unknown by the outside world and only passed down to Anguillians as folklore, tales of blood, salt, struggle, and survival begin when this abandoned colony of slaves were faced with death on a deserted island. See no sure future, the islanders took to the sea.

They survived only by inventions of their own creative means and eventually became masters of the ocean. They watched the water and the wind and intuitively understood how the sea would move against the hull of the handcrafted ships and how the wind would dance with their custom fashioned sails.

They forged into the future creating the heritage and culture known today as Anguilla.

- David Carty

To learn more about the fascinating history of boat racing in Anguilla and the triumph of this island of overcomers, watch Nuttin Bafflin, a documentary by renowned historian and shipbuilder, David Carty.