Sailing with the Treleavens

Interesting word ‘cruising’ but what does it really mean? Our line up for the 1st race has Ian in the front row, I will show them? It’s nearly over before it starts. We have entered the cruising division, which Ian assumed would be a casual start. Not so as we just get out of jail. With rules being quoted as we reach the top mark in 2nd place we now realise this isn’t ‘cruising’ as serious racing yachts fully crewed mows us down.

Now its time to get serious as Ian whips us all into shape. Baney and Annie Richardson from Sydney and Don Reid from Noosa have never sailed on our yacht and by the end of the 23 mile race around the west coast to Fort James we are exhausted but very excited about our 5th place out of 16 in our division. We only missed 3rd place by 3 secs on our handicap so we are told we will just have to try harder the next day.

The 41st Stanford Antigua Race Week attracts 185 yachts from around the world. 80 in Division A and 105 in Division B. Division A is the serious racing yachts with the 98ft ‘Leopard’ and the 90ft ‘Rambler’ previously known as ‘Shockwave’ fighting it out along with TP 52’s and other hot racing yachts. This division has 7 races to complete.

Division B has 5 races all about 23nms long to various bays on the island. It is broken down to 10 divisions, 5 for chartered bare boats. All competing yachts have to be rated with the Caribbean rating certificate with several choices for rig, main and genoa, main and poled out genoa, main and 2 genoas and main genoa and spinnaker. We elect to race with poled out genoa as we will be short handed for some of the regatta.

Fort James Bay is a mass of yachts and one big beach party ashore; I think everyone on the island is here to join in. BBQ’s are covered with crayfish cooking, a live Reggae Band keeps us awake all night and we are all the time wondering if we are too old for this stuff.

Race 2 and Ian puts more effort into the start. We have from New York Phil and Ann Smith joining us for 2 races so we are now a ‘professional’ crew of 7 or pretend to be. Nudging jade coloured coral reefs and Ian taking every advantage of shifting breeze we get 2nd and celebrate back in English Harbour.

3rd race is a coastal along the southern side of the island. We want to go to the left side on the 1st beat to the top mark so Ian decides to be in the 2nd row at the start line. But he spy’s a hole and can’t resist taking it and once again we are in the thick of it leading around the mark. Coming home 4th it’s a long hot day with the wind dropping below 5 knots, something we have not experienced in our 5 months in the Caribbean.

A welcome lay day and it’s time to head for a bay for a quiet BBQ lunch and swim. Antigua boasts 365 bays, one for each day of the year.

The 4th race is to Jolly Harbour Marina for the night and it’s down to Annie, Baney, Ian and myself. Phil and Ann have gone back home and Don has departed with his yacht ‘Honey Moon’ to the USA for hauling for the hurricane season before returning to Noosa.

Ian promises to take it easy as we are seriously under crewed. No such luck as a snide remark from one fully crewed yacht accuses us of reducing crew for the light conditions. The light wind is frustrating but with a little bit of luck and low cunning we manage to get another 2nd after 6 hours of sailing. After each race the top 3 yachts are presented with a gold, silver or bronze pennant to fly from the backstay, a nice way to recognize results. Thanks to sponsor La Perla, the Jolly harbour resort puts on the most enjoyable party at the local Golf Club with great food, rum and music.

Race 5 the last race back to English Harbour under blue skies is tough, challenging and exhausting with winds from zero to 20 knots and we manage another 4th. Thank goodness we only had 5 races. This is the first time in 9 months aboard that we have actually had to sail ‘Cape Finisterre’ into the wind and tack. We are thrilled at the way she easily handled the conditions and especially against fully crewed yachts with lots of experience aboard.

Our 4th overall position in Antigua Sailing Week is a thrill and well worth all the effort.
It was great to be there and participate in these beautiful waters with perfect temperatures all day, every day and catch up with old friends Dayne Sharp and Susanne and also to cross tracks with Trevor and Maggie Joyce with another Mariner Boating Rally.

Annie and Baney fly out and Geoff and Pip Lavis fly in for our sail back down the islands to Grenada for hauling the yacht. With nearly 3 weeks up our sleeve it will be a leisurely sail for the 350nms, thank goodness!!!!!!

