Wobbling in Antigua
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Wed 20 Feb 2008 00:31
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Yes.....we are still in Antigua waiting on parts
for our ****!!!!*** generator. But hey, there is always a silver lining to every
cloud.
We have felt in the past that we haven't stayed
long enough to get to really know some of the islands we've visited.
There was no fear of that here, 'cos we were destined to stay in Antigua for at
least a month.....and that, in actual fact, proved to be our silver lining.
We cruised, partied, explored, built and wobbled. What, wobbled, I hear you say.
Well wobbling has nothing to do with my ample love handles, which
incidentally are fuel tanks for my sex machine...And I have 2
tee-shirts to prove it, thanks to Adrian & Jan and Brian & Sue who
quite aptly rammed the point home by buying me a 'THIS IS NOT A BEER BELLY BUT A
FUEL TANK FOR MY SEX MACHINE' printed tee-shirt each. But this WOBBLY is
something completely different and I will get to that later.
Well we cruised around some lovely anchorages
discovering the likes of Nonsuch Bay and Green Island killing time by
snorkelling on reefs and having barbeques....just like being on holiday
really....very nice. Had my birthday bash in Jolly Harbour, thanks for all your
best wishes, and then moved back to Falmouth Harbour where it all seemed to be
happening.
  The first few entrants to the 'Woodvale Challenge
Atlantic Rowing Race' were beginning to arrive. They were racing from the Canary
Islands across the Atlantic to English Harbour, Antigua, only some 2935 miles,
taking from approx 50 to 75 days. They were all raising money for charity and
the crews varied from teams of hairy arsed men to angels from one of the
foundation hospitals. It's a tough enough event for even the ruffty tuffty
male crews to take part in but nurses off a hospital ward....I take my hat off
to 'em. We thought we suffered enough on a 47ft yacht laden with good grub
and drink for 17 days, lounging about letting the autopilot do most of the work.
I cant imagine what it must have been like for them.....well I can
really that's why they have my total admiration and my best advice.....get
your flippin' heads checked, you loonies!!!.
They had a great/emotional
reception with calypso bands and cheering
crowds...quite touching really. Right, I am going to move on now, I can feel
myself welling up.
Last year we had the good fortune to visit the
World Cup Cricket competition here in the West Indies. But by golly gum drops,
it paled into insignificance compared to the Stanford 20/20 Cricket
Competition.
  Unlike the world cup competition, the 20/20
tournament was affordable for all and consequently the stadium was full to the
brim with local Caribbean noise & colour. Everyone got up and danced around
a bit when a four or a six was scored and drums, trumpets, cheers and
many other noises filled the air. And there were a lot of opportunities to do
your little Indian style dance 'cos as it was only 20 overs for each team, it
was just like school boy cricket. The batsmen were either slogging the
ball or they were out!. And typical of the Caribbean, a major prize was won
for the batsman who hit a six at the newly installed stadium glass clock tower.
This clock tower cost $64,000 to build and the batsman would get $100,000 to
smash it.....cool.
We did a lot of other stuff which seemed to revolve
mostly around happy hour or three at the 'Mad Mongoose' bar, listening to
the various local bands. Our favourite was the 'Itchy Feet'. The lead guitarist
was pretty good and with a few years more practice, may acquire the dizzy
guitar playing heights just recently attained by sailing pals Adrian &
Neil.
Shirley Heights was good too. It was a spectacular
location relatively high up and overlooking both English and Falmouth
harbours.
 Our boat is the blue speck in the middle of the
three blue specks just in front of the furthest bunch of bigger white specks.
Cant see us? not surprising 'cos most boats in Antigua range from 60
to 360 feet long and we are generally regarded as being only small beer. It
really is a playground for the rich & famous and therefore begs the
question.....what on earth are we doing here?.
