Well you don't expect to find your race boat without a mast! Russ and Lisa had come to Antigua to race but also they had come to repair their standing rigging. They have a Beneteau first 42s7 and it has rod rigging, which is less common and hence less available than wire rigging like Moosetracks has. With this in mind they did a lot of research before getting their rigging replaced. While we were in Martinique around new year they had scheduled to have it done there by a French firm that does a lot of Beneteau work. As you guessed it didn't work out to well and after a number of delays they decided to try somewhere else. So here they were in Antigua getting replacement rigging just day before the race.
Russ and asked a number of friends to help crew for the Club class race which was 5 races over 6 days. John of Out of Africa, Jo and Gregg of Serenade and Mike of Nauti Dog as well as Devin had signed up as crew for Russ and Lisa. So we showed up while they were at the dock to put the finishing touches to the rig and tune the rigging. We had it done by the morning but felt the round island raced would be too much so although entered, Russ had not recalled actually entering though, we were not ready. Instead we took Tumultuous Uproar out for a shake down. We found a few tweaks were needed and adjusted the rig accordingly, Russ and Lisa also patched the headsail as a bit of sun was getting through (yes it was an old race sail).
The ladies and crew wives got to thinking about team work and decided to see if we could get a form of crew short organized. They put heads together & them realized many of us got free shirts from Island Waterworld when we were all the St Martin. They did a quick count and we indeed had just the right number, although sizes would be a challenge. We pooled shirts and got it close enough, so we looked like a sponsored team on our first race.
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| A real race team |
The first race was very exciting probably because we had no idea what we were up against. There were 7 boats enrolled in our Club Class, when we looked at the ratings it appeared only 5 had got rated meaning 2 probably wouldn't start. We went out on the course expecting to be a class of 5 boats. At the 5 minute mark we could only see 4 boats and wondered, sure enough when the horn blew we were 4.
I should mention that Russ and Lisa have done a lot of racing and are not unused to being placed well, therefore they are competitive sailors with a pretty fast boat. We had witnessed them win the Carriacou regatta last year with a large margin so we knew there might be a chance of some wins. However there was a very fast and expensive looking X-Yachts X50 on the sheet and she definitely rated a fast boat.
So race one was off to a good start Russ taking the start line and leading and our first tack and first mark. We were very happy but it the X50 took the lead soon after on the downwind leg. We knew we had to compete so on the downwind leg Russ discussed changing our jib for a large genoa and knowing it was a now or never decision we quickly made the choice. So we were the only boat in any of the races we saw make a sail change! Of course we were mostly amount the bareboat fleet when on the course so we didn't know if the racier classes did or didn't change sails mid race. It was a beautiful change and we did it in plenty of time before the downwind mark. We rounded the mark and beat up to the finish line, it was going to be close. We took the horn and had no idea if we had done enough, Russ confessed he couldn't tell if the Genoa change had been the right one as we were a little over powered and light have had a tighter course with the jib, well we had to wait until the results came in.
We sat drinking rum and beers while Lisa got online to check results, you could tell from the shouts below decks we had made it! We had won our first race. We kept the IWW shirts on for our podium appearance and looked like a real crew for our first photos. At the party that night Jo asked the Budget guys if the wanted to give us shirts to wear as we were doing so well, they said they would see if they had any.
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| 1st place race 1 |
So the next day Jo and Lisa chased down the Budget guys, sorry we don't have any shirts. Ah well nothing ventured nothing gained. We again hit the start line very well, Russ appeared to have a good start line strategy and it was working, we won the second start in a row. The race again was very tight and we were not sure if we had the X50 but it looked like we did as they had messed up the course and had spent too long going to the wrong mark. We were a little slow downwind as our whisker pole was jammed and we couldn't extend it fully, so we were not quite sure We got in and it was confirmed another first and another bottle of Rum.
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| 1st place race 2 |
Meanwhile Jo and Liz feeling they needed the exercise had taken the bicycles out for the day to watch the race from the hills surrounding the course. It was a great day out with a good work out including a stop off to the horses at the stables and nice to be off the boat too.
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| A sweet horse |
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| Who's there? |
The third race started the same way with Russ dominating the start line. We again got overtaken by the X50 and they really started to show us their stern. After the two downwind legs it was an long upwind bet back to the finish line. Uproar stayed outside and the X50 took the nearshore route, turns out the local knowledge was dead right and the inshore gave a good lift the other boat. We knew it at the finish they had us. So in the 3rd race we took second place and missed out on a nice bottle of Johnny Walker whiskey, a shame a few of the crew really wanted some of that!
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| 2nd place race 3 |
Before the fourth race we decided to play with the pole to see if we could improve our downwind performance. We found a trapped line and cut it out but it still was jammed inside. We then managed to get about 18" more pole extension and though we wouldn't push our luck much further, it might be all we needed. Russ again nailed the start, which was much tricker as the current was forcing folks over the line and a few races were restarted for infringements and other racers were penalized for early starts. We fought really hard this time as we knew we needed only one more win for the series and only two more races to go. We sailed a great race and did nothing wrong. We had now worked out the handicap which they adjusted every day based on previous day's results and had a clear idea of the on course time difference we needed. Coming down the last windward leg we watched carefully as the X50 crossed the line, we had them!
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| The "Uproar" cheer again |
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| 1st place race 4 |
The last race was for us going to be easier, we just had to get 2nd or 3rd to win, the other boats, besides the X50, were nowhere near us but did improve every race so we just had to keep it together. Russ nailed the last start of the regatta and had 5 straight start wins, very impressive. The course was very crowded with the 2 of the 4 bareboat classes in front sharing the same course and the others 2 getting in the fray at points as well. The X50 was up for sale and the skipper obviously felt he couldn't win the class so didn't push it on the crowded course, he was actually squeezed out by a couple of bare boats racing each other on one leg. So with their heart not in it we took them easily and looking behind saw the Peterson 44 and Bavaria 42 come in close to the X50. Well another first for Uproar and the X50 actually was 4th on handicap.
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| Ready to gybe |
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| catching up.... |
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| Downwind relaxing |
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| Close hauled and fast |
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| 1st place race 5 |
We had done it, we won 4 out of 5 races and won our class! The party that night was just bliss. We had lots of photos and lots of prizes, you can see they joy on our faces from the photos!
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| 1st in Class |
Absolutely a blast, I think I might be addicted.... well certainly we'll do it again.
