Race 1 – Around the island

Race 1 was Friday, March 2 and is traditionally the "around the island race", sailed once each running of the Heineken Regatta. After starting off Simpson Bay all the B course boats were assigned course B-2 which went clockwise around the island with a couple of temporary marks added to keep risk takers out of some shallow spots. The finish was set off Philipsburg – just east of Simpson Bay. Total straight line distance – 25 miles. Actual distance sailed would be greater. The wind was as forecast, 18-23 with higher gusts; seas were 6-8 feet. We set a full mainsail and genoa.

The Simpson Bay B Start Circle was set just outside the many anchored boats inside Simpson Bay, and the windward mark was well inside the Bay. This meant there were numerous obstacles to get around after starting on the way to the windward mark. We started a bit late on starboard tack, but no worse than any other boat. There were no boats upwind of us to prevent us from tacking onto port towards the windward mark when we wanted to. There was a huge motor mega-yacht anchored between the start line and the windward mark and for some reason, most Multihull 2 class boats tacked onto port before reaching the mega yacht – meaning they'd have to sail past it in its wind shadow towards the starboard lay line to the windward mark. We held our starboard tack until getting to the port lay line for the windward mark, thereby tacking to be upwind of the mega yacht when passing it. This may have helped us get to the windward mark with a substantial lead. In addition, our later tack to port allowed us to be much closer to the windward mark to call our tack to starboard to round the mark with more precision. After tacking and rounding the windward mark, we were off out of Simpson Bay and around the island.

The first leg was downwind along the south coast towards the west tip of the island. Predictably, it wasn't long before we were passing slower boats in classes that started ahead of us. The Lerouge 50, Foudebassan, used a spinnaker on this run and caught and passed us. None of the other Multihull 2 class boats ever threatened us and on the upwind leg in Anguilla channel we really pulled away and we passed Foudebassan. They were soon out of sight behind. This would be our strongpoint throughout the regatta – going upwind in windy, rough seas.

We sailed mistake-free, calling all of our tacks with precision thanks to Navigator Donna and executing our tacks error free thanks to Donna, Wally and Paul on the genoa and Mike on the mainsail. With Tactician Wally advising maneuvers to keep us out of trouble with other boats, Helmsman Dave could focus on the apparent wind angle keeping the boat moving fast. A typical Navigator Donna report to Helmsman Dave: "You’re 4 yards good to windward above the lay line to the mark."  It was definitely a team effort.

We hit the finish line off Philipsburg among the Bareboat 2 class – despite their one hour head start - at 15:09:05 for an elapsed time of 03:59:05. After sailing back to Simpson Bay to anchor for the night, we went ashore to the St. Maarten Yacht Club to check the results. We knew we had beaten all our Multihull 2 class competitors on elapsed time, but could only hope that we had beaten them on corrected time. The LED display screens told the story. We were the only B course boat to sail the course in under 4 hours. We beat the next fastest boat around the course, a Swan 46 Milanto, by over 13 minutes elapsed time. We beat the next fastest Multihull 2 class boat, Guimamalou, by over 12 minutes corrected time and achieved first place in our class. We were ecstatic with our performance and couldn’t wait to get back on the course for Race 2. “A round of Heinekens for the crew!”

Race 2 – French finish

Race 2 was Saturday, March 3 and was traditionally the day the French side of the island got into full regatta mode as the race started off Simpson Bay on the Dutch side but would finish in Marigot Bay on the French side. Hot fresh baguettes instead of Gouda cheese wheels. But getting there was not simply an easy eight mile sail around the west end of the island….

Preparing early to get under way for Race 2 on Saturday morning, we noticed some fraying on the mainsail halyard on the static side of the 2:1 arrangement just below the masthead. This has been a continuing problem and we thought we had it solved. Pictures through Wally’s telephoto lens revealed the extent of the damage – we couldn’t sail with this condition. Risk of the halyard breaking during the race was too great and breaking a mainsail halyard would end the race for us. We had no choice other than for Dave to go up the mast and cut out the bad section of line and re-tie the static end of the halyard at the mast head. This straightforward solution was made very difficult by the rolling conditions in Simpson Bay. It’s very difficult to even hang on at the top of a 70+ foot mast swinging back and forth in strong wind and choppy water, much less accomplish any work up there. Fortunately we identified the problem before getting into a real time crunch to get it fixed before our start. But there was no time for delay…our 11:10 AM near-the-end-of-the-fleet starting sequence was looking pretty good for a change.

