An early start as the yachts have to make their way from the south of the Island up to the North East for the start line of the Falmouth Harbour Race. Dave, our photographer jumps aboard Spirit of Minerva with our skipper Michael ‘Monkey’ Collier and the guys to get the action - (see the website for pics) and the yachts slip out of the harbour in the glorious Caribbean sunshine.
I catch up with Toby Hodges from Yachting World (another official sponsor of this event) and chat through with him what we get up to at Ondeck in our various global locations. I am hoping that the main focus of his article becomes the way that we try and make quality sailing, hospitality experiences and training accessible to all regardless of experience, age and catering for most budgets though he’ll probably pick up on the new Iced Drinks machine that Pete drafted in (oh Toby.. the mixed berry smoothie down your white Yachting World polo shirt is not a good look.. hot wash when you get home eh!).
Jim (Bag Lady) is mastering the smoothies, crushed ice drinks and more importantly the alcoholic cocktails with the new machine. The guys manning the stand become ‘tasters’ for all manner of exotic cocktails and I make sure that the Pina Coladas and Margaritas are up to scratch - it’s all in the quality control!
I catch the guys from Spirit of Juno and their crew, ‘Team Bandit’ and get a run down of the day’s action and a few quotes. Waddo (Dave Watson).. 7 times Sydney Hobart entrant and past class winner), the skipper tells me that the wind was 25 knots gusting 30 with the flatter seas that are usually experienced to the west of the Island. Rory, 1st mate, tells me that they - and I quote “got nothing wrong today” and that they experienced near perfect conditions. In his own words, “Champagne Sailing”… though I did not see the Champagne Mumm Bottles being smuggled onboard and reminded him of our zero tolerance to our staff drinking and sailing ;-).
Tom, from our St Thomas USVI base is 2nd mate aboard and tells me that the charter guest crew are among the most intuitive he has ever sailed with. “these guys are serious but great fun! The teamwork is great and the calm manner aboard is a pleasure” They manage a 6th in class but tell me they have more to give as the week progresses.
Tonight is our big ‘Official Antigua Sailing Week party’ with Dread and the Bald Heads playing in Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour. Our friends from English Harbour Rum (a fellow sponsor of the event) kindly bring along a free rum bar and a bunch of Yellow Caps for the guests. The band set up and perform the sound checks whilst the rum is flowing and the dockyard fills with crews from all over the world.
Jim and Rob man the iced drinks machine and start serving cocktails in the official Antigua Sailing Week mugs as the customers line up in something resembling a Russian bread queue! The band start to play and the party gets into full swing whilst our merchandise tent starts to heave with crews looking for presents for back home as well as our Line 7 technical kit and Dubarry of Ireland sailing shoes. Curtly Ambrose towers above the rest of the band with his base guitar, all 7 feet of him or so. Richie Richardson on lead guitar attracts attention from cricket fans and plays it cool whilst the vocalists pour out Reggae tunes one after the other along with certain adapted covers in a Reggae stylie! The band and the rum go to well and the dockyard is full of contented sailors swaying and moving their feet (some in a more random way than others) to the music in the warm Caribbean moonlit evening.
Having stared at 8am this morning, it is now nearly midnight and my feet are killing me. Luckily, the rum cocktails are numbing the pain and we all decide that iced cocktails are the future for Ondeck given tonight’s success and sit for a second contemplating world domination in the iced drinks market…it’s gotta be easier than this sailing lark! I am now in serious need of my bed……….
