A few days later we were off to Newport for the Bermuda Race on Devocean. Andrzej didn’t make it (Dominick Porco, winner from 2004 filled in), but Gosia, Marcin and I proudly represented BetterThan.. in that fine venue.
That was the first time in my life that I just got on a boat and went racing without any duties or work to do. Clemmie, Jim and the Devoe clan had everything ready to the smallest detail; after a weather briefing, Jennifer Clark, a nice dinner and a Clingstone night, we were ready to rumble.
The Devoe part of the crew included Steve, his blood brother Clemmie, his daughters Dawn, Mary and Kathie, his son Stevo, Chris Greer, Dominick Porco and Jim our captain. Clemmy checked our blood pressure in the trailer, we tuned the rig for the worst scenario and off to another spectacular Newport-Bermuda start.
The race itself is not really very hard to describe. We started on starboard, at Castle Hill rocks we tacked to port, cleared Beaver Tail and kept going on port. Despite one silly tack before the Gulfstream, in search of favored current that did not materialize, we missed the finish by about 1nm. It took 2 short tacks to finish after 95 hours, 23 minutes and 58 seconds, half an hour ahead of Plenty.
We were 71st in IRC and 5th in the class, but it had looked much better to us when we got there before the slower boats got a more favored breeze later on. At some point it looked like we are in the leading bunch.
It was not a very comfortable ride, close hauled all the way, but not horrible since we did not see anything over 20 and it never dropped to 0 for long.
The spirit was high and I had good fun despite the fact that I wasn’t allowed to drive. Well, we had enough drivers. Food was good, the girls were spoiling us around the clock and we did not get cold even the first night. The only adventures I remember were 3 or 4 sail changes, one made more interesting by the lobster buoy with 300’ of yellow rope hooked on the keel in the middle of the Gulfstream, and Chris’s fall across the cockpit which ended with him in slings, artfully administered by our medic Clemmy.
My shift was planning a surprise party for the other shift, but we run out of time and will have to come better prepared next time.
Paulina, Missy and Ellen were waiting for us at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club with Dark & Stormies. It was supposed to be a very good year for those in Bermuda. It was also a good year for Poinciana trees in full bloom, that according to cabbies, predicts a bad hurricane season.
We spent some very happy hours there. It always amazes me, after living with odor, sleep deprivation and constant aches, how quickly one adapts to cushions and showers.
Living in Grotto Bay, we had plenty of chances to check out the cushions of Bermudian taxis and learn some invaluable local knowledge and cricket stories from their operators, driving us from one party to another. But what happens in Hamilton, stays in Hamilton.
For the inshore racing we got some fresh blood and good wind, but other than that it was traffic and confusion. I don’t remember much.
We flew back to NY just in time to get ready for the 4th of July in Shelter Island, where we sailed on Larks, ate bouillabaisse and drunk Barolo.