Ho hum, Shirley Heights turned out to be quite a
surprise, not only because the view over the harbours and the sunset were
quite spectacular, but a bar, barbeque and a local band were also laid
on. It was also a good opportunity to spend some time with friends we met many
moons ago back in Turkey. It was great to see Ulrike, Thomas and Urs again and
although we are heading in different directions, I am sure we will see them
again soon in some faraway and exotic place.
And now to the 'Wobbly' bit. A drinking club
based in the Catamaran Marina decided to host a BYOB race. Yes, a Build Your Own
Boat race. And as we were just kicking
around waiting for genny parts to arrive, (best not linger on that subject), we
thought we would have a go. Aid & Jan (S/Y Squander) were here too and so
the old race partnership was reformed for this unique and challenging event.
Well actually, as the name suggests, 'The Wobbly Club' BYOB race isn't too
serious and in fact it is an excuse for a bunch of boaty-types to booze all
afternoon, not that we need an excuse. So, all in all, we thought we
were fairly well qualified for this event and tackled it very seriously.....not.
We allocated tasks to each member of the team. The girls had the pretty
bits to do, after all, there was a Concourse d'Elegance prize to win. They
decided that a team uniform was in order and a funny hat was decided
upon.
  Aid didn't seem too happy with his rather fetching
shower cap but my hat suited me perfectly..... being a bit of a dick head.
I thought I would get that one in before anyone else.
Aid & I were charged with the role of designer,
builder and sailor. We each contributed equally to our tasks except the sailing
bit because as Aid quite correctly pointed out and I quote, 'I
was unlikely to get my fat arse in the boat'. Thanks buddy, the truth hurts you
know!.
We were given the required boat building materials
but had to supply our own tools. We had 2 off 8'x4' sheets
of 1/4" ply, some batten, mastic, gaff tape, a bag of screws and
some spinnaker sail cloth. And we had two and a half hours to build it
starting at 2.00 pm. We started at 1.00 pm in the bar.
After several drinks and a quick gander at the
building materials, we decided on a complete change of tack....back to square
one. We would build a pram-style dinghy and use Aids' wind-surfer mast
to rig it. The plan sounded good but the execution.......well I was
glad it was not going to be me who was going to sail
in it.
  We named the boat 'Bendyteau' which seemed to get
changed by the Wobbly Officials to the 'Bendy Team', which I didn't like the
sound of, and then to the 'Bendy Tenders', which sort of stuck.
We didn't quite finish the boat in time and were
still screwing things together on the way to the start line. We even had to
steal bits of wood & screws from our competitors, which we thought was all
in the spirit of the event, but the unfortunately the others did not!. Any
how, we got the boat to the start line, via a work boat. Thankfully we
weren't asked to sail to the start line otherwise disaster may have struck
before we even started.
The race officials obviously decided on the race
course having had a look at the boats & competitors first, as a short
downwind leg of only a couple of hundred metres was regarded the only viable
option. The start line was a mud bank which Aid and the others squelched about
on bare foot trying to hold their crafts upright in fairly blustery conditions.
The omens were clearly not on our side. Firstly, I noticed the most
important piece of our equipment go drifting off (the bailer) just before the
start and secondly, Aid was having serious trouble keeping the stick pointing
skywards without even sitting in it.
The race was eventually started
and within the first minute we had won our first prize. Yes, the omens
were correct. Aid jumped into the boat. It listed heavily to the left then
violently listed to the right and then more violently to the left again. And
then the inevitable happened...he capsized and sunk. I must say that it was the
funniest sight I have seen in years. Aid tried in vain to rite the craft and
refloat it. I was of no help of course, just a jibbering wreck in the
work boat. Fortunately for us, there was a prize for the boat that
sank first. We won that hands down and the girls were pleased to learn
later, that we had also won the Concourse d'Elegance.
  We collected our prizes at the prize giving
ceremony and we got a bottle of fine rum, a polo shirt, a radio, ice cream
vouchers and free beer. Not bad for a bunch of losers. The whole event cost $60
per team and that included all the materials, 4 wobbly club tee-shirts, and the
prizes. Not bad. A really enjoyable afternoon out.
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