12 Meter Racing in St. Maarten

Well we were up bright and early yesterday morning to get ready for our sailing adventure. We donned scopolamine patches at the prescribed time to ward of the dreaded motion sickness. At Christmas, my daughter and her husband gave us a brown business envelope with a Xerox certificate in it. The certificate was for our participation in the St. Maarten 12meter challenge. We checked it out on the Internet, and it looked like great fun. (Also looked a little scary) But back in St. Maarten, we had it all planned, Jerry and Brenda were going to drive us down to the port and take pictures as we left. They would have fun in Phillipsburg while we were out sailing. We arrived in Phillipsburg a little early on purpose to be sure we had enough time to navigate the traffic and find Bobbies Marina where the sailing was headquartered. We drove past the tiny sign for Bobbies a couple times till we found the entrance to the parking lot. Once landed in the parking lot, we still had to ask directions to get to the 12meter shop. It was over there through the alley down to the water and turn left….but watch out cause they are paving down along the water. But undaunted, we found the place in plenty of time and a very nice lady, who knew my daughter from Email, accepted our certificate and told us we’d be heading out in about 30 minutes. We wandered around and then sat down out front to wait.

Soon a pontoon sort of boat pulled up and tied up at the dock. It said 72 passengers max, so we were a little confused. The nice lady told us it was big cause it had to take the 09:30 folks off the racing boats and put us on. We saw a young photographer and his yellow lab get into an inflatable boat and head out with great speed to the harbor, wondering what his mission was. Once again we were talking to the nice lady and she was telling us all about cruise ships and the tourism industry. She told us there were only 2 ships in today, and they could hold 4 at their dock. They are expanding their dock to hold as many as 6 ships. She said last year, they would often have 5 or 6 ships and two of them had to moor off shore, tendering their folks back and forth to the shore. (The cruise ships don’t like that because it’s too much expense and trouble) She also said they actually had 9 cruise ships in port at one time and it was insanity. So the cruise companies got together and adjusted sailing schedules so now 4 at a time is about the norm.

Back to the sailing: At the appointed time we loaded on the shuttle boat with 12 or so folks, and headed out. We waved and Jerry took pictures. Two minutes later we were pulling back into the dock and Jerry took pictures again. Jerry and Brenda cheered and asked how was it. We picked up some stragglers, and then left again. (Little did I know I was really glad we went back to get the 4 young boys that got on) Now we headed out into the port area seeing all the boats, cruise ships, beautiful cliff houses, and brilliant blue green water. Soon we pulled in again, but this time it was at the water taxi dock near the cruise ships. Here we got back off the shuttle and met the rest of our racing folks. A real great guy was there to tell us the whole history of America’s Cup Racing, and divide us into teams. Vickie and I got on the same team, and our team captain got to participate in the coin toss for boat preference. We all discussed it, and told her if she won the toss we wanted Stars and Stripes (Dennis Conner’s winning boat from 1987). We won the toss and got Stars and Stripes. Then we got back on the shuttle boat, now sitting as two teams. They encouraged us to trash talk the other team and start getting our team spirit together. Later he came around and assigned us jobs for our up coming race. We had our choice of “active, semi active, or non active” jobs. Vickie and I both said we would try anything. I didn’t know at the time but Vickie whispered to Ron the job guy “Don’t put the man behind me(Wes) near a rope because he tangles extension cords badly” She ended up as the Main Sheet Trimmer with tangly ropes reporting directly to the captain. (Perfectly suited to her cause she is good with ropes and keeping them untangled) I ended up as a galley slave, better known as a Primary Grinder. (According to the crew on real race boats they use NFL linemen as grinders because of their strength and quickness) I’m sure he picked me for my strength and quickness.

Soon a delicate ballet started to get the shuttle “barge” alongside the greyhound like sailing vessels. We were safely secured along side our race boat, and we transferred off the earlier crew, and we climbed aboard. The ballet was repeated for the Canada II, which was the boat we were to race.

