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This series of articles follows the unfolding story of a group of sailors on their way to the 2008 Heineken Regatta on the island of Sain Martin.

Heineken Regatta - A Good Idea

Last fall I had the pleasure of skippering a Monterey Bay charter for an enthusiastic group of people from the Bay Area. The morning wind was light so we toured kelp beds on our way down to Capitola Village while getting to know each other and swapping stories—like you do. After lunching at anchor, we noticed a wind line forming about a mile offshore, so we fired up the iron genny and headed out. Soon the boat began to heel to the new wind so we pulled the engine-stop, feathered the prop, and started the beat back to Santa Cruz.

It seemed to me that Brad, a big man with a correspondingly huge basso voice, was the ringleader. But it was Karen who was first to grab the wheel as soon as the boat got a bone in her teeth. None of them were really experienced sailors but, to my delight, there wasn’t a slacker in the bunch. Every one of them sported big smiles as we powered up the little Beneteau and started punching our way into the cold Pacific swell.

Brad was the first to give voice to the idea. “You know what I want to do?” he said with a big grin, “I want to go down to the Caribbean and race in the Heineken Regatta!”

I did a double take just to see if he was serious, then thought about it a minute. “Why not”, I replied, “you can charter a boat down there and enter the race.”

To which Brad retorted, “We ought to think about that, but I think we’d need a skipper—-and maybe some kind of training,” he interjected.

The next day, I received an email from Brad.

Marc,

Great fun with you as our charter captain yesterday! As for the dates of the Heineken Regatta in Saint Martin it appears to be March 5-9 with races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is also a race on Thursday called the Budget Marine Commodores Cup which is a short windward/leeward course limited to boats with Spinnakers.

Brad

Getting an email the day after a charter was unusual enough, but a follow-up on an off-the-cuff conversation was definitely by-and-large. I replied.

Brad,

Great to hear back from you so soon.

I think this project would be a world of fun and dividing it up between 6 or 8 should take the sting out of the cost. Say the word and I will work up an estimate.

Fair winds,
Capt. Marc

. . . and as they say, we were off to the races.

We contacted The Moorings in Saint Martin and to my surprise; they had a race-charter program built around the regatta. In fact, I learned that, in 2007 the race fleet of 250 boats was 50% chartered! One hundred charter boats charging around a Caribbean island. Fun indeed. Insane might be a worthy modifier. We locked up a 50-footer and made flight and hotel reservations. According to the Moorings, we weren’t a moment too soon.

Next, we set up a pre-race practice schedule including four weekends and a couple of Santa Cruz mid-winter races aboard my J42. As is always the case when setting up practices, scheduling crew was a challenge—but Brad managed a creative schedule. We swapped a few more emails and the race team was daubed, “Team Boston”.

Here’s the first lesson I shared with Team Boston.

Most races are not won. They are lost due to major mistakes. The best strategy to compete successfully is to develop skills and knowledge continuously but always be aware of your limits. Sail within those limits—consistently and without committing major mistakes. Let the other guy take the flyer to the far side, or mix it up with another boat while the fleet sails away. As skills and knowledge increase, the ante can be upped, but never so much that problems become major mistakes.

Here’s what we decided our training and practice priorities would be”

1. Crew communication
2. Driver and crew concentration
3. Upwind speed
4. Tacks and jibes
5. Sailing in a crowd
6. Starting
7. Rounding marks
8. Reaching and running
9. Rules of racing
10. FUN

First Practice

We had our first practice in early December. Here’s my train of thoughts.

• Hmmm, it’s really cold on the water in December in Santa Cruz

• Wow we’ve got a lot to learn!

• Oh, oh! Ana got seasick on the first day. We need her. Hope she can hang in there!

• Tacks are looking pretty ragged.

• Team Boston is starting to think. They’re reorganizing themselves. Good news!
• They’ve started teaming up on the winches. Big improvement.
• Tacks are smoothing out.

• We’re starting to get a sense of who our drivers might be.

We ended up the afternoon of the second day by sailing an imaginary race. I did my best to evoke a sense of reality. We timed the starting line, then ducked and dodged imaginary competitors. We stalled at the line and the shifted into starting gear. We powered up and then put the boat into pointing gear. We tacked and tacked, playing the shifts, and then found the lay line. We rounded the mark, reached, rounded, jibed, and ran for home. We stuffed it over the line and finished.

All-in-all, good fun and a good beginning.

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