First day of the regatta – at the boat 3 hours before the start to finish a couple of small projects, and head out to the racecourse with plenty of time to test a couple of the legs and confirm the sail selections.
We were the third class to start and headed out on our 29 mile race round a variety of islands and rocks. Soon we were getting water across the deck as we bucked the choppy waves. Up went the chute and down the course we sped. Gybe followed gybe, and after an hour and a half we rounded the furthest island and started to thread our way back to Gustavia. The scenery has a similarity with Sardinia – very pretty.
The final leg to the finish was under chute at 20 knots – spray everywhere. After the finish, back to the dock and the regatta champagne and rum bar – all good. Third place for the day – all good, though second was in sight – never satisfied I guess. Now 15 sailors heading to the main house for the debrief followed by refreshments and dinner.
Two days of offloading equipment and spares, ticking off boat jobs, and packing race sails, and we are ready to go yachting as the Australians would say. Tomorrow is a full day of practice with the entire crew, who have finally all arrived. Then race 1 on Monday.
We were expecting a tough race as many of us had done this one before six years ago. A weeks work for the advance party got the boat ready for some serious offshore miles, and also worked through the the long list of upgrades to the boat. As each day passed, more and more crew arrived (despite storms to the north delaying flights), and we finally had the full roster. A last day of practice and we were ready for the off.
Race day and we headed out to the start with the shore team up at Shirley Heights. Class 0 (the biggest/fastest race boats) started 4th, and we fought our way to the boat end of the line. Just the brand new “Belle Mente” to windward and we were off – good start. Being a “small” boat in the big boat class meant we were soon overtaken and looking for lanes of clear breeze as we beat round the south side of Antigua, pounding into the big seas. Then up with the big reaching sails and up went the speed. A turn at Barbuda saw the laucnh of the first spinnaker – perfect set within feet of the turning mark, bang it filled with breeze, and uh oh, split in half. Down came the remnants and up with the next contender, which took us down to Nevis. Up past Nevis, and as the sun set, St. Kitts, then on to Saba rock. All crew now on deck for the four “hours of power” beat to and round St. Barths. Some crew now asleep on the rail as the exhaustion set in. Up went the spinnaker again and our first big problem – a sheet had wrapped round a stanchion and we had damage to sort out. The boat was downspeed for the next 1 1/2 hours as repairs were made, then back to racing round St. Maarten, and beating back to St. Barths. By now all islands were looking the same, and crew were desperately needing to catch up on rest. Fortunately we now had a 90 mile run to Guadeloupe so crew headed for bunks in their off watch for well needed sleep. Rounding Guadeloupe is one of the key challenges in the race – the mountains create a huge wind shadow, and picking our way through this was fraught, tricky, and interminable. But finally through and just had to go up the back side of Guadeloupe now. Bang! First big wave hit, followed by another, and all its friends for the next 9 hours. Finally we round the top and can put up reaching sails and relax for a bit. Just Barbuda and Redondo to go now. We turned at Redondo after sunset, though with a full moon, and had 9 hours of pounding upwind to go, before finally! finishing back where we started. Boat tidied, put back in the berth, and crew ashore as the sun came up.
Back to the villas for showers, breakfast, and a soft fluffy bed. Relief. Crew emerged in the afternoon looking like walking wounded, but were soon back at the boat cleaning, washing, and fixing. All the junk food in town was quickly consumed, followed by Carib beers and the odd rum or several.
Prize-giving party last night was an opportunity to retell the war stories, and decompress from an intense race. Crew started heading home, and getting ready for the next one…
Results:
IRC Overall – 14th (52)
IRC Class 0 – 8th (19)
CSA Overall – 7th (31)
CSA Class 1 – 4th (15)
That was the welcome we received from the wonderful shore team as we docked back in Antigua, after an epic blast around the islands. What was I thinking about taking a spare shirt? No time and certainly no stability to change, so go off the boat as I got on, thermal underwear and all. A shower and clean clothes never felt so good.
All back safe and sound, well no less sound than when we set off. Bruised, battered, stiff, sore – all the symptoms of flat out pounding through the waves, and blasting downwind whilst hanging on – this boat is something else.
More details later as my fingers recover enough to type, plus I need to fill my body with junk food!
PHOTO – 2019 RORC Caribbean 600 RORC/Tim Wright
One of the many interesting tasks in race prep is sorting out the dehydrated food – 4 meals a day for 15 hard working sailors. As this involves a spreadsheet for calculations of calories, weights and volumes, Pete was entrusted to sort his out. If the calculations are wrong, there’ll be 14 hungry sailors looking for someone to blame. At least Pete can hide on he foredeck as no one wants to go up there…
