|
Antigua Sailing Week is proving to be a fantastic event with great racing and an unforgettable crew. Frits brought along an eclectic group of people, ranging from fellow XOD (small classic wooden boats) sailors, friends from work, friends, family and friends of friends. All guys, so I figure as the token girl once again. The variety does not stop with how all the crew are connected to each other, but also in age: a few late twenties, some thirty-somethings, some fourty-ishers and the 60+ brigade! The last one consists of 3 63/64 year olds (including Frits himself) and Phil who is 72, but fit as a spring chicken (and legs just like it!)
It all started with a great sail to Guadeloupe on Wednesday, with the idea being to do some sail training and relaxing on Thursday however, once ashore the crew found this lovely little place with a private pool and soon all talks were of relaxing rather than training!
Taking that into account, we didn’t do bad at all on the Guadeloupe to Antigua race last Friday, as we came 7th in class! Guadeloupe remains cherished from now on by all on board, a friendly, beautiful place that has given us all some unforgettable memories.
Back in Antigua Mike joined us for the regatta racing and we could do with the extra hands! A short race on Saturday saw us coming in 6th which we were well pleased with as gybing the asym (our asymmetrical spinnaker) wasn’t quite going to plan yet. We had great hopes for the Sunday but did not quite improve as much as we hoped on our race to Dickenson Bay and we had to content with 9th but it was better than expected (we’re 13 in our class). Getting ashore we had some of our crew who are ‘in the back of the boat’ getting wetter than they had gotten on the boat during racing! Needless to say, this wasn’t the case for the fearless foredeck crew, it was worth it though as we had good partying with local bands, local lobster and ribs, Bill showing off the latest island fashion and Frits dancing on the roof!
The race back was simply magic. Starting on the pin end on a port tack was a bit of a ballsy move and Boogie proved he has them!! Passing the line right on the gun we sailed across the whole of the fleet who had all started on starboard at the committee boat end of the line! Go Star Chaser Go! One of the best starts I have ever experienced on the bow! The rest of the race back to Falmouth was just a prolongation of this, great down wind spinnaker work, which all went smoothly, short inshore tacking back along the south coast. It all helped to get us a good 4th place, but even more satisfyingly, we beat the other Swan 51!
Today was traditionally a lay day but there was not much rest to be had! With Frits ill, Brian back in the UK, 2 of our ‘youngsters’ giving in to the hangover and Dom missing in action, we started with 5 crew down and to make things worse, Michael punched down Nigel in the forecastle (he only did it because he thought it was Andy)! Nature threw in lots of wind and a good old fashioned big Antiguan swell to top everything off. Star Chaser loved it though and despite it not being our best sailing, we finished this afternoon a respectable 4th again, meaning we stand 6th overall!
Everybody is having a great time between the racing, the partying and the getting to know each other and the boat a bit better. It’s fantastic to have such eager crew on board especially as it’s clear they are loving it.and who wouldn’t! Great boat, great crew, sunshine all around, blue skies, blue seas, lots of good food, partying and dancing! Beats a day in the office anytime!
|