As we’ve done many, many times before, Donna winched Dave up the mast and he hung on with both legs and one arm wrapped around it long enough to untie, then shorten and re-tie the halyard with one hand such that the frayed part was no longer in use. He didn’t even try to cut out the bad section with the razor knife he took up there with him as he was swinging around so badly. Instead he tied up the extra line – again with one hand – around the top of the mast to keep it from fouling anything else. The rest of the job could be done later in a calmer location. Mission accomplished, Donna lowered him back down and disaster was averted. Along with being able to make our start on time, Dave had huge bruises on the inside of both thighs from gripping the mast to show for his efforts.

All the B course classes were assigned the same course again – course B-3, which was a long way to go to get to Marigot. After the start, and after sailing around the west end of the island, the boats had to round two marks set way out in Anguilla channel – sailing well past Marigot - and continue upwind just about all the way to the northeast tip of St. Martin before sailing back downwind to Marigot Bay. It was like the first half of the “around the island race” all over again. Good for us as the long upwind leg in Anguilla channel is where we performed well the day prior. Total straight line distance - 21 miles. The wind was blowing harder still – 20-25 from the east. Seas were 6-8 feet. We again set the full mainsail and genoa. Crewmember Mike was not with us this day due to projects he had to complete on Awakening.

The Multihull 2 start was almost a carbon copy of the day before. The starting line was in the same position, the windward mark was in the same position, and the big mega-yacht on the way to the windward mark was in the same position. We followed the same strategy as the day before, starting a little better and staying on starboard tack until the port lay line to the windward mark – shown clearly by our bread crumb trail on the chartplotter from the day before – staying upwind of the mega-yacht and rounding the windward mark in the same position – first in our class. Let’s not get over confident….

For unknown reasons, the second place Multihull 2 class boat from the day before, Guimamalou, did not start Race 2. On the broad reach to the west end of the island Race 1’s third place finisher, Team Organizational Restructuring aka Katzenellenbogen, the Lagoon 410 skippered by Sir Robbie Ferron, was in view flying a spinnaker that allowed him to catch up to us. And once into Anguilla channel on the upwind leg he seemed to be doing better than the day before but we still pulled away. On corrected time he was certainly doing better than the day before. After rounding the windward mark at the north east tip of the island, Team Organizational Restructuring brought out their spinnaker again for the downwind leg to the finish. Again, we sailed error free but upon checking the results ashore in Marigot after the finish Team Organizational Restructuring finished first and we were second on corrected time by just 67 seconds. But, as in Race 1, we were the fastest B course boat on elapsed time among all the B classes, completing the course in 3:16:48.

So after two races in the Multihull 2 class, Pas de Deux had 3 points and Team Organizational Restructuring had 4 points. We were in the lead, but this set up a drama for Race 3. With Guimamalou out and the rest of the class lagging far behind on total scores, Race 3 would effectively be a two boat race for the win in our class between Pas de Deux and Team Organizational Restructuring (barring breakdowns or poor performances). If they beat us in Race 3, by even one place, we would end up with a tie score and they would win the regatta on the tie breaker, having beaten us two out of three races. If we beat them, we win the class…

We didn’t stay ashore very long in Marigot as we were all exhausted and the music was a bit too loud for our tastes. After a few Heinekens it was water taxi back to the boat for us….

Race 3 – “And, man, it was blowing at Blowing Rock!”

Race 3 was Sunday, March 4 and returned the racers from Marigot Bay back around the west end of the island to the Simpson Bay finish venue. We were really glad to have Mike back to help for this race after Saturday’s stressors. When Mike returned aboard Sunday morning the rest of us good-naturedly gave him a hard time for “slacking off yesterday”.

The B Race Committee had only two courses to select from for Race 3: the direct, shortest distance B-1 course or the much longer B-2 course that first went north around Blowing Rock at the south west tip of Anguilla before turning back south to the west end of St. Maarten and on to Simpson Bay. Total straight line distance – 11 or 18 miles, respectively. The wind was as forecast to be higher still – minimum 20-25 knots from the east with higher gusts; seas were 6-8 feet and building.

We were hoping for the longer B-2 course which would include no deep downwind leg where Team Organizational Restructuring could use their spinnaker to their favor. The B-1 course, if selected, would allow them to use it after the start to the west end of St. Maarten; the subsequent upwind leg to Simpson Bay (where Pas de Deux could excel) might not be long enough for us to build a big enough elapsed time lead to win on corrected time. We got our wish and the longer B-2 course was selected for all the B classes. We set a full mainsail and genoa, observing that Team Organizational Restructuring also set a full main—a significant decision given the strong winds forecast. It would be two screaming reaches to Blowing Rock and back.

