Finally left the boat yard and after a practice sail in the bay, arrived at Newport for the next two days before the start. Feels like we are getting there – 7 long days starting at 6am are taking their toll. But not as much as the no booze for 7 days rule – the team arrived at New York Yacht Club for the opening cocktail party – the picture is of the race team with their first round of “Shirley Temples”. The ignominy. Tomorrow loading the freeze dried food and crew gear. Almost there…
We are sailing, and in sunshine as well. After yesterdays rain, grey, blah day, it was nice to sail with blue skies, well at least until the thunderstorms in the afternoon. Got the new A3 up – just a sexy sail! Men, who are not usually interested in fabrics, as their ladies can attest, are suddenly admiring the material and cut of this new engine.
The new halyards were stretched some more and we can start making marks on them for full hoist. Corrado was out on the end of the pole re-tensioning the bobstay, and moments later was up the mast sorting out a reluctant halyard lock. He does get around.
All electronics are now working fine, and boat is clean and empty ready for the food and crew gear to be delivered.
Sunday night is the opening party and dinner at New York Yacht Club – as the crew is all tee-total for the race, will be a subdued evening. Well until we’ve all had a few Pepsi Colas in us. As the dinner is jacket and tie, and almost everyone just has sailing gear and work gear with them, will be interesting how Joe pulls his off. Thrift stores are closed on Sunday so that option is out!
Monday is a rest day, or a training day – not sure which yet. Tuesday is the start. Can almost taste the beer in Cowes….
Today’s work included insulating the new container (spares storage, workbench, etc.). The container will follow us around the world, with Joe threatening to install bunks for the crew to save on housing. Anyway, Pete finished work on the starboard door, and then Joe showed how it should be done on the port door. His talents are clearly wasted.
The campaign has got off to a challenging start – we are having difficulty escaping the boatyard. The usual problems getting a raceboat ready have been dealt with, but the rudder bearing keeps leaking. To fix it requires the boat to be hauled out of the water, and the rudder removed. As the hull is over 12ft in the air, this means ladders, scrissorlifts, jacks, and a copious amount of swearing. Tonight we are back in the air, but feel confident the problem is now sorted – tomorrow will tell. Assuming all that goes well, we’ll start tuning the boat and testing new sails, plus calibrating the navigation instruments. Sorting out 20 days of freeze dried food is also on the task list. The final crew members arrive Thursday after missing out on all the rudder fun this week.
Day 5 and the final day of competition. Lighter breeze first thing had us try the J3 jib, but within 8 minutes of the start it was back to the trusty J4 as the breeze hovered around 20 knots. A biased line had the pin favoured, so we started there on port tack – nice start! Up the first beat, in and out of the cliffs, and rounded the mark, up went the spinnaker. Oops – tackline disconnected itself. Quick fix and we were speeding down to the next mark. A long upwind followed with the crew hiking hard, led by Donald, and we were in good position for the chicane through the islands and another spinnaker run. The tracer line got caught up in the sheets which required a bit of climbing and a knife to sort, then we made the turn back into the breeze. Finally rounded the first mark of the day again, this time the other way, and a fun spinnaker run back to the finish. Phew – 29 hard and wet miles. A very nice lady in a RIB then handed over a bottle of Veuve – classy way to finish the regatta. This should of course be standard.
Results were another third, making up third overall with a 3-2-3-3-3 (good poker hand). It was a well earned podium result, and good fighting it our with Kuka on the water – the class winner.
Boat all packed up for a delivery to St. Thomas to board a freighter for the journey home to Newport. Next up is the Transatlantic Race (Newport to Cowes).
