The 33rd BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing
Festival, presented by Nanny Cay Marina, ended with a whimper
instead of a bang last Sunday. Amazingly, for the third year
in a row, the third and last day of the regatta was canceled
due to no wind. The previous two days of racing were pretty light,
too – but it was sunny and warm, and easily beat being in New
England, the Great Lakes, or even California at this time of
year.
Early morning at the Bitter End YC, one of our favorite places
in the world.
132 boats sailed in the Regatta, with about
60 participating in the just-for-grins Sailing Festival earlier
in the week. Roy Disney’s still-teething maxZ86 Pyewacket,
the boat we were fortunate enough to be riding on, won the low-key
Festival, but lost to the nimbler R/P 75 Titan XII in
the actual Regatta. Full results, pictures and Alastair Abrehart’s
entertaining and informative reports can be found at www.bvispringregatta.org.
Tom Hill’s year-old R/P 75 Titan XII won Class A, just
as it did in
the preceding weekend’s International Rolex Regatta at St. Thomas.
Rosebud, Roger and Isobel Sturgeon’s R/P-designed, Santa
Cruz-based TP-52, hosed Class B.
We had one of the best weeks of our life
– sailing aboard Pyewacket with some of the best (and
nicest) pro sailors on the planet; staying at the wonderful Bitter
End YC; taking side excursions to the ‘drowned’ island of Anegada,
the infamous Willie T’s and elsewhere; and just hanging out with
friends, both old and new. Look for a feature report on our BVI
adventure in the next issue of Latitude
38.
“Trust me, I’m a doctor.”
Pyewacket bowman Ricky Brent and girlfriend Megan rehydrated
the troops after a hot day of racing.
The Pyewacket crew, led by past collegiate All-Americans
Ben Mitchell and Bill Hardesty, had no trouble winning the inaugural
Nation’s Cup. Photos Latitude/Rob
134 of North America’s Best Young Sailors
Just Got Better
April 7 – Long Beach
Their bodies weary and their heads spinning,
a record enrollment of 134 of the best young sailors in North
America wound up four days of intense instruction with a round
of real racing at the California International Sailing Association’s
annual advanced racing clinic Tuesday. An elite staff of coaches
delivered a cram course on rigging, sail trim, tactics and other
fine points that win races, as well as the personal demands of
an Olympic campaign.
Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted the event on San Pedro Bay
Class winners were young even for this
group, ranging from 14 to 16. The students came from 14 states
and British Columbia. Nearly a third were girls.
Instructors were Andrew Lewis, Brett Davis
and Nick Adamson, Laser; Carisa Harris-Adamson, Adam Deermount,
Rich Feeny and Anthony Kotoun, Laser Radial; Mikee Anderson,
Peter Alarie, Rob Hallawell, Jamie Malm and Rob Dean, Club 420;
Brian Doyle and Zach Leonard, International 420; Jay Kehoe and
Billy Uniack, CFJ, and Dalton Bergan and Ted White, 29er. Two-time
Olympic medalist Charlie McKee and former world Aussie 18 and
505 champion Howie Hamlin were evening speakers.
Coach Brett Davis stays on top of the Laser class. Photos Rich Roberts
There is a lot of change in the air here
in St. Barth. It’s noticeably warmer, dryer, and more humid than
even a month before. There is less rain, so the island’s hills
that were so green back in early December are now covered with
brown vegetation. The winds are generally lighter and the seas
calmer, making for perhaps the most ideal sailing conditions
of the year. The calmer conditions mean the already clear water
is even more transparent than before. You can’t believe how beautiful
the color of the water is beneath Profligate here on the
hook off Gustavia.
The view of Profligate as seen the from sand path down
to Grand Saline.
Profligate at Baie St. Jean, another favorite.
For all intents and purposes, the end of
April marks the end of the main sailing season in the Caribbean,
and Antigua will be the center for the last blasts. Next week
the island will host the Megayacht Regatta, followed by the Classic
Regatta, and topped off by Antigua Sailing Week. All these events
are expected to be the biggest in years, with perhaps the best
quality boats ever.
As such, many of the good friends we’ve
made over the season, and many of the great yachts, have moved
down to Antigua. A few have already taken off to the Med or the
East Coast. All the talk around the tables at Le Select is who
is going where on what boat, which crews are jumping ship, who
is having a new boat built – it’s all about the changes. Some
of them are sad. Relationships have formed between crews on two
different boats, and now their boats are headed in different
directions. “I really love her, but I don’t think we’ll
get to see each other for at least three months, and even more
if I can’t get a work visa for the States.”
There’s lots of change aboard Profligate,
too. Friday will essentially be the last day of the Wanderer’s
winter season in the Caribbean. It’s true that he’ll be flying
back to Antigua after giving seminars on the Baja Ha-Ha and comparing
Mexico with the Caribbean at Pacific SAIL EXPO in Oakland, but
it will only be to do one Antigua Sailing Week race aboard the
90-ft Leopard of London, before taking off on Profligate
with a big crew for the 1,100-mile trip to the San Blas Islands
and the Panama Canal. Doña de Mallorca will similarly
be flying back for Sail Expo only. After reaching Panama, she
and several others will be bringing the big cat back to San Francisco.
