Someone’s playing five aside in my head as I wake up and I guess I had too much sunshine on my ever thinning scalp during the day (That’s my excuse anyway). No time for breakfast as we have our crews racing for the first day today. Now the dock is looking serious, with all the yacht crews in their matching crew kits ready to do battle on the crystal warm waters to the south of the Island. Our crews have their official Antigua Sailing Week Line 7 kit with yacht names and numbers and look every part the pro crew… the week will tell ;-). The start takes them to Tuna, on to Cat, Bluff, Legacy, Curtains and back to Bluff. The breeze is stiff with 20 knots, gusting 25 which is perfect for our Farr 65s. If a yacht could smile, they would be grinning from stem to stern.
Being stuck in the hospitality tent for most of the day, I have little to report on the racing today, but will endeavour to convey this through our crew over the coming days… sorry. Suffice to say that Louis and his crew managed to get out of the blocks first over the line with military precision and take 2nd overall on the day.. good start fella! The legendary Farr 100, Leopard managed to snap her boom which is a real shocker given her past performance in bigger seas and stronger winds… what a shame for her crew (I hope that they managed to get something sorted).
Cold beers and Rum Punch seem to be gratefully received by our guests and talk of the days racing resonates around the Dockyard…. along with plans of which parties will be visited tonight. We close up the tent and Jim (Bag Lady… and RYA Instructor for our Gosport UK base) and I head off to the Rib Shack for some first class BBQ Ribs and Chicken washed down with Ice cold Carib (local beer). The food is great here, and caters for all tastes and budgets with fresh local produce on offer in the best restaurants to the street vendor.
Back to the Hotel to catch up on some office work and update the blog. Dave is sat on the terrace having uploaded all the days photos to his website having been on Spirit of Minerva today and we plan the day for tomorrow. Rum and Ting time now so I’ll be off.
