75th Bermuda International Invitational Race Week

April 28 - May 2, 2002

Is it possible for a competitive J/105 skipper to travel 650 miles, finish in the bottom quarter of a four boat regatta, and still be smiling on the way home? The short answer is YES! If you want the long answer, read on. Otherwise just browse the beautiful photographs by Marlee Robinson. But first, here are the results.

First, a little background. The ringleader of this operation is "JT" Thompson. He and his wife, Marlee Robinson, brought the first J/105 to Bermuda in the late 90s. For years they sailed with the IMS boats in the Bermuda Offshore Cruising Association (BOCA) and they were successful in winning the overall trophy in 2000. But then JT had the inspiration to bring more J/105s to Bermuda for level racing. So in 2001 he convinced three more owners to buy 105's. In October 2001 they kicked off Fleet #21 and in November they had their inaugural regatta. For a more detailed history and the press release and photos of this event from j105.org, click here.

In late January, JT called me and asked if I'd like to participate in the 75th Anniversary International Race Week. (They needed a foreigner to make them legal in this tradition-steeped international event.) But I had already planned to take KIMA to the AYC Series and the Greenwich Cup in Eastern Long Island Sound, so I was hesitant at first. They would loan me a boat and put up my crew, so I wanted to know more. After exchanging a flurry of clarifying e-mails with JT and with potential crew, I decided that spending 10 days in Bermuda would likely be far superior to delivering my boat 120 miles to Eastern LIS to sail in the cold and not-so-pristine waters of New York in late April and early May. The crew that signed on were my regular trimmer, Jim Heagney, a Rhode Island sailor, Jack Rienzo, and ECLIPSE bowman Kevin Kelley. We would complete the crew with Bermudians Chris Jones and Jodie Thompson. Amazingly, this all came together with not a single phone call or face-to-face meeting. Isn't e-mail wonderful! By late February we had made our plane reservations and were fully committed.

I knew from the beginning that Fleet #21 was just on its way to "one-design", not all the way there. They were still using their Kevlar sails and they were still using 110 square meter kites. The three new boats were made in France, so I would have a chance to check out any differences in their appointments. Next year Fleet #21 will be going to one-design sails. I would need to ship down my dacron sails including my own 110. But none of this deterred me from saying "yes" with gusto.

Now before we get to the racing, let me tell you about the hospitality. We were met at the airport by Marlee, who took us to the cycle shop to rent our mopeds (no car rentals on Bermuda) and then to the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club to meet our hosts. I could write another essay about riding mopeds in Bermuda. Suffice it to say that it is a challenge to learn the bike, travel on the left, and negotiating the heavy traffic (especially with a passenger on the back). When we arrived at our accommodations, we each were all pleasantly surprised by how beautiful they were and how gracious our hosts were. We had access to kitchens, pools, tennis courts, beaches, etc. Meridith, my wife, was with us for the duration and Kevin and Jack each brought their wives (Leighann and Cheryl) for a long weekend. Jim's wife Nancy was forced to decline because of teaching obligations.

The parties were also awsome. First, there were the two formal cocktail parties at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (3rd oldest in the Empire) on the first night and the prizegiving at the end. You are greeted by a receiving line of flag officers at the door (are they inspecting us for the proper attire -- jackets and ties?). We all had blue blazers with us, which was a good thing since there was not a soul with anything other than that (but Bermuda short and high socks qualify below the belt). The sponsor was Bacardi so there was plenty of rum. Then there was the dinner party, the barbecue, and on the final night the fancy restaurant dinner and gag awards at "La Coquille" where we had the best five course dinner I have ever eaten anywhere, ever.

Why is it taking me so long to get to the racing? It's almost as if the racing was secondary. But the competition was great, so let me tell you how it developed. First of all, the conditions are "high winds, flat water." Since we were sailing in the protected waters of the Great Sound, there is very little chance of big waves. It reminded me a little of San Francisco Bay, but I think the waves were even less than in SF. On Saturday, Mike Tucker, owner of JOJI, turned the boat over to us after a careful inspection. We left the dock shortly after noon and Chris navigated us through "Two Rock Pass" to the racing area. We were pretty happy with our practice until JT came out with MONKEYSHINES and we realized that we had a bit of a pointing problem. When we returned, we tightened the shouds a bit to help with our point. The French masts have slightly different bend characteristics, but we didn't think they needed different tuning.