For the start we tried to position ourselves upwind of Team Organizational Restructuring on starboard tack and succeeded, but both boats were approaching the line too early in the strong winds and we both tried to stall and slide down the line to keep from crossing the line early. With under 30 seconds to the start Dave knew we were in trouble as Team Organizational Restructuring was doing a better job of going slow and benefitted from being in our wind shadow. Sir Robbie was “luffing us up” - blocking us from sliding further down the line and thus was forcing us over the line before the start…excellent tactics on his part.

Trying to prevent a bad situation from getting worse, Dave accepted the inevitable that we would be over early and called for the crew to sheet in the sails to intentionally cross the line early and to try to shoot ahead of the rest of the boats before they crossed the start line. We could then jibe around in front of them to round the port end of the line and perform the required re-start on port tack. At the start, the Race Committee radio announced two boats over early. We could only hope that Team Organizational Restructuring was the other one, but that turned out not to be the case. Sir Robbie knew as well that this was a two boat race and he clearly won this first skirmish, adding to the drama. Another boat turned back with us and we saw Team Organizational Restructuring sprint to the lead towards the windward starting mark. But because of our head start off the line, we reached ahead of everybody and executed our jibe approaching the pin end of the line, then restarted on port tack with clear air, hearing the Race Committee announce “all clear” – meaning we were now legal again. But we now had our work cut out for us. The boat we had to beat was clearly in the lead.

By accepting we would be over early and minimizing the lost time, we ended up with not too bad a start on port tack. Of the ten other boats starting in our division only Team Organizational Restructuring and the new Catana 47 were ahead of us to the windward mark and we approached it on starboard tack with the right of way. Not a bad recovery. After rounding the windward mark it was a broad reach 6 miles to Blowing Rock and a beam reach 6 miles back to the west end of St. Maarten. We quickly caught and passed both boats in front of us and settled in for one of the wildest rides we’ve ever experienced, hoping to gain enough over Team Organizational Restructuring to secure the win.

This race was best described by the press reports coming across the internet later that day, including that from Michele Korteweg:

“On the first day of the 32nd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, the breeze was sharp and steady. On the second day of the annual Caribbean sailing festival, it blew harder still. But today, on the third and final day of competition, the wind gods truly unleashed their power. And the result was one of the more stirring, sensational days of racing in the grand and storied legacy of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta…. To put it another way, if you didn't like sailing today, on a racecourse lashed with staunch 25-knot winds and roiling, turquoise seas flecked with whitecaps, well, you'll never like sailing.

“Nearly 200 boats in 16 separate classes set sail today on two race circles off Marigot, on the French side of St. Maarten. On the A circle, race officers designated a pair of courses that included a long weather leg to the northern end of the island before a downwind stretch before the steady easterly tradewinds to the distinctive landmark off the island of Anguilla called Blowing Rock.

“Coincidentally, the race committee on the B circle also designated a course that would take most of its fleet across the Anguilla Channel to, yes, Blowing Rock. As it happened, at midday today the entire fleet—the B boats reaching up from the south, and the A divisions running downwind under spinnaker from the east—rendezvoused at the low-lying outcropping known as Blowing Rock.

“And, man, it was blowing at Blowing Rock.

“The wild scene at the windswept rock, with spray flying and boats converging from divergent directions, was the signature moment of this latest edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta…there were countless close calls as competitors closed on Blowing Rock, jibed, and set a new course for the finish line off Simpson Bay. Through a happy combination of luck and skill, however, everyone made it around cleanly. And when the racers crossed the finish for the third and final race of the 2012 running, a new roster of St. Maarten Heineken Regatta champions was crowned.”

Yes, it was a wild scene at Blowing Rock. We arrived among a bunch of slower boats and had to give several a wide berth on the inside of the jibe to port. We didn’t want to be on the windward side of a jibing monohull as they tend to round up into the wind in windy conditions after their mainsail fills on the other side.
  
The reach back to St. Maarten was fast, crowded, and an amazing sight. We were in double digit speeds all the way and hit a top speed of 14.4 knots – the fastest we’ve ever gone not surfing. At least that’s the fastest Dave saw in the few moments he allowed himself to glance at the instruments. We were leaving Team Organizational Restructuring further behind but our attention was glued to safely passing slower boats and watching as the big ones from the A classes passed us. The highlight was being passed – slowly – by the two big Swans. At least they passed us to leeward to keep our air clear. It was stunning to see these big beautiful yachts moving at top speed in close quarters.