What a wonderful treat to be in Antigua for the Classic Yacht Regatta 2008, with over 60 vessels competing from 148ft down to 30ft. Our favourites ones are the vintage gaff rigged yachts built from 1890 to 1915. Some of course were only built 5 years ago but to the original drawings, construction and rig. It seems to be that vintage is the new toy for those that have everything.

Of particular interest was the dog fight between the old Americas cup J class ‘Ranger’ and ‘Velsheda’ both at over 130ft with close match racing around the course. ‘Eleonora’, a 120ft gaff rigged schooner, is an exact replica of the Schooner Westward designed and built by Herreshoff in the early 1900’s and successfully raced with the famous Charlie Barr as skipper. She looks stunning under sail and was even more amazing to go onboard.

The regatta only competed 3 of the 4 races as the last day was abandoned due to no wind, a first for us in the Caribbean since arriving 4 ½ months ago.

Between the two regattas and with Annie and Baney on board we have an opportunity to sail around to Green Island for a few days. On approach to the entrance of the lagoon we spot a catamaran up on the reef and always a reminder to be very aware. The unfortunate owner was late leaving port and arrived in the dark to negotiate a narrow channel between reefs. There was no hope of salvage and the owner was trying to save everything possible.

A stunning area of shades of blue and green, white sand and conch shells everywhere. Conch is a local food and the beautiful shells lie everywhere broken on the beach but live ones can also be found at your feet in very shallow water. It’s very hard to accept the waste of these beautiful shells but to them they are like oysters to us.

At anchor in the lagoon one of the yachts organised a beach party and before long as the sun was setting over 10 inflatable’s were lined up on the beach as we all shared stories of our travels.

Lobster is also plentiful around the island and relatively inexpensive if purchased from the local fish market. It is always a treat to have them freshly killed and head straight back to the yacht to BBQ. Along with the rum which we can buy by the cask in the Caribbean we are certainly enjoying the local produce.

Antigua Sailing Week starts tomorrow and should be a lot of fun. Not too much preparation as we are in the cruising division with no spinnaker so plan to enjoy as the big maxis ‘Leopard’ and ‘Rambler’ fight it out. There are nearly 200 entries with about half the fleet in cruising divisions.

Passing the mid winter marks the weather warming up, the sea temperature will rise to 28deg and this means the hurricane season is fast approaching. Most owners will start to store their boats outside the hurricane belt (south of 12 degrees) around the end of May. Our plan is sail 350nm south on the 5th May to Grenada taking 3 weeks. Geoff and Pip Lavis from Sydney are joining us, so we have plenty of time to enjoy as we sail back down the arc of 11 islands.

Storage will mean hauling ‘Cape Finisterre’ out of the water, placing her in a one piece cradle and strapping down to very deep anchor points in the compacted ground. We will strip the mast and deck of all the sails, halyards, remove the dodger and bimini and lay the boom on the deck. All this reduces windage when and if a hurricane does pass through. We will keep our fingers crossed!!!!

Plans for next season are to return early November and sail very quickly back to Antigua and then enjoy the rest of the Leeward Islands, the stunning Virgin Islands then all the way to the white sands of the Bahamas passing through the Turks, Caicas Islands and maybe Cuba on the way.

While we shelter under Ilet a Cabrit waiting for the big seas and winds to abate, Liz and Heinz sail back to Pointe a Pitre in atrocious conditions to return the yacht to the charter base before flying back to France.

Sailing from the Islands of The Saintes to the coastal western wing of Guadeloupe is fast and lumpy but as soon as we are behind the mountains its flat calm and no wind. Halfway up the coast is Pigeon Island and the recently renamed Jacque Cousteau Underwater Park. Perfect diving in 12 metres; this is nature at its best with clear, deep, blue water. We snorkel over interesting rock formations, moray eels, coloured fish and octopus and even though it’s deep, it is perfectly clear. Actually, the moray eel sent my flippers flapping very quickly back to the boat.

A year ago a statue to Jacque Cousteau was mounted here under the water and after some persistence we find it. Set on a white sand patch, looking at a coral encrusted cliff teaming with fish, it is in very deep water. Cousteau considered this to be one of the finest dive sites in the world.

