Oyster News 49 - Oyster Yachts

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sedately across from Green Island as the sun was setting. Everyone went ashore by dinghy and walked up the steep, candle-lit path into the manicured charm of the hilltop resort. Originally Brown’s sugar mill, part of the huge Montpellier Plantation, Harmony’s stone tower and main storage buildings were elegantly restored 23 years ago. Only the grand buffet presented by Harmony Hall can compete with the beauty of the surroundings. First-timers had been warned to pace themselves. So many intriguing tastes combined with the vast quantity of food presented a gastronomic challenge. We sampled marinated conch and mahi-mahi salads; mixed vegetables and fish tempura on seaweed; home made mozzarella tomato and basil salad; polenta medallions with four cheese sauce; and a dozen other treats before moving on to entreés of home-made lasagne; a variety of quiches and meat pasties. We staggered up to the dessert table and tried to choose among lemon and chocolate profiteroles, tiramisu, white ‘ This bunch of cruising sailors, who love to joke about how tacking more than once a week is bad behavior, were all showing the early symptoms of race fever ’ 36 www.oystermarine.com chocolate cheese cake, lemon tarte, zuppa inglese, and killer chocolate cake. The smart diners opted for a plate of samples. The first race was on Monday, a 33-mile run north to Barbuda, Antigua’s companion island. Big winds and seas on the nose had cancelled last year’s trip to Barbuda, but this year the wind was astern. I joined owner Iain Mellows, who now lives in Jolly Harbour, Antigua, his brother Mike Starr and Mike’s wife Betty, on Severence, the oldest and smallest Oyster in the fleet (39). Iain and Mike’s father, Frank Mellows, bought Severence when he was 70 years old, and sailed her thousands of miles around the Caribbean for ten years. Now Iain is in command, and he put Severence across the starting line within 10 seconds of the gun, well ahead of the rest of Class II (under 55'). After a hull-speed broad reach for an hour, the wind suddenly dropped to nothing. Soon we were making under a knot of speed. Then it began to rain. Sitting in our rain jackets with the mains’l snapping as the boat rolled in the sloppy seas, Betty Starr began to laugh. "This," she said goodnaturedly, "isn’t quite what the brochure offered." Not long afterwards, Iain started the engine in the interest of getting to Barbuda before dark. All the boats would be too late for the promised visit to Barbuda’s renowned frigate bird sanctuary, something to look forward to another year. The fleet were entertained by a spectacular firedancer at Ffryes Beach
The barbecue on Barbuda’s south beach was spectacular, and well worth the exercise of bringing the dinghies in through the tricky surge. More than one couple arrived soaked from being flipped out of their RIBS. But the night was balmy, the moon approaching full, and the anchor lights of the fleet hovering over the sea like fireflies were mesmerizing. The children were busy building David and Linda Hughes, 66, Miss Molly was an easy winner of the Concours d'Elegance sand castles on a coral sand beach so smooth the water-slick surface reflected images as the waves receded. Volunteers Sandy and Andy Burridge, who formerly skippered Bill Dockser’s Oyster 70, Ravenous, had prepared over 900 skewers of marinated shrimp, lamb, beef, ‘ The children were busy building sand castles on a coral sand beach so smooth the water-slick surface reflected images as the waves receded ’ chicken, and seafood that were cooking on two large charcoal grills. The salads and rice dishes and grilled vegetables were laid out in profusion, and the bar was doing brisk business. One had to pause amid the festivities to marvel at the work involved, the amount of gear that had been landed on the beach under the difficult conditions– tents, tables, huge coolers full of ice and beer, cases of wine, soft drinks and liquor, lights to be strung on the tents and generators to power them, and all the food. It was a huge operation, and two on the fetch-and-tote end were directors of Oyster Marine – just sailors pitching in. It was impressive. For dessert, Richard’s partner Denette Wilkinson appeared with a tray as big as her piled high with delicious brownies and carrot cake. By midnight, there wasn’t so much as a bottle top