Summer, 2008 Race
Report: Annapolis to Bermuda
Race
GCSC's Rear Commodore Jason Richards
[Sponsors The Eastport Yacht Club and the St. George's
Dinghy and Sports Club have structured this race to provide a combination of
inshore and offshore racing. This includes piloting through the 125 miles of
Chesapeake Bay coastal waters and navigation of the 628 mile offshore
leg.] |
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 The NOAA guy said North at 5 kts
for the start. My cousin Paul and I made faces at each other and said yea
right. NOAA does not take into consideration the sea breeze that always fills
in from the south straight up the Chesapeake bay. At the start it was blowing
10 to 15 kts from the south. This was going to be a long
beat.
It was fun watching the Navy 44's
trade tacks down the bay as we tried to keep them behind us for as long as we
could. We finally went over the tunnel about 20 hrs from the start. We made the
turn towards Bermuda and the sea breeze had also turned SSE making it a close
hauled reach SW in 20 kts.
Off shore
about 6 nm the breeze was laying down and shifting SW. The asymmetrical kite
went up and we were off. We were averaging 8+ kts and surfing at 11 kts, this
was the sailing we were hoping for. A last check of the gulf stream did not
seem to give us reason to leave the rum line so the shortest distance made the
most sense.
Somewhere in the middle
we made good use of our Garmin XM real time weather which was displaying in
full color reds and yellows fast approaching from the stern. Once the storms
were visible the the reds and yellows on the Garmin showed up as dark gray in
real life.
As we watched the
approaching clouds funnels appeared and we followed Paul's offshore motto (reef
often and early) with a storm jib. Only one funnel reached the sea and we all
hoped the boats behind would be OK. The water spouts slid to the north and we
were clear for full sails.
As Bermuda
got closer other boats began to appear on the horizon. We were making time on
those in front. There is nothing that gets you back to race mode like seeing
boats after 600 nm into a race. Between boats on the horizon and Bermuda harbor
radio clear on VHF the excitement of a dark-n-stormy at the bar was setting in.
But there will be one final race to the finish
line.
A cruise ship was approaching
from the stern. We all looked at each other and started to discuss if we could
make it in front. The finish line was the channel and there was only room for
one. The rules of tonnage applied and we let her pass costing us a few minutes
on our time.
We finished about mid
fleet overall and with any race the experience will help us do better next
time. I have done both the Newport and Annapolis to Bermuda races and prefer
the Annapolis race, even with its smaller numbers the race is more laid back
and the St. George's Dinghy Club is less formal and more inviting.
The drinks at the club are half price
compared to the rest of the island. This makes them the same as in the US. We
are pretty spoiled here in Naples. Jason |
 |
Blue Water
Crossings:
Grand Bahama
By Captain Bruce
Lagoon 380 Sea-n-Stars
|
| A 350 mile round trip in 7 days |
The weather in March 2002 seemed to be ideal for a trip to Grand Bahama from
Port Canaveral. But ideal as it was, the wind was coming right on our bow [from
the south] so we needed to motorsail most of the way from Port Canaveral south
to Lake Worth and then sail at an angle across to West End, the closest customs
location on Grand Bahama Island. My guests were Captain Vic and Joan, and
Captain Fred and Colleen from the Gulf Coast Sailing Club. |
On the way south we tried to stay as far out of the Gulf Stream as we could
with the water temperature ranging from the low 70s to the low 80s in the
strongest current. All in all it took 33 hours to get to West End. We arrived
just in time to clear customs,
 grab a slip, and settle in. As we were in a
record heat wave the air conditioner was a great
help.
West End was a surprisingly great place to stop
for a couple of nights as the slips offered access to crystal clear waters, a
long
 quiet sandy beach and a breakwater, a great
fresh water pool, a high end restaurant, and a tiki bar with a great band
although it quit early. In short a great place to wind down from the trip.
|
Then we were off to Lucaya
with its close access to the Freeport casinos, international marketplace and a
variety of activities. Of course we had overlooked the fact that it was bill
fish tournament week as well as the opening week of Spring Break
month.
Lucaya was really a different destination from
West End ... but entertaining enough. Fortunately the trip from West End [about
30 miles] was fast and we had left West End early so we caught the last open
dock about 1 p.m. |
After a couple of nights in Lucaya we set off for Port Canaveral with the wind
northeast for a beam reach most of the way back.
The
return trip from Lucaya took 23 hours with a max wind of about 20 kts. Our
fastest over ground speed was 12.5 kts. with cruising spin up about a third of
the time. |
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