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I could write reams about Team Boston’s race performance. We blew some tacks. We had too many round-ups. A few times we went the wrong way. Salaway’s traveler exploded on one beat. On another, her Genoa sheet parted. We got into an ongoing grudge match with Jezebel (that’s a boat not a woman). We did some stupid stuff and some brilliant stuff. But more than anything, we stayed in the hunt and had loads of fun.

Rather than bore you with the details of every adventure and misadventure I edited together some video clips that were shot by the crew using the video function on their digital snapshot cameras. I submit it for your consideration.

Download Race 2

For those who Demand Details

The regatta consisted of three days of racing. Day one was around the island. Day 2 was a roundabout course from Simpson Bay to Marigot. Day three was roundabout again from Marigot back to Simpson Bay. The wind blew 18 to 25 knots all three days and the action was intense. The bareboat fleet race rules dictate that all boats must be sailed in their charter configuration. This means no extra sails, no poles, and no backstay adjustment. The 100+ bareboats were divided into several fleets consisting of about 20 boats each. We raced with the 50-footers making up the Bareboat 1 division.

The competition was generally keen. The top three or four boats had seasoned crews who had sailed the regatta many times in the past. They traded the top places in every race. There was a definite split in the fleet with the front half consisting of about nine very competitive boats. The back half of the fleet trailed the front by a long way.

So you want to know how we did?

Better than I thought possible. We consistently sailed in the front half of the fleet. Our starts and beats often had us in fourth and fifth places. We tended to lose places during our reaches. We also lost some boats when our traveler exploded in race 1 and our Genoa sheet exploded in race 2.

Most of our major mistakes had to do with lack of local knowledge. In the race 1 around the island, we picked the wrong lines to the Tintamar mark. Why were we lost? Because we failed to finish our around island practice when the mainsail tore. We finished in 8th place.

In race 2, we lost the weather mark off Grand Case. Why? First, in the morning we were so preoccupied with jury-rigging our blown traveler that we forgot to study the course. Second, we lost GPS during the final beat. We ended up sailing off to Anquilla. Wrong! We finished in 8th place again.

In race 3, we had an excellent start and strong beats but when we turned downwind we just couldn’t build up boat speed. We got outmaneuvered a few times. Lost boats. And then on the final beat back to Simpson Bay, we rolled about 5 competitors in some fantastic short tacking duels. Team Boston had their sh_t together! We finished in 6th place.

Overall we tied for 7th on points but got edged out with a higher place finish and officially ended up with 8th overall.

If you ask me, that was damn good for a first try. Watch out come 2009!

A note about the Moorings at St. Martin

As things developed, Corrado, the Moorings Manager, became increasingly responsive to our equipment issues. When our traveller broke, they conducted a valiant search and finally found a replacement and had it installed for our last day of racing. They were also quick to replace our Genoa sheets and attempted numerous other repairs. Corrado’s explanation for our difficulties was that, because we were late to book a race charter, the boat we ended up with had to be sailed in from Tortola in the BVIs. “Boats from the BVIs”, he explained, “are not race ready, as are our St. Martin boats.” I am not letting Corrado off the hook with this explanation. Clearly, Moorings has some quality control problems. The truth is that I had called in advance of the regatta many times and received assurances that our boat would be race ready. Still, Corrado’s efforts at keeping old Salaway going were very much appreciated.

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