Sailing Blog
Solid Win for Bella Mente! »
May 31, 2010
After 2 sleepless nights spent on the Bella Mente, an early flight back to Minneapolis on Sunday morning, a quick visit with the family and an E boat race on Minnetonka, things have settled down a bit to allow for a late report on the Block Island Race. My head and body are still recovering as my first distance race taught me that offshore sailing is tough…and this one was only 19 hours with champagne sailing conditions!
The 17 person Bella Mente team assembled at the Newport Shipyard for 3 days of training before the start of the Block Island Race. For me personally, the practice sessions would prove to be very valuable as I found out quickly that the world of big boat/offshore sailing is very different than that of the small, one design racing that I am used to. Just moving a sail requires a team of 4-5 people to get it on the boat and properly placed below. I was very impressed with the team on the Bella Mente as all of the guys were very willing to help get me up to speed and dialed in with the nuances of this 70 footer. My main area on the boat was to take care of the runners (backstays) which is a simple, straightforward job, but can cause the rig to fall down if you happen to ball it up. Tomac (Tom McLaughlin), did a great job of staying patient with me and showing me the responsibilities of making sure the mast stayed on the boat.
The Block Island Race is a 185 nautical mile sprint starting in Stamford, CT, leaving Block Island to Starboard and returning back to Stamford. Pretty straightforward on paper, but with ripping current and fickle Long Island Sound breeze, this simple race can get pretty tricky.
The delivery team departed Newport on Thursday evening with the goal of making the 14 hr trip safely and arriving with a little time to spare to get the delivery gear off the boat in time for the race. I was on the 3-5am watch with the boat Captain Pete Henderson and we could not have had much smoother conditions as there was not an ounce of breeze and the full moon made us almost wonder if we needed sunglasses and SPF…moon cream? As morning arrived, the glassed off conditions remained and the team aboard started to get a bit nervous as most of us were preparing to spend the Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day Weekend at home, and light air meant this race would be taking longer than normal.
The Bella Mente draws 17 ft and the harbor at Stamford is very shallow which meant we would have to circle the area for a few hours while we waited for the remainder of the team to be delivered via tender. Once they arrived, delivery gear was offloaded, we began the wait for breeze as the race committee smartly postponed the start of the race. As we circled…I began to feel a bit of a grumbling in my stomach and tried to recall the lesson that Pete had given me about using the head down below. The only thing I could really recall was the story that preceded the instructions he gave me about a guy on the team last year that plugged the head during the race. Not only could the team not use it, but there was a large overflow, and a messy cleanup. Being the new guy, there is no way I was going to even risk the chance of causing the head to malfunction…after all, this was a quick race…I could make it back in time.
Around 4pm, a light SW breeze started to fill and the first few fleets got underway. As we got into our sequence, we loaded up our new code zero in preparation for a tight reach off the start and began jockeying with the other 50, 60 and 90 footers in our fleet. Hap did a great job of positioning us for the start and we were bow out and sails pulling when the gun went.
It did not take long for the big boats to blast through the smaller fleets that started ahead of us, and the boys on Bella Mente were working hard to keep pace with the larger, canted keel, water ballasted 90 footer, Rambler. One thing I enjoyed about being with this new team is there is a total lack of ego, and all of these guys are very, very talented sailors and skilled at what they do. As the race progressed, I had a good view from the back of the boat watching these guys do sail changes and make sure the boat was going as fast as possible with ease. This was also a challenge for me as all I could do was simply watch, and jump on the handles every now and then, but for the most part I felt a bit helpless since the boat getting used to the big gear was a bit foreign to me.