Sunday we had our first two races. It was rather gusty and shifty and in the high teens to low twenties. The RC posted a four leg windard leeward course to 110 degrees. We got a good start but our first upwind leg was not pretty. We put our main trimmer on the rail and with the gusts and shifts we were all over the place. We rounded fourth. But compared to the first upwind leg, our first downwind leg was UGLY. On the first jibe we wrapped the 110 around the forestay and couldn't free it. It ripped across six of the lower panels. We were heartbroken to start a regatta this way and the silence on the boat was deafening. On the second upwind leg we got Chris to trim the main again and we seemed to do much better. MONKEYSHINES won this race. In the second race the RC called for seven 1.5 mile legs. By prior agreement we all switched down to 89 square meter backup chutes (because our 110 was out of commission). This time we got another good start and managed to cross all three boats, but fell to third at the weather mark to MONKEYSHINES and PASSION. Even though our 89 was a "reacher" we managed to sail deep angles. PASSION blew a takedown on the second downwind allowing JOJI her best finish (2nd) of the regatta.

We had a lay day on Monday and had the kite repaired for Tuesday's racing. The weather forecast was heavy wind at the start and moderating. This time we started in a southwesterly, just like Newport (210 degrees). In the first race (6 legs) the wind kept clocking right, but the brains on JOJI were not working and we gave away many boatlengths on the layline calls. On the last leg we were pretty far off the pace at the final mark, but by the finish we were only a few boatlengths behind PASSION and MONKEYSHINES, having sailed a reach to their run. The second race was also six legs, but to 190 degrees. Again we managed to get ahead after a good start, but fell back by the weather mark. Seems like maybe we did not adjust for the moderating breeze and missed a few of those shifts. On the second downwind leg we mangaged to wedge our kite in the vee of the shouds at the lower spreader. I've always wondered if those preventers on KIMA were doing any good. If you don't have them, run a light line back and forth between your uppers and intermediates to prevent the spinnaker from getting caught in the vee. It was PASSION's day today winning both races, but MONKEYSHINES was still leading the regatta with a 2-3 today compared to PASSION's 3-4 on the first day.

Another lay day was had on Wednesday. Time for the beaches and the moped tours to the lighthouse et al. On the final day of racing (Thursday), the wind was rock solid and heavy from 180 degrees. In the first race, the racing was as close among the four boats as it had been. All four boats rounded the weather mark within a few boatlengths. PASSION's 110 went bye-bye when it ripped up both tapes at the same time. In this race NOT MINE found the magic and led from wire to wire. They seemed like a totally different boat. MONKEYSHINES took second and we held on for third. We seemed not to be able to go as deep downwind as we had expected. Again, by agreement, we used the 89 backups for the second race. Again JOJI got the good start and crossed ahead of all the boats, but fell behind by the weather mark. At the end of the first downwind we shrimped the kite and stopped the boat. At the beginning of the second downwind we noticed a rip and brought down the kite immediately. MONKEYSHINES finished the regatta as she had started it with a bullet and won the regatta going away.

JT is confident that we can get 7-8 boats in Bermuda for next year's event, based on the success this year. Mike Tucker wants to sail JOJI next year, so think about how you might get a boat to Bermuda for 2003.

So ... to answer the initial question on why I am smiling ...:

1. The competition and the competitors were outstanding.

2. The venue was outstanding.

3. The hospitality was outstanding.

4. There was no yelling (all very proper communication) and no bad sportsmanship at all.

5. The lay days gave us a vacation beyond compare.

6. The food and parties were outstanding.

7. We got to know the competors really, really well and they are all good people.

My conclusion is that if you can run a regatta with these characteristics, then participants will return no matter where they finish.

Cheers,
Nelson

PS: Thanks to Marlee for all the fine photos!