Archive for December 2008
Friday, 12th December – Race 4
Timoneer wins the Antigua Super Yacht Cup!
The course for the final race was the same as on the first day, but the wind was a little lighter; about 15 to 18 knots. The handicaps were tweaked a little and this resulted in us starting last, twenty six minutes behind the first starter, Signe and two minutes behind Kalikobass.
A close fetch out to the first buoy five miles south of the island saw us arrive neck and neck with Kalikobas. We gybed at the mark for the broad reach down to Curtain Bluff. Our foredeck crew did a fantastic job getting not only the spinnaker set, but also the mizzen staysail up and drawing several minutes before Kalikobass was able to get her spinnaker pulling. This allowed us to sail through their lee into third place at the bottom mark.
Luckily for us, the breeze picked up to around 20 knots, and we soon caught and passed Tenacious on the beat. Although we closed on Signe, we could not catch her and she crossed the line a few minutes ahead of us.
However, our second place was enough to give us the overall win for the regatta, so we were all happy with that and enjoyed a great prize giving party held at the Copper and Lumber Hotel here in Nelson’s Dockyard.
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Antigua. Superyacht Cup
11th December – Race day 2
The second day of racing gave us two shorter races. The wind was blowing around 20 knots most of the time with stronger gusts, although we did not have the heavy rain squalls of the previous day.
Each race was about fifteen miles, and the first race started with a beat up south coast of the island. We were the third boat to start on handicap, but soon overtook the other two boats on the beat to be first at the weather mark. We managed to hold the lead on the next two legs and finished comfortably in first place. Wild Horses suffered some damage and retired.
The second race was sailed on the same course, but in reverse. We had suffered some damage to the mizzen boom, so we could not use the mizzen on the second race. For the beat the wind was strong enough that we did not suffer, and despite overstanding the mark a little we still rounded first equal, alongside Signe. Kalikobass rounded close behind us. Tenacious suffered some damage to her mainsail and retired.
The second leg was a close reach and we steadily pulled ahead of the others. The final leg saw us hoist the spinnaker and hold our lead to the finish.
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Antigua. Superyacht Cup
10th December. Race 1
Many yachts sailing to Antigua this year experienced heavy weather en route, and this delayed the arrival of some yachts that were planning to compete in the Superyacht Cup. We had just five yachts line up for the first race, but the racing was very intense.
The races are handicap pursuit races. The yachts start in reverse order of their expected speed, and if the handicap folk have done their job well, then all the boats will finish at the same time.
The Bruce King ketch Signe was the first boat away, starting some half an hour before Timoneer, who was the fourth to cross the start line. We had about 20 knots of wind on the beam to the first buoy, some six miles south of English Harbour. We were just able to carry the mizzen-staysail and arrived at the buoy at the same time as a rain squall, which brought a bit more wind.
We gybed around the mark and sailed another reach down to Curtain Bluff, passing Wild Horses about two thirds of the way down the leg. Another big squall with heavy rain arrived as we got close to the mark, making it a little difficult to spot the buoy.
We found the buoy, and rounded close behind Tenacious, and soon passed her on the beat up to the finish. Signe was a long way ahead, and although we were catching her quickly on the beat, she crossed the finish line off the entrance of English Harbour a couple of minutes ahead of us.
Wild horses gained a little on the beat, but finished in third place, just ahead of Tenacious. Kalikobas tore her genoa and finished fifth.
For further news, photos and information on the regatta see www.thesuperyachtcup.com
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