The Unthinkable Almost Happened

It was only a matter of a few feet in the last race of the 30th Annual Antigua Classic Regatta that kept the event from very possibly being the scene of the biggest megayacht collision and destruction dance in the history of recreational sailing.

This year’s Classic was a great one. One of the reasons is that the event was moved from Falmouth Harbour to English Harbour, which just reeks with sailing history. A second reason is that the weather conditions for the four races were excellent, with 12 to 20 knots of wind throughout, and seas between one and two meters.

Perhaps because it was the 30th running of the event, the entry list surged about 10% to 48 boats in five different classes: Vintage, Classic, Traditional, Spirit of Tradition, and Classic GRP. No fin keels, spade rudders or carbon boats at the Classic, thank you.

The smallest entries this year were just over 30 feet. The largest yacht in this year’s Classic was the magnificent Adix, a 212-ft LOA Holgate three-masted gaff schooner built in 1983. Some Latitude 38 readers may remember that she had her teak decks redone at the now-defunct Stone Boat Yard in Alameda. The Wanderer remembers her from a day that he, Doña de Mallorca, his daughter, and about 50 school kids from St. Barth were taken for a daysail on her. Magnificent!

When the Wanderer pulled into Falmouth Harbour with ‘ti Profligate just before the start of the third race, the big boats were sailing into Falmouth Harbour before tacking, to give themselves a good run at the starting line without having to make a last-minute tack. Classic yachts are beautiful, but they are not nimble.

Among the boats tacking inside Falmouth Harbor was the new Starling-Burgess Gloucester fishing schooner Columbia. She’s 141 feet on deck, but with her overhangs she must be at least 180 feet. After she tacked, someone on deck whistled a warning. We couldn’t figure out whom they were trying to warn, as we were the only boat in the area, and we were well to leeward.

At least we thought we were well to leeward. When the crew of Columbia fully eased out her main, it must have extended 60 feet or more to leeward! We were still well clear, but we then understood the reason for the warning.

It was Adix and Columbia that almost had what would have been the most massive tangle of classic yachts in racing history. According to Janet Hein of the Gig Harbor, Washington-based Woodwind, who was aboard one of the two great yachts, as they worked for position for the start of the final race, Adix was to leeward of Columbia, and either Adix came up or Columbia came down.

Whatever, but according to Hein, Adix’s long bowsprit passed over the back end of Columbia’s boom, thanks to a lift from a swell. Thank God! The bowsprit of the former and the boom of the latter missed each other by just a few feet.

Had the two great yachts tangled, it’s unclear how long it would have taken to get them apart, and how much damage there would have been. But it would have been nasty. Hopefully lessons were learned for the future

But all’s well that ends well, and both boats had a great romp in the last race. For details on this year’s Classic, check out their website.