Gunaxin Takes On The Captain’s Island

October 18th, 2011

Captain Morgan's Ship, Satisfaction, off the coast of his Island

Teams from 13 different countries won their way onto The Captain’s Island in the Caribbean last week to compete for a share of Captain Morgan‘s bounty ($15,000). We were on-hand for the events and competed right alongside our new mates from around the world.

Captain Morgan, Adriaan - BroBible, Dave - Gunaxin, Neal - COED Magazine

Gunaxin teamed up with BroBible and COED Magazine to take on The Captain’s Island in the three-day challenge. Team America (our Blogger triumvirate) was invited to compete and document the event.

Captain Morgan and his Morganettes pose for a welcome photo with the Competitors

Three-person teams were flown in from around the globe, with the 42 competitors meeting up at Young Island, St Vincent in the Caribbean. The contest included five challenges, to which the winning team received one of the Captain’s chests, one of which held the Captain’s Bounty. The game was on.

The bounty is contained within one of these chests.

Challenge 1 – Leadership

Team Canada competes in the Leadership Challenge

Teams competed in a three-part beach assault course. Refereed by the wonderfully commanding Morganettes, the teams navigated to course in a race against the clock. The USA team “Land Sharks” stepped up for the initial win and threw down the gauntlet.

Team USA Wins the Leadership Challenge

Challenge 2 – Determination

Dave from Gunaxin (far right) Competes in the Determination Challenge

In an excruciating contest, yours truly competed in the final round against six other contestants, to see who could hold the Captain’s pose the longest. In what turned into a game of attrition, young Johnny from the Czech Republic beat out Leila from England at the 42 minute mark, a new world record. Sadly I only lasted 10 minutes.

Czech Republic Takes the Second Chest, Determination

Challenge 3 – Clever Thinking

At the completion of an early morning puzzle.

After a late night partaking of the Captain’s finest, the Captain and his Morganettes played a cruel joke with a 5:15am wake up call to test everyone’s abilities to clear the fog and focus on the challenge at hand. Each team had to assemble 16 pieces into one of the letters of “Captain’s Island”. Team America, your blogger superstars, seized the day and were first to piece together their letter. However, as we were there as honorary competitors, the contest continued and the mates from the Czech Republic took their second challenge

Czech Republic Wins their Second Chest.

Challenge 4 – Bravado

The Crew Sets Sail

After a morning trip on the Captain’s Ship, Satisfaction, and swimming at a black sand beach with the Morganettes, it was time to get back to the competition.The Bravado Challenge began with a leap from Satisfaction, before swimming to find an underwater key which unlocked a padlock the teams had to locate in a tank filled with unspeakably slimy things. From there the teams raced to one of the Captain’s chests to attach the padlocks. The Costa Rican team hit the challenge hard and beat out the other teams with an effort that had one of them falling out after striking the Captain’s pose at the conclusion of the challenge. Dedication.

Mena Suvari and Captain Morgan help the American crews find the hidden padlock

Challenge 5 – Camaraderie

The Captain Inspects the Czech Raft

In a two-part challenge on day three, teams had an hour and a half to assemble (mostly) seaworthy vessels with 3 fifty gallon drums and four pieces of bamboo. Thankfully the Captain decided to forgo the torture of an early morning wake up. Even better, Actress Mena Survari joined the Captain and the Morganettes in supervising. Once building time was up, the race was on to complete a course with all three members on the raft and return to the beach with their vessel still intact. In what turned out to be more of a marathon than a sprint, the “Land Sharks” from the good old USA picked up another challenge followed closely by the Czech’s. Miss Survari must have inspired them both.

Putting the Finishing Touches on our Raft

As a storm rolled in during the award ceremony the Captain and Mena gave the team’s the option to open their own chests (one of which contained the bounty) or to share the bounty equally. After some consideration the teams decided to share the bounty and the Captain rewarded them by doubling the prize:

The Winning Teams Celebrate the Shared Bounty

Captain Morgan commented: “Wow, what an incredible three days on my Island. I knew competition from the 13 countries taking part was going to be fierce but I was amazed by the shows of camaraderie throughout. There was a lot at stake – a $15,000 bounty should not be taken lightly – but to see those guys from Czech Republic, USA and Costa Rica decide to share the winnings was awesome. It made me proud and I’d invite them to join my crew any day.”

With the contest done, it was time to celebrate with the Captain, Mena, the Morganettes and some of the best mates around.