The crew arrived on Monday 2nd March eager to get out Sailing. Northern Child was berthed in Simpson Bay Lagoon which is accessed by passing through a lifting bridge which only opens 3 times a day in either direction. Jostling for a position through the narrow Lagoon entrance can be fun especially when you have so many bareboat from companies that shall remain nameless but everyone who sails knows you usually keep at a great distance.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we had 2 training days in 10-12 knots of wind which is light for the Caribbean, although has been prominent this whole season. After 2 training days the crew all realised that sailing a 50’ yacht is a physical challenge and were happy to have a day off on Thursday to relax. 5 of the crew wanted to go for a sail on the day off so we headed to a quiet bay to anchor and relax. They swam ashore and had some lunch at a beach bar and we headed back in the afternoon after a very relaxing day.
Race 1 - Friday 5th March
The first race of the Heineken cup was a 32.4nm race
clockwise around St Martin. There were a series of 13 orange racing
marks laid around the Island allowing windward starts and some good
course setting. For race 1, the wind was predicted to be light and we
started in 8-10 knots from the South East giving a 1 sided beat to the
windward mark. There was just enough wind to get Northern Child powered
up, although the lighter boats fared well in these conditions. Once
round the windward mark a short reach and then up with the big white
asymmetric and a run down to the Western end of the Island before
hardening up onto a reach sailing towards Grand Case. Rein & Lucy
trimmed the kite while John & Christian ran the helm and tactics.
Many of the lead boats sailed too close to the mountains by Grand and
found a big hole in the wind as they reached the North of the Island and
we stayed well out to sea in the Anguilla Channel and held good
pressure catching many of them. We made a great transition for the
upwind leg, genoa up, spinnaker down and then hardened up towards
Tintamarre and the turning mark. From Tintamarre to Philipsburg we had a
10 mile beat before a quick spinnaker hoist and run to the finish.
The race took us a little over 5hours and everyone
aboard were ready for a cold beer and dinner!! We beat the other Swan 51
by almost 30 minutes and were close to our old rival EHO1. We finished
5th on handicap.
Races 2, 3 & 4 - Saturday 6th March
Saturday saw the most demanding sailing day of the
Regatta. 2 windward-leeward races in the morning and an 18.5nm race from
Simpson Bay out into the Anguilla Channel and round to Marigot in the
afternoon. The windward-leeward races were very challenging. Short
courses, with limited time for manoeuvring and kite packing.
In race 2 we had a reasonable start and were placing
well up the first beat until together with EHO1 and a couple of other
boats in our fleet sailed past our windward mark to the wrong windward
mark letting many boats slip through ahead of us. We could only manage a
7th on handicap after the first beat. After the mistake in race 2, we
were extremely focussed in race 3 and had a great start and first leg.
The crew worked extremely hard, grinding, trimming and an excellent
foredeck team and kite packers ensured the kite ran smoothly throughout.
We finished 4th on handicap our best race so far in the Regatta.
After the success in race 3 we were looking forward to
race 4. With the wind in the South East we had a long spinnaker leg from
the start in Simpson Bay right round to Mark 12 in the Anguilla
Channel. The wind was anything from 16-22knots, perfect for Northern
Child and we topped 12.5knots on the reach. The last part of the race
was a beat in towards Grand Case and then into Marigot. A solid
performance gave us a 6th place with only about 1 minute separating
4-7th places.
Race 5 - Sunday 7th March
All too quickly the Regatta was drawing to a close and
the fifth and final race was underway. A reverse of race 4 with the
addition of a mark by ‘Blowing Rock’ just off Anguilla gave us a 19nm
course. During the night the wind had swung almost exactly 180⁰ to the
North East. This meant that what should have been a predominantly upwind
race became almost entirely downwind and we again had good solid 20
knot winds which Northern Child revelled in. We again had a good race
with EHO1 and the other Swan 51, ending up on top. The leg from the
South West corner of St Martin to Simpson Bay was exciting with a tight
beam reach providing us with a steady 9-10knots all the way. Our
asymmetric spinnaker proved a good sail working well when others with
poled kites struggled to hold them. We sailed across the line to a cheer
from all the crew who already realised that once again we had a good
result. Indeed another 4th place on handicap which gave us 5th place
overall in a very competitive spinnaker 4 class.
After the week of sailing we had
got to know the crew well and on our final dinner on Sunday evening had a
little prize-giving at Toppers Restaurant.
Starting at the bow we had Ricko and Rob. Both of these
guys were very new to sailing, fit and enthusiastic. Ricko has some
career in the military which is top secret but basically liked swimming
and using our RIB tender Wildchild and so became ‘Dinghy Man’. Ricko won
the ‘Calendar Boy’ prize as several people mentioned that he looked
like a Calendar boy!! Rob was the second guy on the foredeck who had
never sailed before although he is a keen kitesurfer. Rob is a Carpenter
and at the end of week prize-giving we awarded sailor of the week to
Rob as he learnt very quickly and was excellent on the bow. At the mast
we had Rogier and Otto. Rogier owns a beach club bar in Curacao and is
known for his partying hard so won the ‘Last Man Standing’ award as he
was the last of the guys at the bar each night. Otto has his own
business selling spraying ventilation systems like those you see at car
bodywork repair centres and after 3 days on the water in the sun had to
retire to the shady side of the boat as he had quite bad sunburn so he
won the ‘best tan’ of the week prize. Sebren started off grinding in the
pit but had a shoulder injury. Being a proud man he persisted with the
grinding until I persuaded him that if he did backstays and cleats he
would save making his injury worse and possibly not being able to finish
the regatta. Sebren has several BMW dealerships in Holland and is mad
about cars with his own very nice collection of cars. In the pit on the
large 77 grinding winches for the genoa we had Eddy & Jan, Souke
& Rein. Eddy and Jan have both built, run and sold businesses over
the years and were a great team on Starboard genoa trim. We gave Eddy
& Jan the ‘Persistence’ prize for their sheer staying power grinding
& winching hour after hour. Souke and Rein operated Port genoa
trim. Souke runs his own IT Group in Holland and specialises in
understanding Dutch business law which can be applied to IT
infrastructure and so is a key IT provider throughout Holland. Souke
would also have been a worthy recipient for the ‘Persistence’ prize but
he was spotted on the final day having a little shut eye at the chart
table and so won the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ prize. Rein has done a fair bit
of sailing in his family yacht, a twin masted, unstayed rig 35 footer
designed and built by his father. He enjoys sailing with his wife and
children in the area to the North of Holland. Hans was our traveller
man, a keen rugby player and runs his own business selling printer inks.
On Friday night, Hans had a few too many beers and had to be
helped/carried back to the boat by his mates and so won himself the
‘Heineken’ award!! Finally Rick and John who arranged the charter run
their own property maintenance company. Rick was on mainsheet for the
week and John shared the helm with Christian and operated running
backstays.
