NorCal Sailing News from the Carib
When we reported Monday on the results of the 32nd annual Heineken Regatta, we announced that Rick Wesslund of Tiburon had won his class with the J/120 El Ocaso. What we didn’t know at the time is that he also won the trophy for the ‘Most Worthy Performance Overall’.
“This is our sixth year racing at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta,” Wesslund told the press. “We’ve won our division twice, but never this prize. I ultimately want to thank my great team for all their hard work over the years. We’ll be back!”
As there were some 200 entries in the Heineken, all we can say is well done, El Ocaso and crew, well done!
We also just learned that Matt Brooks of the St. Francis YC, who also won his class in the Heineken, and would appear to be undertaking one of the bigger yacht campaigns in memory with his legendary 82-year-old S&S 52-ft Dorade, will be coming over to St. Barth next month for the Voiles de St. Barth. It’s going to be ‘let’s the good times roll’ at that regatta, as they have 70 entries so far between 30 to 80 feet. As for the parties, well, everyone is expecting them to be off the graph.
We don’t want anyone to confuse the Voiles de St. Barth with the St. Barth Bucket, a three-race series for 47 yachts of 100 to 220 feet in length that we think is the greatest spectacle in sailing. That takes place later this month. Race crews are being flown in from all over the world, and every room on the island and every reservation in every restaurant is taken. "It’s even bigger than New Years," says local party planner Melanie Smith, an authority on such matters.
With big boats come big problems. The girl next to us in the internet cafe is telling her mum in Australia — in a voice that can easily be heard throughout the internet cafe — that the big boat she is on broke the vang when crossing the Atlantic, and the manufacturer still hasn’t sent them a replacement. That wouldn’t be the end of the world if the owner weren’t a "short-tempered German" who not only dropped $83,000 on a new spinnaker, but is flying in a racing crew from Germany for the Bucket.
And then there is our Olson 30 La Gamelle, being brought to St. Barth by a syndicate in memory of the spirit of St. Barth as exemplified by the gone-but-not-forgotten La Gamelle restaurant, the departed "well-hung, low-riding" dog La Gamelle, and the memory of George Olson and the ultralight spirit of Santa Cruz. She’s currently on a Dockwise ship somewhere between Port Everglades and Martinique, and is expected to be offloaded in Martinique on Monday morning. Here’s where we need your help. It’s 250 miles from southern Martinique to St. Barth, and much of the first 100 miles of it is in the big lee of the tall islands of Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe. What we need to know is how far you can motor an Olson 30 with six gallons of fuel and a Honda 5-hp outboard.
We were hoping to find some crew at the Le Select Bar to help us sail the Olson here. In the beginning, there seemed to be a lot of interest. When people asked us if we had any photos of "the California boat," all we could show them are the accompanying two photos of the sistership Hoot. Subsequently all interest in joining us for the passage seemed to dissipate.
Such is life in the Caribbean
