April Sailing Fools

The full-throttle sailing times keep on coming in the Caribbean for locals and visitors alike, including many sailors from Northern California and elsewhere on the West Coast. First there was the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, then the St. Barth Bucket, then the St. Thomas Rolex, then the BVI Spring Regatta, and today we’re into the third of four days of racing in the Voiles de St. Barth. And for anyone who can survive this week, the action moves down to Antigua for the Classic Regatta and Antigua Sailing Week. Only the strong survive, for if the racing doesn’t get you, the partying certainly will.

And nowhere do they have regatta parties like at St. Barth. In addition to the nightly live music bashes on the quay, two nights ago there was a blowout on Shell Beach for the 600 crew and their best friends, and yesterday afternoon there were big parties at Nikki Beach, La Plage, the Ponderosa, and who knows where else. And that was before last night’s scheduled activities. With a full moon tonight after the conclusion of the around-the-island race, it’s unlikely anything but the exhaustion of participants will stop it. In truth, it’s just too much, even for the kids.

This is just the third year of the Voiles, and they are already talking about having to limit entries. The first year there were something like 28 boats, last year there were 45, and this year there are nearly 70. Luc and Toto, the two St. Barth locals who now put on the event, told us straight out they no longer want charter boats, which make up much of the Heineken fleet. The Voiles organizers see their core as serious racers with serious racing boats. But the organizers do their part, with everything from on-the-water juries, to daily four-color glossy event reviews and updates, to social activities like there is no tomorrow, to the beautiful and safe island itself. Just about every participant — owner and crew — is an ambassador for next year’s event.

One of the most interesting entries is Matt and Pam Brook’s now San Francisco-based S&S designed 52-ft Dorade, which was built in 1929. A native of Northern California, Matt learned to sail at summer camp in Monterey, then bought the Northstar 500 Quarter Pounder. But the birth of triplets took him out of sailing. Twenty years later, after successes in real estate, first ascents in California and Europe, and a ‘wrong way’ aviation circumnavigation record, Brooks and his wife have jumped back into sailing with Dorade, a boat with a peerless pedigree. Having won their class in the Heineken and taken the first two races of the Voiles, their next event will be the Newport to Bermuda Race, followed by the TransPac in ’13. But that’s not all. In ’15, they’ll be doing the TransAtlantic Race and the Fastnet Race. In other words, they’ll be redoing the great races that this great yacht did nearly 80 years ago — in a long boat with just 10 feet of beam. A St. Francis YC member for many years, Matt says he hopes to have St. Francis members as crew for the TransPac run.

Another sailor who has made a big move up after racing a small boat on San Francisco Bay is Peter Cunningham. Peter used to race a modest J/29 on the Bay some 15 years ago before moving to the Cayman Islands and selling his business. He’s now campaigning the TP52 Powerplay with considerable success, and having a blast doing it. "It just doesn’t get any better than this!" he exulted during a Nikki Beach lunch yesterday afternoon. In addition to the racing, he was referring to the countless people dancing on the tables, the models putting on a fashion show, and a woman in a Wonder Woman outfit dinghying to the beach with a big bottle of champagne for him. Having raced Powerplay in the Northeast last summer and in the St. Francis Big Boat Series last fall, Cunningham, Powerplay and crew are headed for racing adventures around the Med this summer.

Of course, crew are important to such efforts, crew such as Jeff Madrigali of Whidbey Island, Washington. A professional sailor, sailing coach, sail salesman and golf fanatic, Madro spent the first 30 years of his life honing his sailing skills on San Francisico Bay. He’s still a member of the San Francisco YC and still has many friends in the area. "I’m never happy," Madro jokingly complained to us. "After a couple of days of racing, I can’t wait to get home. But after being home for a couple of days, I can’t wait to head off on another regatta." Such is the life of a professional sailor.

Another former Bay sailor on hand is Dee Smith, who moved to Annapolis about 15 years ago and has been involved at the highest levels of racing boats ever since. Dee had a big smile on his face. Then there is Bill Erkelens, who for years worked for Larry Ellison and Larry’s America’s Cup efforts. Erkelens told us that this time around he’s setting up the America’s Cup base for Artemis, and that the base will be in . . . Alameda at the old seaplane lagoon and base. He told us a big part of locating the base in Alameda is that the housing for the 100 team members will be significantly less of a problem than in San Francisco. The winner of yesterday’s SUP race at Nikki Beach was Shannon Falcone, the great big son of Falmouth (Antigua) Marina owner and Carlo Falcone. A member of the Oracle team, Shannon is so big that he’s too big to race on the AC45 cats. But just yesterday he got a call from the Puma entry in the Volvo Around the World Race, saying that he may be needed. Indeed, you can’t turn around without bumping into somebody at the highest levels of international sailing.

The first two editions of the Voiles featured 20 to 25-knot winds and extremely exciting sailing. Alas, the first two races of this year’s Voiles have seen winds of mostly less than 10 knots. The fleet is hoping for 12 to 15 today and 15+ for the last race.