Just a quick report on our racing in the Bahamas this season.
We raced our E38 Kismet in the Staniel Cay Regatta on New Year's Day where we finished 6th of 17 boats in a non rated (boat for boat) event. This is a cruising boat event so it's race what you have. Most boats are equipped with solar panels, davits, extra anchors, wind generators, radar and the like.
We got beat by a J39, a Bristol 47, a Hunter 43, a Catalina 40, and Tida Wave a Bahamian 28 foot racing sloop with a crew of about 20 people mostly on planks over the side.
The course was a triangle (twice around) total of about 8 miles in about 15k of breeze and no waves to speak of.
At the George Town Regatta in March, we raced in both the Around Stocking Island Race (18nm) and the buoy race in the Harbor (9nm). We placed 4th in class (12 boats) in the Around Stocking Island Race and 3rd in the Buoy Race (also 12 boats). These were both corrected time races using PHRF ratings but we were 4th and 3rd boat for boat and corrected ... so it goes. The Around Island Race was 15-18 k and mostly reaching although the longest leg was a really close reach or one-way beat. The buoy race was a drifter. At one point a half mile from the finish, we were making 0k over the ground and watching boats catch us from behind.
We raced Kismet with the only sails we cruise with, the main and 130 roller furling genoa. We do not have a pole for downwind work. In all three events we left our dinghy behind moored to our primary ground tackle but that's about it as far as weight reductions go. We also raced with our davits, solar panel and full bimini/dodger/splash curtains rigged. Hey we're cruisers here.
We sailed with inexperienced crew both in George Town and Staniel Cay. In George Town for the buoy race, we had the pleasure of sailing with two US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilots as crew. There's a base near George Town used for drug interdiction activity and the Army supplies the choppers and crews. Anyway they were great guys and we're glad we could provide them with a sailing opportunity. They both loved it.
That's about it for excuses.
We did get a 3rd place pennant and a bottle of rum for the Harbor Race.
We raced our E38 Kismet in the Staniel Cay Regatta on New Year's Day where we finished 6th of 17 boats in a non rated (boat for boat) event. This is a cruising boat event so it's race what you have. Most boats are equipped with solar panels, davits, extra anchors, wind generators, radar and the like.
We got beat by a J39, a Bristol 47, a Hunter 43, a Catalina 40, and Tida Wave a Bahamian 28 foot racing sloop with a crew of about 20 people mostly on planks over the side.
The course was a triangle (twice around) total of about 8 miles in about 15k of breeze and no waves to speak of.
At the George Town Regatta in March, we raced in both the Around Stocking Island Race (18nm) and the buoy race in the Harbor (9nm). We placed 4th in class (12 boats) in the Around Stocking Island Race and 3rd in the Buoy Race (also 12 boats). These were both corrected time races using PHRF ratings but we were 4th and 3rd boat for boat and corrected ... so it goes. The Around Island Race was 15-18 k and mostly reaching although the longest leg was a really close reach or one-way beat. The buoy race was a drifter. At one point a half mile from the finish, we were making 0k over the ground and watching boats catch us from behind.
We raced Kismet with the only sails we cruise with, the main and 130 roller furling genoa. We do not have a pole for downwind work. In all three events we left our dinghy behind moored to our primary ground tackle but that's about it as far as weight reductions go. We also raced with our davits, solar panel and full bimini/dodger/splash curtains rigged. Hey we're cruisers here.
We sailed with inexperienced crew both in George Town and Staniel Cay. In George Town for the buoy race, we had the pleasure of sailing with two US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilots as crew. There's a base near George Town used for drug interdiction activity and the Army supplies the choppers and crews. Anyway they were great guys and we're glad we could provide them with a sailing opportunity. They both loved it.
That's about it for excuses.
We did get a 3rd place pennant and a bottle of rum for the Harbor Race.
