by Stephanie Pearson
24.05.2009
? S Baker
“How’d you get a bloody hat? Did you have to sleep with someone to get that?”
The answer is no, but that doesn’t stop my face from turning as red as the “Mount Gay Boatyard Barbados Regatta 2009” baseball hat that I’m not supposed to be wearing. I’m bobbing up and down on the Ocean Hunter, a fishing yacht owned by Robbie Atwell, a sixth-generation Bajan who could lead you to the biggest blue marlin in Barbados blindfolded. But we’re not fishing. We’re in the middle of Carlisle Bay off the west coast of Barbados in 80-degree temperatures and 14-knot winds, surrounded by journalists and wives of yachties in string bikinis watching their husbands compete in the first day of the 24th annual Mount Gay Regatta. The blonde ex-pat Brit wife wearing Chanel sunglasses informs me that only competitors get to wear the Mount Gay hat, an item so coveted that one wealthy yachtie acquired one by sending his private jet to Barbados to fetch one.
Mount Gay has distilled rum on Barbados since 1703 and is one of the world’s largest yacht-racing sponsors, so it’s ironic that this hometown regatta isn’t as competitive as, say, Antigua Sailing Week. Instead, it’s a laid-back, festive three-day event with 37 boats competing in five classes—everything from the 1990 World Maxi Yacht Champion Longobarda sailing in the Racing Class B category to a fierce 14-boat J-24 class. Two of the local Bajan entries, Hawkeye and Esperanza, just returned from the J-24 World Sailing Championship in Annapolis.
"Happy hour is on Mount Gay run!"
The first day of sailing, the wind is steady, the legs are long, and the sailors are cleaning all the rum out of their system. Last night after the skipper’s briefing at the Barbados Yacht Club, a grand old manor with crystal chandeliers, the brand manager for Mount Gay announced “Happy Hour is on Mount Gay Rum! Cheers!” What was already a raucous party just got a lot rowdier.
On Day Two, I moved to the middle of the action “crewing” (if you can call my lame attempts at staying out of the way, “crewing”) aboard the Longobarda. Since her prime in the 90s, the carbon, 80-foot Italian-made maxi has been completely overhauled by its Bajan owner, Paul Edwards, a former chef for Formula One racing. The cabin now comfortably sleeps six and looks like an art-gallery, with first edition black and white Getty prints of race cars and beautiful women hanging over black carbon-fiber tables. When Edwards isn’t racing, he charters the boat for U.S. $16,000 per week, which includes a full crew.
The Longobarda may have been a world champion in her day, but so far this regatta has been brutal on its six real crew. “We had a shit handicap,” says the Bajan skipper Clint Brooks. The Longobarda crossed the finish first in both races yesterday, but the massive beast dwarfs the other four boats in Racing Class B and had to overcome a virtually impossible 19-minute handicap.
At 10 a.m. the wind is at five knots and the race has been postponed for an hour, so we putter around the bay in the drizzle.
“This is really odd,” Brooks says. “There’s a big huge system drawing all this crap up right now! This is not right. This is not Barbados! But hey, whatever. We’ll get out there and have some fun.” An hour later, the sun comes out, the wind picks up, and we do have some fun, even though the first race is a disaster for the Longobarda. By race two, she’s back out in front, crushing the competition and crossing the line minutes ahead of every other boat on the water.
"We're freaking close"
“We’re freaking close to winning this race, I’ll tell you that!” says Brooks. Turns out they didn’t. Tangalaga 3 from Grenada took overall first place in Racing Class B, while Longobarda was hamstrung by her handicap and didn’t even place in the top three. The comeback of the regatta is Hawkeye, the J-24 captained by Robert Povey, a Bajan entrepreneur who just spent the last month getting whipped into shape by the Olympians he competed against at the Annapolis World Championships, where Hawkeye finished 70th out of 82.
After two firsts, a DQ, and a second place finish, Hawkeye had to finish the last race in the top five. “We knew we had a chance to come back,” says Povey. “On the last leg of the last race we came in third in the last five minutes with two points to spare.” Povey was pumped but even the losers seemed perfectly happy to walk away with a red hat and free Mount Gay Rum.
Want to join a sailing crew?
You don’t need to go all the way to Barbados to sign up as a crewmember aboard a sailing boat. In fact, you don’t even need to have any sailing experience at all. Here’s WideWorld’s pick of the best ways to get afloat.
Crew seekers
Crewseekers specialise in introducing amateur crew for leisure sailing, cruising, yacht racing and delivery trips. Professional yacht crew are also required for such varied placements as deckhands, cooks, stewardesses and hostesses up to first mate and yachtmaster/captain appointments. Crew negotiate direct with the owners for the best arrangements to suit both parties.
Adrenaline sailing
Adrenaline Sailing are tuition experts for people who want to learn the ropes. They run fast-track programmes that get you sailing as quickly as possible - you can therefore gain the Yachmaster qualification in three months, or three years, depending on your commitments.
Crew searching
CrewSearcher is run by sailing enthusiasts to provide a quick, simple platform for placing the right crew with the right vessel – worldwide - in all aspects and levels of sailing including novice, professional, cruising, racing, fun day sailing and worldwide yacht deliveries. Their online database enables you to quickly search for suitable crew positions or, you can simply register your own details on our web site to be viewed by interested owners/skippers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Eilte sailing
A company that organises sailing cruises around the British Isles and northwest Europe, combining the excitement of a sailing holiday with the delights of seeing places like the Scillies, Normandy, Orkney and Holland.
Yot linx
An online networking site to help people find suitable positions on boats, for particular destinations, competitions and abilities. Even if you’re an utter landlubber, you’ll be able to match yourself with the right crew and tub in a jiffy.
WideWorld directory
If you’re keen to learn how to sail, don’t forget to check out the WideWorld Directory. It’s a searchable database of sailing clubs all over the UK that will match you up with your nearest place to learn.
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