Check out the new programme page to see all the upcoming regattas in the Caribbean in Spring 2015: Milanto's Programme.
To those taking part in the racing in Cowes -best of luck -wish I was with you but Milanto takes priority and the refit and general sprucing up for the Summer charters has left me no spare time.
All the best to Jackie, Ken, Dario, Neal and anyone else. Let me know how you get on!
Valerio is sailing to St Barth today to take part in one of his favourite regattas.
Created in 2010, Les Voiles de St. Barth is one of the best yachting events in the International Race Calendar. Each year, hundreds of sailors from all over the world gather for a week of competition, with lots of sailing and plenty of parties. 4 days of races, 1 Day Off spent at Nikki Beach Club, concerts organized every night in the Race Village tent , a BBQ at Shell beach and the cool atmosphere of St Barths. Next year give yourself a treat!
Quai du Général de Gaulle in Gustavia
How To Find Out The Race Results?
This year follow each entry in Les Voiles de St Barth 2014 and get all race results in each class, in real time, thanks to Regatta Guru.
h: The real time for each competitor is confirmed at the finish line. The standings for each race are calculated by compensated tome by the intermediary of a handicap coefficient for each boat.
To access results in real time during the regatta week go to : www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/site/us/
The French Antilles Island St. Barth, belonging to the Leeward Islands and often referred to as the ‘St. Tropez of the Caribbean’, offers dreamlike sailing condtions, turquoise blue waters and average temperatures of 29 to 32 degrees. „St Barth’s configuration is a real advantage for us: the coast landscapes of the island are very different from one another and there are about 15 small islands around St Barth, which give us the opportunity to organize diversified race courses, with multiple legs and sail angles and therefore a lot of manoeuvres for the crews.”, explains race director Luc Poupon.
Within the six classes setting sail – Maxi, IRC 52, Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, Melges 24 and Racing Multihull – the presence of eight prestigious maxi boats will offer a fantastic show gathering in Gustavia, St Barth’s main port.
Speed: 8.5 knots @ 248.93°
Position at: 09 Dec 2013 08:00 UTC
Lat/Lon: 18° 49.80 N, 052° 44.19 W
DTF: 586.2 NM
3rd in Racing B
After a long night of regular short watch changes - to ensure concentration at the helm in difficult sea conditions - the morning started with hoisting our "Mr Norris" spinnaker to maintain our fast boat speed and bring us to St Lucia that bit earlier. With winds anticipated of up to 28 knots, keeping the spinnaker up all day was ambitious, but as long as he was up, we knew we would be progressing as fast as was possible. As it happened, surfing down a 5m Atlantic swell, we kept that over-sized beast of a sail flying all day and hit almost 13 knots several times - fantastic! Our afternoon roller coaster ride ended when the wind and waves suddenly whipped up to throw us first into a Chinese Gybe and then a broach. It was a pretty dramatic moment - we could have lost the mast - but Milanto pulled through and all were hugely relieved.
It was all hands on deck to drop Mr Norris. Two crew members wrestled on the lurching foredeck to pull him down as the wind whipped around, forcing the sail up and away from the boat and almost taking the foredeck crew with it. Despite sailing gloves, the force was too great and rope burns were suffered by both before they got the better of him, bringing him to his knees and forcing him into his bag. That may be the last we see of Mr Norris. He has lost the affection of certain members of the crew who painfully wince at the mere mention of his name. Tonight we will race with 2 head sails and the main and with the wind speed increasing, its unlikley we could go any faster anyway.
With St Lucia now only 2 or so days away, some of the crew are getting itchy feet. We need to maintain concentration at this very important part of the challenge and idle talk about soft white linen sheets, cold beers, proper showers, seeing our better halves, being able to stand up or walk around without having to cling to the wall like bloody spiderman, more cold beers.....needs to be checked.
Eyes on the prize gentlemen. There is still 450 miles of challenging ocean to overcome.
Speed: 7.9 knots @ 238.49°
Lat/Lon: 19° 50.66 N, 050° 39.64
WDTF: 716.2 NM
4th in Racing B
A fairly balmy night in which winds held strong and we covered a great deal of distance. At supper last night we had 800 miles to complete, by early morning we had chalked off another 70. This morning we made the decision to unfurl Mr Norris - our super light spinnaker - once again to make the most of the steady prevailing wind and we took it in turns at the helm to carve our way through a big sea - huge but regular swell - at a fast pace fluctuating between 7 and 10 knots.
The day has been very warm and those members of the crew who are follicaly challenged have had to take extra precautions, including factor 500 sun cream and large brim hats.
Still no sign of any other yachts although we did spy a vessel early this evening but heading in a different direction. They clearly don't want to mess with us. As it stands late this afternoon we are lying in 4th place for our class, but, 6th overall out of the 253 boats that started 2 weeks ago.
We are all now very focused on getting into St Lucia as quickly as possible - 641 miles to go as of 19:30 hrs - to secure a very cold beer hence we will be looking to maximise progress overnight.
Speed: 7.7 knots @ 250.76° Speed : 7.6 knots @ 253.60°
Position at: 03 Dec 2013 12:00 UTC Position at: 04 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Lat/Lon: 22° 52.08 N, 036° 15.50 W Lat/Lon: 22° 24.02 N, 037° 53.03 W
DTF: 1529.6 NM DTF: 1435.2 NM
4th in Racing B 3rd in Racing B
Best laid plans and all that, some squalls over night meant we had to drop the spinnaker and consequently lost ground, but first light today, it was back up and we have been enjoying a steady wind and 8 knots speed. Also last night was a spectacular heaven. Thousands of stars with shooting meteorite debris burning up on entry. Quite a show.
We are trying to push along as quickly as we can right now as there is a high developing which will bring light winds. With a little luck we can get past that before it takes hold of the fleet.
If we succeed we should finally find the trade winds from the East for a fast run home with 20 knots on our stern plus some squalls as quite a lot of rain forecast in early part of next week. All hoping for nice weather for our ladies to enjoy once we arrive in St Lucia.
Good run over last 24 hrs and distance covered as of 1300hrs today 1,364
STOP PRESS:we just caught a Dorado, so we eat healthy tonight
Flying Mr Norris.........who is he anyway?
