Newport Bermuda Race 2004 |
Newport to Bermuda is Never a milk run. The Gulf Stream is very unpredictable this far north with its meanders and eddies; cross it at the wrong spot in this race and you definitely will lose. Fortunately satellites and the Internet have made almost real-time data available to anyone and it's fairly easy to make an educated guess as to the best place to cross to maximize the benefits of the Gulf Stream. That however, doesn't mean it's easy. On the contrary. Riding the GS is rough and if the wind opposes the current it is NASTY! And while we didn't experience any, the temperature differences make for prime breeding ground for thunderstorms. We did have our moments; fog the first night combined with no moon made for a foredeck as black as a darkroom. The second night the fog lifted and the wind picked up. For those of us fortunate to be on watch from midnight to 3am, we saw the most spectacular meteor; it literally lit up the sky and then exploded as it flamed out! The excitement wasn't over yet though. Shortly before watch change we nearly rounded up and then down from a foul combination of wave and wind. At speed in high wind and waves this would have been disatrous. Sometimes it really is better to be lucky than good! I thought I was a wuss for feeling a bit unnerved until I heard later that someone (whom shall remain anonymous) admitted to being scared! The fun was just getting started however. Right at 3am we took a big gust (well over 30kts.) and blew out the spinnaker. Well what else do you do but put up ANOTHER spinnaker. It was a bit smaller though... |
Above a satellite shot of the Gulf Stream a few days before the race. You can see the small meander that was critical to success in the race. Matt buddy, expensive watches have no place on a boat! And just how cold was Narragansett Bay in June? |
The view from aloft. Starting on Tuesday morning we put in many hours of prep work on the boat. That said, I did find time to take my camera up for a shot of the beautiful evening after the wind died. Below, various crew members are busy with chores while SOMEBODY is idly passing the time taking pictures. |
The first part of the race was plagued by up and down wind and FOG. Lots of it. Sometimes we could see 3-4 miles, other times less than 200 yards. Kinda eerie for the fog to lift a bit and find another boat slowly converging just a few hundred yards away. Above Greg (Jesus) trims our spinnaker and below Dr. Brian does the same. Although we didn't need his professional services it was comforting to have a trauma doc on board! |
Above most of the crew is actually on deck together. From L-R; Mike, Matt, Ian, Lee, Brian, Tim, Al. Below...Hey where you going Lee?? And what are you going to do?? |
Below our intrepid skipper. For most of the first half of the race Larry could be found at the Nav station. The second half the picture on the right was a little more common. Actually the night we almost broached in the Gulf Stream I think Larry was sleeping as he knew nothing about our near disaster until after the race! |
Sunday morning dawned bright, clear, windy and a bit rough, but we still had a spinnaker up, even if it was the chicken (shit) chute. In fact we were the only boat in sight flying kite! Pretty ballsy stuff. If you look at the picture below left you can see how foamy our wake was. We hit our top speed of 12.8 knots several times; combined with the current from the GS we were doing over 15 knots across the bottom! The few times we slowed down to "only" 8.5 knots it felt like we were barely moving. The surf noise rose and fell with our speed; it sounded like breakers crashing on the beach. |
So we made it through the Gulf Stream and were near the front of our class. Then the wind started dropping; not a good thing for us. We spent most of the next day and a half trying to maximize our speed with what little wind we could find. |
Dave above on the helm (I don't even remember this being taken-concentration does that!) Below Tim trims. At right foredeck work. |
Above you can see the helmsman doesn't have much to do when there's no wind! Below Dave and Al try to figure out where the wind went. |
So that did us in. The other boats in our class went off on a flyer looking for wind and found it before we did. One hour and 48 min. separated the first place boat from our 4th place finish (corrected to 5th). Bummer. Still, not to shabby for a first time effort at one of the hardest ocean races. At right is one of my favorite shots. Below Greg and Al sample some of Bermuda's best product! |
Below Hamilton harbor with just a few of the yachts and their flags flying! |
