Sunday, April 6, 2008
REPORT FROM RYAN
After the conclusion of the Heineken regatta we took care of the necessary boat work and took the main sail to get repaired. While waiting, we noticed that there was a big storm in the North Atlantic that was hitting the islands in 4 days. If we waited for the repair, we would not have been able to get to Barbados by the 1st to pick up Matt Cordeau and see the islands on the way down. With a last minute decision we picked up the sail, which is still usable with a reef in it and set sail for Saba. Our goal for Saba was to climb to the highest peak (3000 ft) and get the stamp in the passport. We did in fact make it to the top and see most of the island which was absolutely beautiful. From Saba, we continued south east to Guadeloupe before the big storm hit. Once we arrived we realized that the Island was extremely large, and public transportation was hard to find. We rented a car, which made accessing the surf spots a breeze. We surfed Port Louis, which had the biggest surf it has seen in years, so we were quite fortunate. We decided to hang around till the 24th so we could meet up with a friend that raced with us in the Heineken regatta. After hanging out with Dan for a day, we decided to push off to Dominica. This sail was quite rough but only took 8 hours. On this sail our engine stopped charging the batteries which would eventually become a serious problem. Not being able to charge the batteries means that we would not be able to start the engine once they get below a certain charge. We got a local mechanic to fix the problem which was a huge relief. We could now use lights and keep our food cold.
Due to the large size of Dominica, we decided that a rental car was the best way to see the whole island. After getting the car we made our way to one of the Islands natural waterfalls (Trafalger Falls) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. After looking at the map of the island, we thought that the drive through volcano would be cool to do as the only drive through that we had encountered before was Mc Donalds. This turned out to be amazing. We then cruised the North Coast of the Island which was extremely lush, covered with Palm Trees, greenery, rainforest, and single lane roads. This was definitely the coolest drive that we had ever made. Our plan was to depart the next day and make the trek to Barbados. When we woke up we noticed that one of our friends from the BVI was anchored right in front of us. After reminiscing, we pushed off for Barbados. This sail took 35 hours and was quite rough. We ended up ripping our genoa so we were limited to our main sail. We arrived early morning on the 1st, just in time for Matts arrival. We spent the next couple of days touring Barbados, getting the boat back in shape and checking out its famous surf spots.
We departed on the 4th and headed south west to Grenada. Along the way, we decided to stop off in the Grenadines to check out the scenery and enjoy a swim in the Tobagao Cays. This was an area with a lot of little islands and a huge reef. Very cool spot to spend an afternoon. It was another 10 hours to Grenada which is where we are currently anchored.
So whats next…….We are heading to Caracas(Venezuela) tomorrow which is probably going to be a 3 day sail, then push off to the ABC islands to pick up Maggie on the 15th. From there we will work our way west to Panama to go through the cannal and meet up with family. We’ll keep you posted.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
quick news
Ryan and Davis have just spent time in Guadalupe and Dominica . They are currently in transit to Barbados!
Exciting news is that Maggie will be joining the boys mid April and Karen will hopefully meet up with the crew in Panama on May 10th!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Article on Sailing Anarchy about the Boat Ryan and Davis sailed on at the Heineken Regatta
Tame That Tiger
Heineken Regatta 2008, Flying Tiger 10What happens when 3am trash talk at the bar 4 weeks ago turns to the idea of chartering a race boat for 2008 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta? 9 people, ranging from the age of 21 to 61, a Flying Tiger Ten and enough stories to keep the trash talk at the bar for at least another year of racing stories? Yea you'll get a few, party stories, why not?
Crackin off with a big bang, we hit up the usual Thursday practice day, Budget Marine Commodore's Cup. We had a great debrief the night before, although I think there was more talk about the peeler bars, then the actual racing. Sure enough, we figured out what we were all going to do on the boat, and how to do it, so we pretty much had already won... Ha... Spinnaker 3, great class, gotta love racing a 32 foot boat with a fleet that consisted of boats like Yani, Storm and Oyster Catcher... In fact we figured out EASY the boat just one size up from us... the rig cost more than our entire boat. So, how does the Flying Tiger (FT 10M) rate? Well, Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) believes that this boat rates faster than a Mumm 36, a boat that on PHRF owes the FT 10M 18 seconds a mile. What??? Well let's just sail it fast and see how it goes...