The turning mark at the west tip of St. Maarten was another bottleneck. There were so many boats rounding that mark as we approached it that we didn’t even see it until it was close – when enough boats got out of our line of sight. But there was no doubt of where it probably was--we had the waypoint on the chartplotter and we’d been around it in the opposite direction twice before with our electronic bread crumb trail showing our previous tracks.

Then it was back upwind on port tack in our best favorable conditions – windy with sloppy seas – and we had to sail well for a win. On the upwind leg the crowd thinned as boats split tacks – some preferring to stay closer to shore. Tactician Wally monitored our progress against Team Organizational Restructuring who was within sight behind us. We were pulling away, but would it be enough? About halfway up the leg we decided to tack back towards shore to hopefully get into flatter water. There was one last mark to round outside of Simpson Bay and our port tack back outward put us close enough to that mark to call a close tack around it for the close starboard reach towards the finish.

We had only minutes to go but this was no time to let down our guard as we were in a close quarters “convoy” of numerous slower boats all sprinting for the finish with the wind at a solid 25 knots. Wally was quick to alert Dave to two boats abeam of each other on our leeward side that we were about to pass, describing the furthest one from us as “damn near out of control.”  Part of the fear was that it could force the monohull between us to take evasive action that could affect us. Within seconds of Wally’s warning that boat did lose control, rounded up in the gusty winds and barely missed colliding with the other boat between us. We were relieved to pass just ahead of them both.

We had no waypoint for the finish and relied on watching all the boats still in front of us to see where they were going. Even if we could see the finish Race Committee boat at that distance, our view would have been blocked by the other boats. Eventually we spotted the finish line, right where we thought it might be, and crossed among a crowd.

We knew we were again first in our class on elapsed time. Upon crossing the line we simultaneously started our timers to determine how far behind Team Organizational Restructuring would finish. We watched and waited. It took them approximately 8 more minutes and our unofficial corrected time calculation showed that we probably beat them by at least 90 seconds. This was confirmed a couple hours later when we went ashore to see the official results! We had beaten them by 1:47 corrected, but the real surprise was that they placed fourth for Race 3. Nala, crewed by last year’s winner, was behind us only 83 seconds corrected time for second place and the third place boat was only 7 seconds behind them. Close indeed, but not enough for them to displace Team Organizational Restructuring who completed the regatta in second place overall in our class. Pas de Deux’s regatta finishes: 1-2-1 for 4 points. Team Organizational Restructuring was 3-1-4 for 8 points. Nala was a close third with 9 points.

We were ecstatic at the results and celebrated with (what else?) Heinekens. Even Donna had a sip….

Further reviewing the results showed that Pas de Deux was the fastest B class boat on elapsed time all three races. Because all the B classes sailed the same courses, this is a valid comparison. Cumulatively, for elapsed time we were 33 minutes, 32 seconds ahead of the second fastest B boat, the Swan 46, Milanto, winner of the CSA7 (non-bareboat) class. Multihull 2 class boats had four of the fastest five cumulative times of all the B classes.

The awards ceremony was a gala affair and we got to briefly meet Sir Robbie on the big stage set up at Kim Sha Beach as he presented our First Place Trophies. Our thanks go out to Suzi, Mike’s wife, who came along to the event to celebrate with us and take the fabulous pictures we wouldn’t have been able to take ourselves. We all went on stage to receive the awards which consisted of a nice framed plaque, a sizable glass Heineken beer mug, and a 5 liter mini-keg of Heineken, and smiled for what seemed a multitude of picture-takers. After receiving our awards, offstage Dave and Donna were interviewed on video by ESPN, which was covering the Heineken Regatta for the first time this year.

In keeping with the regatta’s motto, for sure it was all Serious Fun.

We could not have accomplished this without the competent help of Capt. Wally, Paul, and Mike. Many thanks to them!! For racing fans you can see more details and pictures on the Heineken Regatta web site (www.heinekenregatta.com). We’ll try to post some of our own video later (when we have a stronger internet connection for uploading) to add to the pictures here on our blog.

A few days after the regatta’s end we received an e-mail from the skipper of Team Organizational Restructuring, Sir Robbie Ferron, congratulating us on our win and thanking us for the good competition. We were impressed by this gesture and replied in kind, suggesting we meet for a drink someplace to exchange stories. Robbie answered affirmatively, but we couldn’t arrange a meeting before we departed for Barbuda with Paul and Linda. However, we did eventually meet up with him. Read on….