Entente Cordial-Barbados Style or things to do in Barbados whilst waiting for a mast!
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Mon 23 May 2011 02:50
have been doing all sorts of stuff as work progresses on the new mast and
the final items wend their way across the Caribbean Sea towards us here in
Barbados.
We were so entranced with our new mast on our last post that there was
other activity we left out. The week before the mast was stepped we had
another little adventure on board Excellence Too as we joined Josh and his
crew on a trip round into Carlisle Bay. This was to see Excellence Too
being dragged out of the sea on a purpose built tractor/trailer for her
annual maintenance. The day was overcast with some rain (but warm rain)
and we enjoyed the experience of watching as the catamaran was lined up
with the trailer in the water, then amid very little shouting or
screeching from bottom of the hulls she was guided in and on to the
trailer, secured to it ,then hauled up the beach to the work area. We had
expected to watch this from the beach but had a ringside seat on
Excellence Too itself......not something you do everyday of the week. We
hope the photos give you some idea of the operation. This is the only way
the catamarans can be maintained as there is no travel lift big enough on
the island. The alternative is Grenada but these cats are designed for day
charters and not for extended time at sea. The remaining 4 catamarans will
all be hauled out and indeed re-launched the same way over the summer
months to be ready for the winter season in November.
Then at the end of the week after the mast was stepped we had another
really big treat. Unbeknown to me (Susan) Andrew and Clint had been
cooking up a surprise and on Wednesday morning I thought I was being given
the gen on where to get a good view point for the forthcoming Mount Gay
Rum Regatta taking place that weekend. Instead I was suddenly asked if I
would like to take part. The only answer could be “yes” and so with some
excitement we arranged to go down to the yacht club the following day to
go out for a trial sail on the boat we would be crewing on. Clint had
been asked to take out a boat to make up the numbers for one of the races
and had been offered Bruggadung2, a Beneteau First 35 and a very famous
boat in these waters. The owner of Bruggadung 2, Paul Johnson, was going
to be sailing his J24 in the regatta and so Bruggadung2 was available –
the keel had only just been replaced earlier that week! With the short
notice given him Clint rallied a crew together and on Thursday morning we
met everyone. Clint was our skipper and to make up the crew we had
Darien, a local, who knew the boat as he had delivered her on several
occasions with Clint. Danny, a local sailor who runs a 47 ft day cruiser
Catamaran – Calabaza, Jay, from Trinidad who races his own 35ft boat,
Franklin – from Leicester who moved here from the UK 5 years ago but has
only sailed once before with Clint, and Simon – on holiday from the UK who
heard about the regatta and contacted the yacht club to see if he could
get on a boat. Simon has done a lot of racing out of Brighton and was
volunteering to be the foredeck guy. Then of course there was us,
previously well involved with racing our lasers in Reading but not having
experience at this particular level, and this was an international
regatta, taken very seriously by all participants and with international
race offices, judges and measurers – wow!
Walking along the beach to the meeting on Thursday morning we got our
first view of Bruggadung2 as she was launched into the sea from a trailer
on the beach, looked like quite the sleigh ride when the tractor gave the
trailer a push and gave it momentum into the sea. The truly international
crew assembled on the beach and we were dinghied out to the mooring. It
was fun getting on board this slippery boat especially as we hadn’t bought
our non slip shoes along, and once on board soon everything was ready to
go out for a test sail. Clint assigned everyone a position, Simon the
foredeck, Andrew the pit (raising and lowering the genoa and spinnaker and
spinnaker pole), Danny trimming the sails, Darien the runners, Jay on the
mainsheet, Clint on the helm and me sitting at the stern....no job for the
moment, until day two.
We hoisted the mainsail and left the mooring buoy and ventured out into
the bay quickly getting the genoa up as well and we were off sailing
swiftly across the blue sea with the wind in our hair and no sound of any
engine......................wonderful.
Clint put us all through our paces as we tacked up and down the bay and
then flew the spinnaker several times so we could get used to how
everything worked – exhilarating. Then it was back to the mooring and
time to go for the regatta briefing where each of the boat entries were
given the coveted red Mount Gay Rum Caps and Tops and race information
along with some beer and a bottle of rum, for the boat.
Friday morning saw us ready by 7.15 to be picked up for our first day of
sailing. We were really grateful to Clint and Laura for picking us up and
saving us the 4 mile walk down to the yacht club and with the early start
we were able to get a great cooked breakfast there to start the day. The
first day’s racing saw us gain two second places which made everyone
really pleased. It also brought us to the attention of the two French
boats from Martinique – they suddenly realised they had a race on their
hands. Andrew went a-over-t on the ride back to the beach for some well
deserved drinks and a rest and was thoroughly soaked much to everyone’s
amusement.
Saturday saw another early start and we were raring to go, determined to
try and get a first for Clint. Susan was now French boat spotter and had
to relay to Clint everything they were doing so he could concentrate on
getting the best out of the boat as well as work out tactics to get us the
best possible position and boat speed. Susan was soon very, very busy
covering the two French boats. The French, naturally, had some other ideas
and the start line for both races was very, very interesting with some
very tight boat handling from all concerned in the final two minutes. We
again had 2 second places, one by just 20 seconds, so we were really
looking forward to Sunday’s long single race and were 2nd overall in
Racing Division A. However we had crossed the finish line in first
position on the four races so far, so it was handicap that saw us in
second place for each race. Clint was very pleased with the way the crew
worked together, though we were naturally very tired and a little
disappointed not to have had a first. A couple of mistakes cost us the
precious seconds, a wrapped spinnaker (take down, sort out, re-hoist), a
stalled tack and a broken genoa sheet at the windward mark, but we were
all determined to do better.
