Here is the video I made from the racing, as per previous post. I had a lot of issues in loading it onto the shitty video edit program that my ever-becoming-older-and-more-obsolete macbook pro struggles to run. In the end, after whittling down the 28hours of footage to just 10, it did run. However my frustration of spending over a week of loading, deleting, reloading, repeat, repeating. I really didn't give this video too much thought and whipped this up pretty quickly.
Anyway I am hoping you will all get the gist of what racing a 165ft superyacht is like and hopefully you will enjoy this video to some degree that will make the last week seem not so tough; in a first world sense.
Here is a link to my VIMEO if the below vid doesn't work (and for other videos).
JW
After working almost non-stop for the best part of 2 months, we finally made it to the British Virgin Islands for the first regatta of the year; The Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta. The fleet had almost doubled from last year with just over 20 boats entered. This regatta is open to boats over 80ft in length, and with us measuring in at 165ft, it almost looked like some of our competition were going to the boat ramp at the end of the day to throw the boat on the trailer and leave it under the house for the night!
We got a second on the first day of racing, Salperton (pretty much our sister) got past us on the last leg to take the win. Unfortunately for us the breeze died out for the rest of the regatta and we often found ourselves stuck in the water, which is understandable when trying to push 350 tonnes of boat in less than 10 knots.
After the BVI's finished it was a quick 100mile run down the road to St. Barthelemy and the main event "The St. Barth's Bucket". This race has been going for 20 or 30 years and draws it's name from the beginning when two boat owners decided to race around St. Barth's with the winner getting a bucket of Beer for their troubles.
This regatta was literally a mixture of everything, we had winds ranging from 6 to 30 knots, sunshine, rain, storms, white squalls, big waves calm water and even the odd disqualification in there.
35 or so superyachts were entered (in case you are wondering, a superyacht is a yacht over 100ft in length), with 12 in our class. The Bucket is a series of Pursuit Races which means handicaps are made for each boat, and after doing some maths (taking into account things such as boat length, weight, sail area, as well as the wind and length of the course) they stagger the start of each boat so theoretically everyone will finish at the same time. This way whoever finishes first, is the winner.
We picked up a 4th on the first day and a third on the second which had us in a three way tie for second going into the last race with Lady B and Salperton, Adela had already secured victory with two firsts. The final race, held in 20knots, was the best racing I have experienced on a Superyacht, with ourselves and Salperton duelling the whole race and crossing each other a number of times prior to turning the corner for the last run home. They finally beat us by 10 seconds to win the race, we got second, with Adela 3 a further 30seconds behind. However after a little incident to do with a rock, buoy room and some overzealous owners, we were put to protest even though it would not affect the overall standings. So with the disqualification, we ended up with a third in the division (actually it did affect the overall standings as apparently we would have got 3rd in the whole regatta, instead we got 5th or so...)
At the end of the day, it was an epic regatta, pushing the boat to the limits in some pretty windy and wild conditions. Now we are back in Antigua, still cleaning up the mess the racing left behind, just in time for crossing the Atlantic and getting back into the racing in Sardinia in June.
Ears: Bearstronaut
Race Headquarters in the BVI's - Yacht Club Costa Smeralda
Papparazi
Shameless selfie
Josh
We dropped and hoisted our new blade about 10 times over the 2 regattas, mainly because of issues with our inflatable battens, once because it didn't like the 28knots we sailed in and ended having to do a repair. Here is Alexis doing a quick fix in the light airs before a race.
Slightly cracked and trucking along the southern coast of Virgin Gorda, BVI's
Order hidden within chaos - getting ready for a kite hoist.
Centu
The Boss
Salperton
Swinging into a gybe
Al and Giovanni on kite trim. Being the nephew of John Bertrand, Al, apart from trimming the kite, also spent a lot of his time looking for a coffee grinder or Bondy's blimp, singing Land Downunder, and just generally trying talk about 1983.
Lunch time - well done Tiff
After almost losing our kite tack through a gybe, we had to drop the A2 and hoist the A3, not ideal for the boat in 6 knots of breeze, and not ideal for the body when each sail is over 1700m2.
This was not my job during the racing, so I'm not too sure why I am here?
Wet
Confused - Alexis Grande
No doubt doing the usual foredeck talk on the upwind (probably saying how I would have tacked earlier or some rubbish).
Apparently when Maltese Falcon was launched a few years ago, the owner or designer said that this type of rig will take over from the general sloop rig we all see. After seeing her sail upwind at about 60degrees, and take over a 2 minutes to tack (including one minute in irons going backwards whilst the mast rotates), I think it is best to leave these rigs to the Galleons and Buccaneers of the 17th century.
Mark - also confused, and probably wondering why no one is calling on the radio.
Kite hoist 2.5 boat lengths from the start line - I know that because Corrado is like Yoda at calling distances.
Salperton on the last day.
Wet
Wet
On the last downwind - We gybed inside and ahead of Salperton to lead into the finish, however the dying breeze around the headland and having to soak into the finish meant Salperton pipped us on the line.
Here are a few photo's that I have accumulated over the last two years of waves I have come across during my travels. Unfortunately I have seen a lot more waves than I have been able to ride (mainly due to lack of board, temperatures, or time).
Recently though (and surprisingly due to the usual dormant life of the Caribbean swell window) we have had a few swells come through.
The waves have not always been the best, but there is a distinct pleasure that comes with being in a lineup with only two other people. As well as being able to discover some breaks that are almost undiscovered, knowing that on the other side of the world at home is the usual hassle and agro that comes with overzealous locals and overpopulation.
