After a great couple of days in Five Island Harbour the forecast of a big North West swell sent us scurrying around the corner and on course through Cade sound towards Falmouth Harbor.
We came past the headland and I was surprised to see a veritable forest of masts poking up over the shoulder of land from Falmouth harbor. Last year at this time the docks were empty but this year things looked different. When we entered the harbor it became clear that every inch of dock space was being utilized and some superyachts were in the unfamiliar position of being a poor relation and hanging off a corner of a dock with fenders out against another.
It is all due to the 600 mile race starting and finishing in Antigua and aimed at the big boys.
Heading up the fleet is the six-month old 66m (216ft) Hetairos, which recently took line honours in the Transatlantic Superyacht Regatta from Tenerife to Virgin Gorda, completing the 3,069 mile crossing in 8 days 10hrs 58mins 30secs. Some say her classic looks and sleek green hull may be based on the early 19th century pilot cutters, but as well as being built for comfort with a stunning interior, she is an ultra-modern competitive yacht and one of the largest composite sailing yachts in the world which also boasts the largest composite standing rigging. Personally I think she looks unbalanced and is Toad green as well!
The super maxi Rambler is likely to take line honors but there is a trimaran that could pip her to the post. Pundits reckon that the winning boat will take less then 48 hours to cover the 600 miles.
I see that old warhorse Steinlager on the wall in English harbor but she has not shown up on the entry list so far.
WOBBLY
But before that race started there was a much more serious race to be run with maidens to be resucued and bragging rights to be earned. The wobbly [ don't ask ] byob event kicked off with a beauty pagent then the serious matter of Building Your Own Boat started. Many and varied were the styles and as cheating was allowed nay positively encouraged so the additional materials that snuck in over and above the supplied plywood and gap filling foam were making some entrants think again.
Doing surprisingly well was the cocktail party but they did have the aid from the diver and the powerful underwater scooter.
Both sail powered vessels did less well.
In the end it was this canoe style vessel with a serious pair of shoulders propelling it along that was the runaway winner.
I agree about Hetairos, she does not look right. The mainsail looks too narrow at the foot, the mizen too tall the bow and fordeck lines look wrong, in the photos I have seen. It maybe fast but in the pictures not the most beautiful yacht I have seen.
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