After 4-5 hrs of sailing the boat hard, we managed to stay close to Rambler and get through the “Gut“, which is a small passage between Plum Island and the tip of Long Island. This would prove to be the trickiest part of the race as there was a lot of water moving through a very small area causing 4-5 kts of adverse current. Once we squeezed through with a few sail changes, we settled into our watch system, and enjoyed nice “Champagne Sailing” conditions of sw breeze at 12-15 kts for another few hours. We got around the Island with only one close call with a marker buoy and began our 8hr trek back to the finish hoping the breeze would hang on. My watch headed below around 2 am for an attempt at rest, while bodies from the other watch began to file on deck for their 4 hr shift.
As I laid on a stack of wet sails down below, trying to sleep, but being awoken by moving winches and a groaning hull going through the water, I could hear a big of commotion up on deck as the boat was approaching its second pass through the “gut”. This time we would be going upwind, and since the tide had changed, we would again go against a 4-5 kt current. From what I was told when I got back on deck, the breeze completely shut off and we were fortunate to hold our position as the threat of going backwards, and even getting pushed back into shore were very real. After about 45 mins of moving back and forth like a salmon in a stream through this narrow passage, the boys up on deck did a great job of finding a small amount of pressure and getting us on our way. Once through the gut, we still had to deal with 2-3 kts of adverse current and our Navigator, Dirk Johnson and helmsman/tactician Eric Doyle did a great job of keeping us out of the tide by short tacking up the Long Island Shore. Once our watch came back on deck however, it was assumed that Rambler was long gone over the horizon as our time spent getting through the Gut was long.
With a full moon setting, the sun began to peek up which was a relief. As we made our way upwind, one of the guys noticed a large silhouette on the Connecticut shoreline…could that be Rambler? With the chance of beating our larger rivals boat for boat, our team perked up and had some renewed energy. A pot of coffee brewed below and we stayed focused to push the boat hard. Robert Hopkins, our other Navigator, worked very well on our watch to keeping us out of max current and into favorable conditions. I decided to take a coffee, not only to perk up, but to keep warm for the remainder of the race which worked well for my spirits, but not very well for my digestive track. One by one, the group on our watch began to file down below to make use of the head. The fear of clogging was still very present for me I decided to ignore the mounting pressure in my lower stomach and that I could manage for the last 4-5 hrs we had remaining.
We made our way westward through LIS chugging along at 12-13kts of boatspeed with 13-14 kts of wind, all the while keeping tabs and on Rambler down to leeward who would certainly be forced to tack soon or else would find themselves on the front lawn of a Connecticut resident. They did eventually tack and it was clear that not only would we cross, but we would have a nice lead. It was assumed that the Rambler decided to not go through the “Gut”, maybe out of fear of the strong adverse current, but chose to go through a more northerly passage back into Long Island Sound called, The Race. As it turns out, they must have had a much more difficult time that we did getting back through as we erased a fair amount of distance from their lead, and amassed a nice cushion for ourselves.
The team on deck did a great job of keeping us in the best pressure and out of the glassed off conditions which were frequent near the shorline. As we got closer to Stamford, the breeze began to freshen and began to shift from being favorable for us, and to the heavier, larger boat on our tail. With smooth driving by a few of the guys on our watch, and eventually Hap, we were able to take the final leg into Stamford Harbor with a finish time of 19 hrs, Rambler still in our review mirror finishing 5 mins behind. A quick round of handshakes and our tender came to scoop the team members who would be departing for their respective homes to shore. The race for me however was still going…
Once upon shore, we were treated to a few cold ones and got acclimated to life back on land. I held off on the beers and did sort of a waddle/run/jog to the nearest restroom. For the upcoming 3-4 day race from Newport to Bermuda, I will need to get over my fear as this was the only downside in my first offshore experience.
Up next for the Bella Mente is the New York Yacht Club annual regatta which will draw some of the best big boat teams in the world like Ran, Beau Geste, Rambler, Puma VOR70, Titan and a few others. I am looking forward to using my experience this past week to continue to get more comfortable on the boat and work to be a contributing member of the team.
Stay tuned to 42marine.com for updates from this awesome racing program as the season progresses.
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