left on the beach. UBS Oyster Regatta Antigua 2003 Tuesday’s race from Barbuda back to a finish off Jolly Harbour on Antigua’s west coast was the sail and the race of the week. Overnight the wind shifted 180 degrees and piped up to 25 knots, providing a rail-down broad reach. I joined David and Linda Hughes and their captain and mate - Mark and Charlotte ("Charlie") Durham -- on the Hughes’ third Miss Molly, an Oyster 66. Hughes, who hails from Hampshire, England, the few months each year when he’s not sailing, is a rugged, gregarious man with a shock of straight hair bleached platinum from the sun. His blue eyes are mischievous. A country/western, rock and roll guitar player whose hero is Chuck Berry, Hughes keeps his axe on board and will launch into "Johnny Be Good" at a moment’s notice. David and Linda have sailed literally hundreds of thousands of miles together since their marriage 36 years ago, including a circumnavigation in their previous Oyster 55. So in the pre-start when David was going on about how they were "just a bunch of bumpkins from Hampshire" when it came to racing, I welcomed the grains of salt coming aboard. With 8 minutes to the start, Hughes made a close pass by Mike Rose and the race committee aboard the Trojan 44 Express, Blue Martini. On cue, Charlie flipped the switch on the stereo and Little Richard’s version of "Good Golly Miss Molly" blasted out of the cockpit speakers at full volume. Mike Rose grimaced and held his ears. With two minutes to the start, Hughes dropped the boat smartly into a weather berth. When the gun went off Miss Molly had a full head of steam at the committee boat end. After that, all you could say was "good golly" as the boat blasted toward Antigua. We rolled up two feet of mainsail to ease the weather helm pressure, and kept the pedal to the metal. "This," David Hughes said from the leeward helm with a big smile, "is big boat sailing." Three hours later we rounded the special mark off Reed’s Point and commenced a two-mile weather leg to the finish that bunched the fleet. The wind coming off the hills was fluctuating wildly in both speed and direction. Molly tacked in a header and gained on the three boats ahead of us. Astern, the smaller, more maneuverable boats were closing. The finish was full-on excitement as four of us were separated by as many boat lengths. Enhancing the drama, cameraman George Johns clattered above us in a helicopter to capture the moment on video. David Hughes was beside himself. We’d logged over 11 knots for thirty miles, and now this spectacular finish. Only Little Richard could put a stinger on the day. Charlie cranked up the volume. The fleet anchored off Ffryes beach and for a while all was quiet as the nap flags were raised. It wasn’t the racing that took its toll. The crews were gathering strength for the pig roast that evening on the beach. The real challenge of the week was the array of gourmet dining that had been planned. www.oystermarine.com 37
Page 1 and 2: NEWS O YSTER® NEWS FROM THE WORLD
Page 3 and 4: Welcome to the 49th edition of our
Page 5 and 6: OYSTERS TO BERMUDA Four Oysters hav
Page 7 and 8: Regatta FACT BOX • See the Antigu
Page 9 and 10: Chris Smith and Fiona Campbell's Oy
Page 11 and 12: Just to help matters, our staysail
Page 13 and 14: FACT BOX • For more information a
Page 15 and 16: The new Rob Humphreys and Oyster De
Page 17 and 18: ‘ I knew Tamoure was the one the
Page 19 and 20: All around us boats were dragging,
Page 21 and 22: Sail American Airlines with mostly
Page 23 and 24: deregulation wouldn’t last. So in
Page 25 and 26: seas, without an autopilot, and wit
Page 27 and 28: The headsail develops a larger forc
Page 29 and 30: We believe your wealth management p
Page 31 and 32: Half Shell Pearls provided by Oyste
Page 33 and 34: Oyster 45, Taboo Oyster 66, Sarita
Page 35: Green Island Each celebrant held tw
Page 39 and 40: I teamed up with Andrew Orr, owner
Page 41 and 42: Hannes and Steffi Fehring with the
Page 43 and 44: Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2003 A
Page 45 and 46: A LIST OF 'OYSTER' DATES FOR YOUR D
Page 47 and 48: The Oyster Fleet Review CHOICE NOT
Page 49 and 50: Cartagena repeated attacks both fro
Page 51 and 52: Cartagena was lit up spectacularly
Page 53 and 54: Seven sunny days preceeded by a thr
Page 55 and 56: Marlies and Klaus Schuback OYSTER 4

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