Antigua week and beyond..........
Cat-man-do
Wed 7 May 2008 19:08
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Well here we are again. Antigua week has finished
and what a week it was. Getting involved in some serious racing was, at times
frustrating, sometimes awe inspiring, sometimes just down right hilarious and
others? well just plain terrifying.
Helming a boat for the first time amongst some
obviously pretty serious racers at the start of a race, getting squashed between
two other boats, close enough to see the fillings of their crew, with no where
to go, lots of screaming and shouting at other boats, terrifying for the first
time, yes, but what a buzz. The funny moments, there are just so many it's hard
to recall half of them. Being very drunk seems to feature high on the memory
front somehow. Being on a local water taxi in the dark trying to find your yacht
which is anchored somewhere in the middle of 200 others anchored off the same
beach, the water taxi breaking down on the way. The water taxi man getting told
off by the coastguard for not having any lights, even though they had none.
Getting back eventually to Gertha and realising there's actually someone
else in the water taxi you hadn't even noticed. Pleasantly enquiring as to
their identity (sort of) had everyone in absolute stitches, including the
mystery passenger.
The overnight stop at Jolly harbour marina, a
rather pleasant spot. The usual debauchery and falling asleep in restaurants. A
great time all told.
Now for your information names have been re
allocated or assigned for the week. We had on board, in no particular
order:
The Ridler, Owner of Gertha and extraordinary
Shaggy impressionist
Roger, formerly known as Andrew
Jaunty, famous for implausibly good Winston
Churchill impressions, though he does have the advantage of speaking like that
all the time. Also I would imagine being the only competitor in Antigua week to
start a race in a shirt and, I kid you not, a cravat.
Donkey, formerly known as Mark, the Phantom Duck
punt racer (yes, it is a type of sail boat)
And finally, Charlotte, i.e.: me. Something to do
with potatoes but beyond that I couldn't elaborate.
Picture the scene if you would, myself and Roger
are taking advantage of the hospitality being offered by the crew of Girls for
Sail. It's about 2 in the morning and we've totally lost Jaunty despite several
efforts to find him. There is suddenly a commotion from further down the
pontoon, whereupon there appears out of the darkness a squad of Antiguan
soldiers. Then above the general noise booms out Winston Churchill's un
mistakable tones. As Gertha was further down the pontoon from our present
location, myself and Roger decided to do the honourable thing for a fellow
crew mate. We hid on the cockpit floor of the girls for sail boat behind some
young ladies legs until the squad had passed. It could be seen at this point
that Jaunty was, what can only be described as very wet!
They stopped at the stern of Gertha and a lady
stepped on board and headed down the stars into the saloon. It should
be explained that Donkey was fast asleep at the time and was awoken by a totally
unknown young lady asking if he'd lost a member of his crew! She then
introduced herself as being from Titty Racoon! If you can imagine being woken
from a deep somewhat drunk sleep by this, you can imagine how bemused Donkey
must have felt. We on the other hand found
the whole thing hilarious.
Jaunty on the other hand was intent on telling the
army officers what a credit they were to the Antiguan armed forces. Especially
the very large gentleman in the nice Red beret (all done in a very posh
Winston Churchill accent).
I can't improve on Marks' description of them
trying to get Jaunty on board the boat as being similar to watching a
cartoon where lots of mice are trying to force an Elephant through an
implausible small door.
We decided at this point to show our faces, and I
was dispatched to the galley to make a Coffee. Whilst stood at the foot of the
steps by the cooker, there was a very loud bang as Jaunty appeared in a heap
next to me after falling down the steps onto the saloon floor. The others were
shouting at me to help him up, but, being the sensible grown up amongst us, I
refused and told him to stay where he was. I explained to the others that as
there was nowhere lower to fall, he was safer being left on the
floor!
Amazingly Simon managed to sleep through all this
going on right above his head!
Needless to say the following day Jaunty spent the
majority of the race below, nursing his wounds, and because we'd told him that
he was expected to report at the police station to make a report at 11:30. As
the race started at 11 we told him we were going to do a runner but he'd better
stay out of sight!!
Highlight of the week was standing on the stern of
Gertha as we rounded a mark whilst racing, whilst the fleet of much larger
racing boats bore down on us. A large racing trimaran coming past us like we
were stopped dead in the water. The skipper giving us a nonchalant wave as they
thundered past.
Berenice, a large Swan coming within a few feet of
our stern then setting his Spinnaker for the down wind leg. I've never stood
looking up at the sails of different boat from the stern of another. Didn't do a
lot for the wind in our sails but what a sight.
But it all had to end eventually and so it has. As
I type this, we are about 50 miles North East of Barbuda making a steady 7-8
knots and heading slightly to the East of Bermuda ( a few days
away)
Just myself and Rodger left on board now
(Cat-Man-Do that is)
Love to all at home
Charlotte and Rodger
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