Location: 17° 01N, 61° 47W
Wednesday, 04.23.2008

The Schooner Maggie B is in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, moored at the marvelous Catamaran Club, at 17° 01N, 061° 47W. We are more or less ready for the 930 NM run to Bermuda tomorrow morning (which means at least afternoon in the Islands). The weather going north should be somewhat interesting (see Commanders forecast on the web). We hope to be in St. Georges harbour by the end of April.

I will have some photos up from the Antigua Classic Race Week, but not too many, because I was too busy racing. We all spent much of the time simply gaping at the stunning boats all around us.

Sometimes way too close. The best photographer here is perhaps Tim Wright, and he has photos up of the race at Photoaction.com

We had a lot of press attention. One day we had the official Antigua Classics film crew on board, plus writers from Wooden Boat, Boat International and Classic Yachts. There were many more coming by at different times.

There was a bit of a saga also. Regular readers remember that our J-Prop feathering propeller self-destructed in Martinique. We put the 28″ fixed prop on and it worked fine after I sawed out the prop aperture. But we’ve sailed the boat enough to know what to expect and the fixed prop is like towing a bucket in comparison to a feathering prop. In a decent breeze, a 15-20 knot beam reach, it makes easily 3/4 of a knot difference, if not a full knot. Not nice for racing.

We raced with the fixed prop on the first day and it was awful. I was faced with a mutiny. Knives were out to force me to take it off. Nigel Irens was ready to get back on an airplane, John Steele of Covey Island had a very long-suffering face, Sandy MacMillan of North Sails was ready to go to the Chinese Olympics. Did I mention it wasn’t nice?

I said the I’d take it off if we talked to the skippers of the boats we were closest to, and got approval from the Race Committee. We did that, talking especially to the Head of the Race Committee. The morning of the second race we motored out to a safe cove and jumped over with our Hookah breathing apparatus. Every boat going racing could see everything we were doing. One boat even stopped to videotape the operation.

We smoked that race and there were smiles all around, at least on the Maggie B. After the race, the skipper of one boat came to visit and inquire about the prop and what we were rated for. He had the video, and had taken it to the Ratings Committee. We told him the whole story — who we talked to and when. His boat was slow and uncompetitive, and I hadn’t mentioned it to him beforehand because I couldn’t imagine why it would be important to him. The Ratings Committee decided that I should have written them a letter asking to be re-rated and not done anything until I had a written response. Talking to the Head of the Race Committee and what he said was not relevant. I could withdraw or be successfully protested. We withdrew.

We raced the next two days without the prop. We would motor out, anchor, take it off, up the anchor under sail, race “bare,” sail in, anchor, put the prop back on and motor back to the dock. We remained gentlemen and gentle ladies, but we also took every opportunity to do entire legal “positioning” to disrupt the race plans of the boat that had ratted us out. I wonder if his video made it to You-Tube?

We all had great fun. Probably a bit too much rum, but the work and heat of the racing sweated each night’s excesses out of us. Lovely parties and kind reception for our circumnavigation everywhere.
I single-handed Maggie B on the fifth day of racing and I’m pleased to report that we came in second, despite our new, very high, “propless” rating. We had a photographer for the Race Week on board, so there should be some fun photos coming. After the morning single handed race there was gig racing in the afternoon, and the Reepicheep was well admired and much borrowed by different rowers. I regret that in the Men’s Singles I didn’t fully understand the course and when out at the head of the pack of 13-14 boats continued to a further mark and was astonished when the others turned at an earlier mark. I came in fourth. It was still a fun day and Reep won in the Woman’s Singles and the Family Race.

We are looking forward to a nice peaceful(?) Blue Water Passage.