Deshaies Harbour on the northern western tip of Basse Terre is home for a few days while we explore the Rainforest Mountains of Basse Terre and the Botanical Garden. High above the pretty fishing village of Deshaies is Jardin Botanique and after a bit of exercise for the day, it turns out to be one of the best maintained gardens we have seen to date. There are tropical flowers and plants everywhere; lots of pink pelicans and native birds too. I can only dream of my new camera but in the meantime Ian’s waterproof “sardine can” camera will suffice.

We loved Guadeloupe’s diversity from the flat dry land, white sand and shallow turquoise seas on one side to the lush green towering rain forests and deep seas on the other side.

Crossing 42 miles to Antigua couldn’t be better and it only takes us 5 hours in the north easterly trade winds. Into the protected English Harbour, super yachts are everywhere and with English spoken we will settle in here for a few weeks very nicely. The first major event is the 21st ‘Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta’ starting on 17th April and then the regatta we have entered the 41st ‘Antigua Sailing Week’ starting on 27th April.

Our first surprise on arriving was that we had to have the yacht rated to enter the regatta. For 40 years they have had a Caribbean rating system similar to IRC but without weighing the yachts. It has worked well and minimises the little white lies yacht owners tend to use.

The Classic regatta will be a new experience for us and some wonderful famous craft from the bye gone era are gathering. Ian is drooling over yachts such as ‘Ticonderoga’, the maxi to beat in her day, still looking immaculate, the J Class ‘Ranger’, at 136ft, and the wonderful gaff rigged schooners ‘Eleonora’, a Herreshoff 120ft, and ‘Altair’, a Fife 108ft. There will be over 50 classics from 30-140ft racing.

Of interest also arriving for our sailing week are the old round the world racing ketch’s from New Zealand “Steinlager” and “Fisher and Paykel” and of particular interest to Ian is “Charisma” a 55 footer which was a member of the 1973 USA Admirals cup team of which he was crew on “Salty Goose”
English Harbour is an amazingly sheltered anchorage. It was the home of the English fleet in the 1700s & 1800s with “Nelson’s Dockyard” having been wonderfully restored. Nelson actually only served here when at the age of 25 he was in command of a Frigate with a complement of 250 on board. 5000 military were based here during the Napoleonic wars but like all the other forts on the various islands, Fort Berkeley never saw action.

You may remember one of my ARC reports about the yacht ‘Barbary Duck’ which was abandoned mid Atlantic and left to float at the beginning of December off the Cape Verde islands. Three months and 2000nms later it turned up here off the coast of Antigua and today Ian and I saw her in a boat yard. It is quite unbelievable seeing her from the out side looking very sea worthy and that this very strong yacht, a ‘Westerly Corsair 38’, was even abandoned in the first place. Her mast had broken at the lower spreader but she was not dismasted when found. The reason for abandonment was cracking around the chain plates and the owners believed the mast was in danger. Leaving her created a very dangerous hazard all that time for other yachts crossing the Atlantic. You would have to wonder what was on their minds to abandon the yacht for their life raft when it was still floating and sailing well.

Sunday night is ‘Jump Up’ at Shirley Heights overlooking English & Falmouth Harbour. With the sun going down, steel band and reggae music its one big BBQ party. From 44 gallon drums, 3 steel drums and various local musical instruments they beat out anything from the ‘Beatles Let it be’ to a Mozart concerto. Absolutely amazing! Unfortunately we missed the previous Sunday when famous West Indian cricketers Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson performed with their band ‘Dread and the Bald One’. The island is cricketing mad with Sir Viv Richards, a former captain, the local hero. Being an Australian helps and it is a pity we are going to miss the Aussie one day tour here next month.

Getting the bus is another musical experience. One day we rock along with loud reggae music and a Rastafarian driver steering to the music and the next day a sing along gospel service. Loving the good nature of the locals and while the West Indies are winning the cricket everyone is happy.

The island and population are small (72,000) but although it’s a slightly scruffy place, the locals are the nicest and happiest we have come across; especially the children. Maybe it’s the milk shakes, check out the menu in the pic.

Joining us for the regatta are Anne and Baney Richardson from Sydney and Ann and Phil Smith from New York. If the wind keeps blowing it will be an exciting race week.

Always to get a reaction: an Ian quote. Hi, I’m from Australia, the home of cricket!!!