For Antigua week 2010 Northern Child was
chartered by individuals from many different walks of life but all here
with one common goal to race hard and do as well as possible. Christian
and I were a little concerned in the week preceding the regatta as to
how many of our crew were going to be able to make it out from the UK
because the Volcano in Iceland was erupting. Fortunately, the Virgin
flight on Wednesday morning was the first flight to take off from the UK
to Antigua and the majority of our crew got here successfully.
We had 2 practice days on Thursday and Friday; where we hoisted all the sails and did dozens of tacks and gybes until the crew were working like a well oiled machine ready for racing. The wind forecast for the week was looking relatively light from the East building later to 15 – 20 knots by the end of the week.
The first race was the Round the Island race to Dickenson Bay on Sunday along the Eastern Coast of the Island. Our start was at 0920, the crew arrived a little bleary eyed to the boat but fresh coffee soon resolved that. We beat up the Eastern shore and where glad that the wind was 10-12 knots slightly more than predicted. We close tacked up the shore with several boats in our fleet, as we round the first mark and bore away Jaguar were able to hoist their Spinaker but it was a bit tight for our big white spinnaker which we knew we would need for the following legs and our crew didn’t like the sound of a spinnaker peel any more than us so we went high losing a little ground to Jaguar, and hoisted half way to the next mark. From here all the way to the final mark we manage to hold our big Spinnaker and were cross gybing with Avocation and Jaguar down the run. After nearly 6 hours on the water we were 3rd in class behind Avocation and Jaguar and were extremely happy with our performance in the 1st race.
Day 2 of Antigua week was a race from Dickenson Bay to Jolly Harbour around the North Western Corner of the Island. At the start of the race Spirit and Avocation had a tussle for the committee boat end of the start line, Northern Child kept clear and ducked them on the start line. Performance cruising 1 was the final start of the day so as we beat up the first windward leg we had to manoeuvre around the other boats in Division B.
We rounded the windward mark just behind Avocation and Jaguar and we hoisted the spinnaker on port tack and were forced to put in a quick gybe shortly after to avoid the reef. In the moderate airs we struggled to gain back ground on Avocation and Jaguar on the run as they both had symmetrical spinnakers.
The next leg was a reach down the western shore as the wind had gone more South Easterly followed by two windward legs to the finish line. Fortunately we managed to overtake Jaguar on these windward legs to finish 5th in class.
Some of the crew had pink knees from lots of sun on the windward rail and were all slightly exhausted. In the evening the crew all had a couple of drinks listening to the live music followed by a very relaxed meal in Jolly Harbour.
Day 3 was the race back to English Harbour, when we left Jolly Habour in the morning the wind was averaging 16 knots from the South East with gust up to 20 knots so we choose to use our number 3 genoa as the race was going to be primarily upwind.
The first leg was a 2 mile run. We decided to hoist are spinnaker on port so that when we gybed we would come into the 1st mark on starboard. However at the start this meant that we had to duck behind all the boats in our fleet hoisting there spinnaker on starboard to be able to gybe off on to port. Our decision paid off well as there was more wind offshore.
The next 3 legs where to windward which, Northern Child loves as she is a heavy displacement yacht. We crossed tacked with Charliz, Nel Maria and Jent which are all faster boats and where infront of Star Chaser, Avocation and Jaguar which kept the pit crew motivated during the many tacks. The final 2 legs were a short reach follow by a run to the finish line. We crossed the finish line close behind Nix but were not sure how far ahead Spirit and Tyke were. Back a shore we looked at the results and we finished 3rd in class behind Spirit and Tyke. We were extremely happy with this as it put us 3rd in class with equal points to Spirit. However Jaguar and Avocation are hot on our heals with only 2 points between us as we go into the lay day.
For day 4 of racing the forecast was light with 10 knots from the East. The race was a P course out past Willoughby Bay, we started well tacking in close to the shore but as we broke away from the shore the wind steadly dropped to 6-8 knots which was painful for Northern Child. We footed off slightly to maintain some speed through the water. After 2 and half hours we reached the most windward point of the course and bore away on to a run.
We had 2 practice days on Thursday and Friday; where we hoisted all the sails and did dozens of tacks and gybes until the crew were working like a well oiled machine ready for racing. The wind forecast for the week was looking relatively light from the East building later to 15 – 20 knots by the end of the week.
The first race was the Round the Island race to Dickenson Bay on Sunday along the Eastern Coast of the Island. Our start was at 0920, the crew arrived a little bleary eyed to the boat but fresh coffee soon resolved that. We beat up the Eastern shore and where glad that the wind was 10-12 knots slightly more than predicted. We close tacked up the shore with several boats in our fleet, as we round the first mark and bore away Jaguar were able to hoist their Spinaker but it was a bit tight for our big white spinnaker which we knew we would need for the following legs and our crew didn’t like the sound of a spinnaker peel any more than us so we went high losing a little ground to Jaguar, and hoisted half way to the next mark. From here all the way to the final mark we manage to hold our big Spinnaker and were cross gybing with Avocation and Jaguar down the run. After nearly 6 hours on the water we were 3rd in class behind Avocation and Jaguar and were extremely happy with our performance in the 1st race.
Day 2 of Antigua week was a race from Dickenson Bay to Jolly Harbour around the North Western Corner of the Island. At the start of the race Spirit and Avocation had a tussle for the committee boat end of the start line, Northern Child kept clear and ducked them on the start line. Performance cruising 1 was the final start of the day so as we beat up the first windward leg we had to manoeuvre around the other boats in Division B.
We rounded the windward mark just behind Avocation and Jaguar and we hoisted the spinnaker on port tack and were forced to put in a quick gybe shortly after to avoid the reef. In the moderate airs we struggled to gain back ground on Avocation and Jaguar on the run as they both had symmetrical spinnakers.
The next leg was a reach down the western shore as the wind had gone more South Easterly followed by two windward legs to the finish line. Fortunately we managed to overtake Jaguar on these windward legs to finish 5th in class.
Some of the crew had pink knees from lots of sun on the windward rail and were all slightly exhausted. In the evening the crew all had a couple of drinks listening to the live music followed by a very relaxed meal in Jolly Harbour.
Day 3 was the race back to English Harbour, when we left Jolly Habour in the morning the wind was averaging 16 knots from the South East with gust up to 20 knots so we choose to use our number 3 genoa as the race was going to be primarily upwind.
The first leg was a 2 mile run. We decided to hoist are spinnaker on port so that when we gybed we would come into the 1st mark on starboard. However at the start this meant that we had to duck behind all the boats in our fleet hoisting there spinnaker on starboard to be able to gybe off on to port. Our decision paid off well as there was more wind offshore.
The next 3 legs where to windward which, Northern Child loves as she is a heavy displacement yacht. We crossed tacked with Charliz, Nel Maria and Jent which are all faster boats and where infront of Star Chaser, Avocation and Jaguar which kept the pit crew motivated during the many tacks. The final 2 legs were a short reach follow by a run to the finish line. We crossed the finish line close behind Nix but were not sure how far ahead Spirit and Tyke were. Back a shore we looked at the results and we finished 3rd in class behind Spirit and Tyke. We were extremely happy with this as it put us 3rd in class with equal points to Spirit. However Jaguar and Avocation are hot on our heals with only 2 points between us as we go into the lay day.
For day 4 of racing the forecast was light with 10 knots from the East. The race was a P course out past Willoughby Bay, we started well tacking in close to the shore but as we broke away from the shore the wind steadly dropped to 6-8 knots which was painful for Northern Child. We footed off slightly to maintain some speed through the water. After 2 and half hours we reached the most windward point of the course and bore away on to a run.