We were all looking forward to Sunday’s long (two and half hours) race and
we were all hoping for that elusive first position. However the winds were
very light (10-14 knots) which didn’t favour Bruggadung2 as she relishes
winds around 20 knots, and we had to use a smaller genoa than Clint wanted
due to damage that wasn’t repairable in the available time. Sadly Simon
also had to bow out as his ankle had swollen alarmingly so Zoe joined us
was extra crew – she is a junior sailor gaining bigger boat experience.
The start line saw us boxed in by the two French boats, using the rules
however, as they had teamed up to stop us getting the first place we
really wanted – this is where the “entent codiale” comes in, or maybe not.
This meant we had a poorer start than we wanted and allowed one of the
French boats get free while the other tightly covered us. We fought back
over the next two and half hours to finish one boat length behind the
break-away French boat and well over 5 minutes ahead of the second, to
finish 2nd across the line and 2nd overall. We were really pleased but a
little disappointed not to have had one first place for Clint, but we all
toasted Bruggadung2 with the bottle rum.
A huge thanks to Clint and Paul for the whole experience, one we will
remember for a long, long time. The regatta attracted entries from USA,
France, Trinidad, St. Vincent, Grenada, the UK (Happy Morning) and of
course lots of local Bajan boats – great fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves
and the atmosphere was really great – we’re sure Simon will return to
Brighton with some interesting tales. We split the French boats that were
first and third with another Barbados boat, Whistler, in fourth place. As
a result Clint has been invited to a regatta in Martinique in June as the
French boats were really impressed with the way Bruggadung2 performed – we
will watch with interest how he gets on. Clint spent some three years in
New Zealand on an America’s Cup campaign so knows and has sailed with some
of the very best professionals in this sport. When we can get some photo’s
we will post them – cameras on-board was not a good idea as Bruggadung2 is
an out and out racing machine with nothing, apart from an engine down
below – no creature comforts at all so it was the stern rail or crossed
legs! The Mount Gay Rum Regatta web site will provide a little of the
flavour of the event.
The name Bruggadung is a Bajan term for something hit very, very hard or
powerfully – it was owner Paul Johnson’s nickname so it was natural he
passed it on to his yacht, who has hit a few things very hard, but not in
this regatta.
As you can imagine after such a hectic weekend we needed a little downtime
to recover and to do our usual chores so Monday was spent provisioning and
getting the washing ready for the laundry.
Tuesday saw further work on the mast with winches and clutches being
installed and the solid vang put in place along with other preparatory
work. Thursday night our boom etc arrived on the container ship and is
now awaiting clearance through customs so it can be released – hopefully
by Tuesday. Our old spare sails also appear to be the right size for the
new mast so we are having the sliders changed on the mainsail so that we
will be able to make our way down to Trinidad with our new sails following
us in a few weeks.
Thursday we took the opportunity to have another break from work and
caught a bus out to the Andromeda Gardens on the East coast. The bus
journey was bone shaking with the bus racing around the narrow roads and
hurtling down the hills. The gardens themselves were a delight with many
interesting plants and trees from around the world to see including a huge
Talipot Palm, native of India, and bears flowers only once in it’s life,
usually between the age of 25-50 years. When it flowers it bears the
largest inflorescence in the plant kingdom (5 meters). After one year of
flowering and seeding the massive plant dies – and the one in the garden
is blooming now and was a very spectacular sight. We also caught sight of
quite a few small green lizards and hopefully will have caught some on
camera. After our visit we waited for the bus to bring us back to
Bridgetown and were very surprised at how slowly it made it way up the
hill to pick us up, we then had the reverse of the outward journey as the
bus crawled very, very slowly back up the hill where it was also invaded
by local children going home from school, a very different return trip.
To round off our week on Friday afternoon another boat was put back in the
water. Autumn Rose, a long keeled 32ft boat is skippered by Andrew who saw
us here in Shallow Draught back in February when she came out of the water
and he was most surprised to find us still here. After a chat he invited
our Andrew for a spin round the bay to check things were working properly
before making his way up the coast. So after a brief trip, Clint (who was
checking his rigging) and Andrew managed to cadge a lift from Stephen and
Cedric in a rib back to Shallow Draught again.
So now we are looking forward to our last week in Barbados, all things
going well we will probably leave here next Saturday but first want to
mention another momentous occasion. On Monday, 23rd May, Susan’s Mother
and Father will have been married for 60 years, a magnificent achievement
and they had a party to celebrate in Canford Heath – we really wish we had
been able to attend but circumstances have dictated it differently –
however we wish to congratulate them and send them much love from us here
in Barbados with a promise to party when we return to visit folks later
this year.
More in due course...................
Susan and Andrew
S/V Andromeda of Plymouth
Barbados