After Thursday's regatta, maybe we should worry about going downwind. But hey its a asym boat that most of have little experience, and we got the owner on the boat racing, great he can race it for us, our crew included previous overall winners of this very regatta, ex Americans cup sailors, some young blood skiff and dinghy sailors , and 130 lb German (the owner).
The racing was long, tiring, filled with many stories from the night before, as well as the occasional shrimp session... and occasional broachfest... Wind was a steady 15-25knts all weekend, around the island race brought in some nice north east swell but primarily easterly's, the inshore races had some good geometrics, and of course the bands, babes and booze all lead to why this regatta continues to be one of the main staples of Caribbean racing. The boat, can't say I've sailed a better boat, in all conditions, this boat rocks, hitting 18.7knts on the Friday, followed by a nice scream on the Sunday of 19.9knts, those designers and Chinese got a good thing going, keep it up. With a revamp of the CSA rating systems, I believe the Flying Tiger could be competitive in the Caribbean regattas, or going on what my old man says, who happens to be the oldest sailor on the boat at 61, "we didn't have a snowballs chance in hell with that rating".
So where do we go now? Well first off is too the prize giving celebrations, one were we won't be going on the podium, but we'll party like we did. The band warms up as I write this, and I heard later that this "shaggy" man will be performing, if his name is a cursor for how the weekend should wrap up, well we should be in for a good night, and if it looks a little dismal, well there's always Golden Eyes and Club Bliss after party...
Anarchist Watts2434
Chris Watters
03/10/08
Heineken Regatta 2008, Flying Tiger 10What happens when 3am trash talk at the bar 4 weeks ago turns to the idea of chartering a race boat for 2008 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta? 9 people, ranging from the age of 21 to 61, a Flying Tiger Ten and enough stories to keep the trash talk at the bar for at least another year of racing stories? Yea you'll get a few, party stories, why not?
Crackin off with a big bang, we hit up the usual Thursday practice day, Budget Marine Commodore's Cup. We had a great debrief the night before, although I think there was more talk about the peeler bars, then the actual racing. Sure enough, we figured out what we were all going to do on the boat, and how to do it, so we pretty much had already won... Ha... Spinnaker 3, great class, gotta love racing a 32 foot boat with a fleet that consisted of boats like Yani, Storm and Oyster Catcher... In fact we figured out EASY the boat just one size up from us... the rig cost more than our entire boat. So, how does the Flying Tiger (FT 10M) rate? Well, Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) believes that this boat rates faster than a Mumm 36, a boat that on PHRF owes the FT 10M 18 seconds a mile. What??? Well let's just sail it fast and see how it goes...
After Thursday's regatta, maybe we should worry about going downwind. But hey its a asym boat that most of have little experience, and we got the owner on the boat racing, great he can race it for us, our crew included previous overall winners of this very regatta, ex Americans cup sailors, some young blood skiff and dinghy sailors , and 130 lb German (the owner).
The racing was long, tiring, filled with many stories from the night before, as well as the occasional shrimp session... and occasional broachfest... Wind was a steady 15-25knts all weekend, around the island race brought in some nice north east swell but primarily easterly's, the inshore races had some good geometrics, and of course the bands, babes and booze all lead to why this regatta continues to be one of the main staples of Caribbean racing. The boat, can't say I've sailed a better boat, in all conditions, this boat rocks, hitting 18.7knts on the Friday, followed by a nice scream on the Sunday of 19.9knts, those designers and Chinese got a good thing going, keep it up. With a revamp of the CSA rating systems, I believe the Flying Tiger could be competitive in the Caribbean regattas, or going on what my old man says, who happens to be the oldest sailor on the boat at 61, "we didn't have a snowballs chance in hell with that rating".
So where do we go now? Well first off is too the prize giving celebrations, one were we won't be going on the podium, but we'll party like we did. The band warms up as I write this, and I heard later that this "shaggy" man will be performing, if his name is a cursor for how the weekend should wrap up, well we should be in for a good night, and if it looks a little dismal, well there's always Golden Eyes and Club Bliss after party...
Anarchist Watts2434
Chris Watters
03/10/08
Sunday, March 9, 2008
St. Maarten Heineken Regatt
Ryan and Davis have just finished racing in the Heineken regatta.
http://www.heinekenregatta.com/
I'm sure they are at the final party/concert right now!
They will begin to island hop for the next couple of weeks!
http://www.heinekenregatta.com/
I'm sure they are at the final party/concert right now!
They will begin to island hop for the next couple of weeks!
Friday, February 22, 2008
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