Part 1
We got here on Sunday, and took the 39.3 Beneteau Cyclades from Road Town to Nanny Cay. The Race from Nanny Cay to Bitter End was some 25 nm. The wind was from the East about 110 and blew 15-23. We were only 4 on the boat, Chip Till, his friend Kim, Will (Duke Student that crews on Mary Harrison's Tartan) and I. A 50 footer was on port tack at the boat and caused some consternation, buy we had a good start and pointed well. The rain was intermittent. The only snag we had was negotiating the current between Peter and Salt Island in a header in the rain. That cost us. The rest was uneventful going around Cooper and all the Dog Islands leaving them to starboard. We took 6 of 12, about 30 minutes out of first.
The next day were some dinghy races at Bitter End. We represented the USA in the Nation's Cup. It was light wind (8-10) and we are big boyz. I did the Laser and finished in the middle, Chip and Will almost sunk the Hobie Wave, althought they had great starts.
The race back to Nanny Cay was great! Chip put us in the right place to shut hte door on 3 - 50 footers. It was most downwind. We took 4 of 11. Believe it or not, after adjustments, we finished 4th. 20 seconds out of 3rd to a 47 ft, 1 minute out of 2nd to a 50 ft and 1:30 out of first.
We decided to get serious now. Finally took the anchor off the bow and stowed it below along with 200 ft of heavy chain. Perhaps we will be more bow up downwind. Mary Harrison and Bob Cowan are here now and the race begins soon.
Best Regards,
THOMAS E HISSAM
Part 2
First day BVI Spring Regatta, Team Cape Fear holds their heads relatively high finishing 2 races with a second and a seventh (out of 15 Bareboat B Class boats) possibly putting us in third place overall. That latter finish being due to the thought process which goes something like, hey we can't find the RC boat but we know the fleet in front of us knows exactly where it is so we'll follow them... That, of course, is followed by that uncomfortable feeling that comes when they all tack away to where you thought you outa be going in the first place... But hey, that's racing in paradise. By the way, racing in bareboat class isn't necessarily the screaming and yelling, gnashing of teeth, fiberglass crunching type thing we're used to on Tuesday evenings in Banks Channel. Today we raced up and down Drake Channel in the first race and then circled around a couple of islands and select rocks in the second. We're racing Tom Hissam's Beneteau 39.3 out of the Tortola Moorings fleet. Tom's crew for the regatta is made up of locals Mary Harrison, Chip Till, Kimberly Booker and Bob Cowen. We've pulled in Duke University's Will Brown for his giant brain capacity (along with his long arms which makes him the perfect human "bearing out pole" for the headsail). We'd write more now but we need to head off to the refreshment tent and on to some good Caribbean food.
Best Regards,
Tom Hissam
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