Chris Bridge on the Outremer 55 Cheval did it from Panama
to San Diego in 20 days, and de Mallorca is hoping for a similar
time.
It’s been a tremendously satisfying winter
for both the Wanderer, who was lucky to spend about half the
season here, and de Mallorca, who has spent the entire season
here. Number one, of course, has been the friendships that have
been made with a truly international cast of boat and land people.
For 27 years when on his boats, the Wanderer has basically darted
from one cruising destination to the next. This winter was different,
for other than trips to Antigua, Anguilla, St. Martin, Nevis,
St. Kitts, and Saba, Profligate has been based in St.
Barth. More or less staying put has been a great change. It’s
helped, of course, by the fact that just about every great yacht
in the world, and many of the great sailors, have stopped by
the island one or more time.
This living close to nature business has
been fabulous. Sure, there have been a couple of rough nights
when we’ve had to stand anchor watch, and some rough sails, but
all in all it’s been fabulous. Yesterday we circumnavigated the
island for our eighth time of the season, and now feel quite
familiar with the wind patterns, the currents, the rocks and
the reefs. Our goal is 10 circumnavigations, so we intend to
go around again today and on Friday. Lucky us! Another thing
that’s put us closer to nature has been swimming, boogie boarding
and snorkeling. This morning we woke up, threw on a suit, dinghied
150 feet over to a sensational reef, and saw half the fish pictured
on a laminated card of Caribbean reef fish. The water was clear
and 83 degrees. The other day we caught about 100 waves with
our boogie board. And the scenery – the blue water, the white
sand, the jagged hills, the topless girls – was lovely.
The view of Grand Saline Beach, our favorite for boogieboarding,
from the galley of Profligate.
Doña de Mallorca, getting in a little exercise. Despite
it being the tropics, most days she runs for a mile and also
likes to get in some swimming with her boogie board. Photos Latitude/Richard
The one goal we didn’t meet this winter
was getting around to more of the Eastern Caribbean islands,
such as the Grenadines, the Virgins, and all the places in between.
Given this tremendous amount of unfinished business, after a
summer back in California and another Ha-Ha in late October, Profligate will probably return to the Caribbean next
year. Yeah, a month to get here and a month to get back to California
is a long time – but the destination has been worth it to us.
The moral of our winter in the Caribbean:
You can do it, too. It’s not that hard, and if you’re willing
to live simply, it’s not that expensive either.
Curious Encounter near the North Pole
April 7 – Arctic Circle
While surfaced 280 miles from the North
Pole last October, the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Honolulu (SSN 718) drew the attention of three curious
Polar bears. A lookout from the bridge (sail) of the submarine
sighted the bears, who approached the starboard bow and investigated
the boat for almost two hours before leaving.
Photos Chief Yeoman Alphonso Braggs/U.S. Navy
Commanded by Commander Charles Harris, USS Honolulu, while conducting otherwise classified operations
in the Arctic, collected scientific data and water samples for
U.S. and Canadian Universities as part of an agreement with the
Arctic Submarine Laboratory (ASL) and the National Science Foundation
(NSF). USS Honolulu is the 24th Los Angeles-class submarine,
and the first original design in her class to visit the North
Pole region. She is assigned to Commander Submarine Pacific,
Submarine Squadron
Three, Pearl Harbor, HI.
Thanks to Herbert Edridge of Eustis, FL,
for this item.
John and Amanda Swan Neal to Speak at
Pacific SAIL EXPO
April 7 – Oakland
With some 400,000 combined ocean miles,
John Neal and Amanda Swan Neal will share their experience and
enthusiasm for voyaging afloat at Pacific SAIL EXPO, April 14-18
at Jack London Square.
John and Amanda Swan Neal Photo Courtesy Mahina Expeditions
Each of the Neals had extensive sailing
careers before they met. John set sail from Seattle at age 22
and headed for the South Pacific on a 27-ft sloop and has
ever since had a passion for sharing his knowledge about cruising
to exotic destinations. Amanda sailed from her native New Zealand
to California with her family; she returned home to become a
rigger and sailmaker before heading to sea again as part of the
all-woman crew on Maiden in the 1990 Whitbread Round-the-World
Race. The Neals will teach several sessions at PSE: on how to
prepare for blue water sailing, on survival tactics, and on cruising
to Europe, the South Pacific, Mexico and beyond. Amanda will
lead sessions on the cruising rewards for women and on provisioning.
Together, the Neals who are both authors run
sail-training expeditions onboard their Hallberg-Rassy 46 through
Mahina Expeditions. See www.mahina.com.
For a complete seminar schedule, see www.sailamerica.com
or pick up the April issue of Latitude
38, which includes a full-color pre-show planner.
Classy Classified Ad
April 7 – Ko Olina, HI
47-FT BENETEAU 473, 2002. Fast bluewater
cruiser. Fully loaded and turnkey for any trip. Located Ko Olina,
HI. $295,000. For more pictures and info go to www.sailnet.com/boatsearch
ID #13652. Please call (808) 375-5301 or email.