While they got the Canada II loaded up and for the rest of trip out to the race starting point, our crew (Captain, Mate and 1st Mate) taught us how to crew a 12meter boat. Vickie had to learn how to loosen or tighten the rope around her drum winch, which allowed the main sail sheet to go in and out. She had two Main Grinders to power her winch pulling it in. I was introduced to the job of Primary Grinder. The Primary Grinders supply the power for 2 winches, one on either side of the boat, which put tension on the jib (sail in the front). What we had to do is take orders from both of the mates, and when they told us, 4 people working together grabbed these rotating handles and cranked like hell in one of 3 “gears”. Luckily it was me 2 young boys from Brazil, and a young girl. These two young boys were part of the four we went back to pick up at the dock. Otherwise, it would have been me, the girl, and couple of old women as Primary Grinders. Of course you had to do all this cranking while bracing your feet at crazy angles as the boat heeled from side to side. To quote myself “It was more fun than fun”. The Captain would yell “tacking” which would be followed by a whole bunch of frantic grinding, ropes flying around and a big whomp as the sails took up the strain on the other side of the boat. At the coaching and encouragement of our Captain (His name was Captain Morgan----really) we started whooping and cheering when we got off a good sharp maneuver. Me and the other grinders started making great growling noises as we sprang to our work, and life was good. We had a perfect day, not too hot, waves not too huge, and 18 to 20 knots of wind. We tacked back and forth in front of the starting line maneuvering for position on the other boat. (I learned that the boat on the port tack has the right of way)

We had a good clean start, and began tacking back and forth on our 1st upwind leg. Even though they told us 20 to 22 knots was as fast as we’d be going today, it seemed we were flying over the water. We were pretty much in a dead heat at the end of the first leg, and rounded the marker smartly. We started the downwind leg, and they told the Primaries to take a break on this leg, which involve a cold beer that went down in about 4 swallows and never tasted so good. Half way through the downwind leg, Canada II passed us and the Captain decided to tack off for some better winds. (Surprising the Primary Grinders) Beer cans and water bottles hit the floor as we sprang to the task. We picked up some better wind, and were slightly ahead rounding the second marker. As we turned back up wind, we began a tacking duel with Canada II and I thought my arms were going to fall off. But every tack we were gaining on them, and one time we came so close to the other boat our Captain caught the perfect wave and put tons of water in the other boats cockpit. We had one more leg to go, and the Captain let our team captain choose the turn direction. He asked us if we had another tacking run in us and received a resounding yes, so we went for it. At times the sides of the boat were down almost to the water, but we were flying, and as we approached the official boat we did one last lightening tack, and ended up on the inside with the shortest distance to the finish line. We won by about 6 feet, and what a feeling. My arms were burning and the mate told us we just did about an hour, the real racers go for about 6 hours. Wish I’d discovered this when I was young. Vickie did a great job with her sheet trimming, as the Captain called out “Vickie sweetheart, give me 2 feet out” or “Vickie give me 20 feet out quickly”. By the end of the race it was mostly “Sweetheart”. She had a very difficult job, and handled it with precision.

After the race and a brief celebration, we went back into port and tied up to a mooring. We were the last race of the day. They offered if we wanted to go swimming, over the side was fine, they had a rope ladder to get back up. I didn’t think my walrus self could navigate a rope ladder, but Vickie went it. Turns out getting back up the rope ladder was pretty tough but the crew were good sports and helped Vickie make the climb. Soon we boarded the tender for the trip back to shore. We stopped by the shop for a complimentary Rum Punch, and some souvenirs. Turned out the photographer with the dog in the boat worked for them, and we bought a great picture from him of us at work on the boat as crew. That along with T-shirts that designate us as Stars and Stripes US-55 crewmembers 2009 topped off the day. If we ever return to race again and wear our 2009 T-shirts we will each get a free T-shirt for that race. Jerry and Brenda were there to pick us up, and we headed home via the Sunset Bar. The Sunset Bar is an outdoor bar at the end of the runway at the airport. Everyone comes there to experience the jet blast from the departing jets, but that’s another story. Regards from Paradise,
More later,
Wes