Big 'Uns

Its really quite amazing how things can happen. Sitting at my desk at work late Friday with the start scheduled for the next morning, - feeling a bit sorry that I'd not get to see the race start. Instinctively, I tune into Sailing Anarchy to see who's getting flamed and for what when it dawned on me, I could write a story for SA. At the very least shoot a few picture and post them for members to see. Surprisingly, Scott agreed and three hours later I had an official Press Pass. So about the sailing, and the pre-amble.

At 7Am, surprisingly, not allot was going on. Just a few tired (probably hung-over) sailors tinkering around and topping off tanks etc. Most boats had topped off the Moet Chandon tanks and the Mt Gay Rum supplies the previous evening. The few deliveries and provision deliveries were predominately baguettes, produce and coffee. By 8AM, the docks began to buzz with crew, officials, family, press and other miscreants. Lots of photo, opportunities as crews posed for family and the media. Joe Dockery of Carrera was interviewed by Atlantic TV and wisely refused to speculate that he would beat MariCha of Maximus. He did venture that on corrected time with lighter winds he'd do better. When asked about his crew, he mentioned Ken Read and the other Stars and Stripes sailors on board.

In discussing the race - the real race, the Grand Prix Division - opinions varied on Maximus. Most doubted that she could stay up with MC4 and one French journalist who had been onboard several days prior noted that the interior was a 'mess'. Presumably they were still affecting repairs or improvements. While some were more sanguine on Maximus's prospects most noted that she had more risk of gear failure due and might not finish.

Joe Hoopes of Palawan was seen posing for pictures with a very odd leather cylinder which turns out to be a Olympic message of "Peace" from the Mayor of Salt Lake to the Mayor of Turin. Apparently, tradition maintains that the message must be transported without the aid of fossil fuel. Bicyclists transported the message to Joe in NY and he will deliver it to Brussels where it will continue its journey to Italy.

At 9:AM, Carrera was the first boat to cast off for the boat parade and by 9:30 all the boats had left. Tiara, the 179 foot Dubois designed sailing yacht, was last to leave and to set a tone for the voyage blasted a female opera solo at intense volume levels. 100 yards off the dock, as they paused to hoist anchor the music could still be heard clearly on the dock. As a crew member on Carrera noted, 'on Tiara they do not need to fight over which DVD to watch, they can all go to separate cabins and watch their own movies'. Oddly, did not notice anyone on Carrera bringing along DVDs. As a matter of fact, it was apparent the the owners of the Grand Prix yachts had given the crew very small bags to pack their gear as a means to limit weight on board. Carrera left its docklines and fenders onshore to be Fed Ex'd to Cowes.

The boats upon leaving berths proceeded to line up along the Hudson River extending single file from 79th Street to the Intrepid at 42'nd Street. With overcast and hazy conditions, the spectacle was not scintillating. An omen for the day. Proceeding at what appeared to be 3 or 4 knots, the fleet continued in formation out to NY Harbor where a Coast Guard vessel off of the Statue of Liberty was arcing enormous streams of water in salute to the fleet. Following this was a tedious 2 hour commute out to the starting area. Over this time, the sun emerged and the wind died down to 4 Kts from the SE. Lovely day to sit on a power boat but not a day for these boat to start.

Around 1:30pm, the first boats arrived at the line and the curtains were finally raised. Maximus and Mari Cha ghosted around under mainsails and we were able to get close to both boats for some nice photos. What was most impressive was to see 6 grinders working to raise the mizzen on Mari Cha. Clearly, more effort than raising mainsail on a Melges 24 or j/105. Different league altogether.

We were positioned on the Committee Boat end of the line which worked well as all boats started on Starboard heading North-East at the boat end. On board the media boat, one spectator was telling me about racing on Adela in the '97 race when they crossed the starting line at 17 Knots. On this day, we were not so blessed, with winds hovering between 3 to 5 knots, the boats seemed more to be drifting rather than sailing across the line. In the Grand Prix division Mari Cha crossed the line a leisurely 20 seconds after the gun with Maximus 10 seconds behind and Carrera still behind the committee boat. Immediately, it was apparent that MariCha would take a more northern starboard tack in a run while Carrera and Maximus pointed higher in a more East-NorthEast heading.

In the next start -Performance Cruising Class 2- Leopard and Windrose were so far ahead of the other starters in the fleet, it would have appeared that they were starting alone. Despite being well behind and crossing the line approximately a minute after the gun, it would appear that the party on the flying bridge of Tiara was not dampened at all and I suspect the opera music was still blaring at full volume. Performance Cruising Class 3 start was a non-event as the boats seemed to cross almost adrift with sails luffing. The last start, Classic was market by Stad Amsterdam running her engines right up to one minute before the start tyring to position herself on the line. Once the engines were off, she seemed to drift down the starting line from the Committee Boat down to the Pin (Ambrose Light) barely crossing and moving at less than one knot. As the Classic Boat made their way down the coarse, we notices a blue hulled boat coming back to the line. It was Tempest, who had crossed early in Cruising Class 3 and were sailing back to start over. Once they had tacked round on the line, they heard on the radio that they had not crossed and had to re-attempt for a third time to start. As we turned to head back to NY, most boats were off towards the horizon with the some exceptions of the Committee Boat and Tempest. At this time, we believe that all boats have started and are drifting towards the north looking forward to their rendevous with four low pressure systems reported to be waypoints along their journey.