Grenada Race Week
Calema
Fri 7 Feb 2003 22:29
Grenada. As I write we are at anchor in Salines Bay in Mayreau having
cleared out of Carriacou and in to Union this morning and then moved on up.
It is great to be sailing the boat opn the wind for a change. It's not often
we can enjoy getting waves over the deck and us. The water temp is 27C so it
barely even cools you down! Our next two hops are to Mustique and Bequia
before the long day day to St Lucia to meet the Lytles on Oriole.
Grenada was great! After a week of tourism we then managed to get aride on a
Farr 56 for Grenada Festival of sail which was hard nfought , boozy and
social.
The tourism side involved trips in to the rain forest, spice factories, rum
distilleries and generally not being on the boat for a while. We had planned
to stay on land for a bit but as the only rooms were all on the beach, that
didn't really count as break from the water. Consequently we stayed on
board. There is loads to do and see in Grenada and we gave it our best shot.
We also manged to find a replacement propellor for our outboard which means
that our enforced rowing fitness regime had come to an end. Back to
swimming.
The racing was superb. Crew selection was exemplerary with those still in
the bar at midnight before thye race being given a berth. Teg and I had no
problems qualifying for this and raced for 4 days in a row on a Farr 56
owned by David Cullen from Ireland. As a very experienced race campaigner,
we were amused when he told us that he had never tacked this particular
boat, it having been delivered brand new to Las Palmas before he sailed
across in January. It wasn't a lack of ability but of opportunity.
We raced in the cruising division which meant we could use poles but not
spinnakers and CB got pushed up to the foredeck for the first time in a few
years (and loved it). The spinnaker pole was all carbon and ccould be lifted
in one hand (not like the old days you know). Teg was on runners and
hydraulics which is a skill which won't be too handy on this boat. The rest
of the crew was made up from various other boats at anchor and as two of
them were ex Iso champs we had a pretty well tuned crew. Results on the
first day were less than spectacular (just reaching the first start was a
minor miracle) but we improved quickly and manged 2nd overall by day 4.
Early nights and fitness training were not encouraged by the skipper who
lead by example and a great time was had by all. The Heineken bash at True
Blue Resort was one of those nights that you could never re create but
barefoot dancing with a gallon of rum on board didn't seem to worry our
performance toooo much on the next morning.
After a day to do chores and catch up we hosted a crew cocktail party on
board before heading up to david's house for crew supper and more craic. Why
can Irish people tell a story so much better than anyone else? Another late
night before our early and necessary departure the next morning.
Will do some more pics in the next few days.