Well I am feeling lower than a worm. I have abandoned my little cat Dizzy to cat prison and he may well see it as cat hell as he is surrounded by yappy dogs.
But all my attempts to find a suitable boat/cat sitter had 'gang agly' and it was time for the back up plan to swing into action. I had cleared into Antigua with this as a possibility so Dizzy had his stamp from the Ministry vet and had been granted the freedom of Antigua and Barbuda. The option that I found to board him was PAAWS a no kill animal sanctuary in Param at the North end of the island. I had emailed them a few weeks ago but was down to the wire when I spoke to them. They said they would find space somehow but had 10 cats come in on Friday and were full up. I had not seen the sanctuary although I have visited Param before. It was a pleasant surprise to find a very clean operation and to meet Nora who helped me settle Dizzy in his two story residence and fill out the paperwork. I went to bed missing his thunderpaws runs on the deck and woke up without finding him nestled in beside my hand waiting patiently for me to get up and FEED HIM SOME OF THE GOOD STUFF!
Caribbean RORC 600 mile race.
I could also here the gun so could tell what was going on. Generally there was not too much infighting for the favored end of the line, The fast boys making timed runs at the line and most were over within 10 seconds of the start, after all it is a 600 mile race and at least 48 hours to the finish line. Well nobody told Athos and Adela to make nice in the start box. The two biggest boats and the toughest to tack or gybe went at it in the box Athos coming out on top. It was scary to watch and I guess maybe the owner was driving.
But I saw no protest flags and out of the 65 starters only one was over early.
As I checked off my packing list I was also checking the positions of the race leaders on the lappie. Yellowbrick allows a realtime access to the race and it has been a nailbiter. Bella Mente and Rambler have been duking it out with less than a mile separating them after 400 miles racing as they entered the windshadow behind Guadeloupe. But as in the past the course chosen was critical and Bella Mente only made one tack and came out past the Saintes leading by several miles. She held the lead around Antigua, during the downwind romp to Redonda and held off Rambler as they beat back to Antigua.
There was a final nailbiting moment for the leaders when the wind died completely just off Cades reef but Bella Mente got the wind first and took line honors. Bella Mente, Rambler and Shockwave had had a great race but the favoured horse won!
Had Hetairos been allowed to play then the big green mean reaching machine would surely have enjoyed the conditions and I suspect might have taken line honors.
The docks are filling up with the old and the beautiful as elegant yachts arrive for the festival of conspicious consumption that is Classic week. There is much competition for the experts in the art of laying a perfect final coat of varnish, maintaining a wet edge across immense transoms. Eos is one that I had not seen before and the crew have it looking as pretty as a well varnished picture should look.
It is offset by the big mobo Skat which is neither old or beautiful instead has a military look with it's grey paint and big numbers at the rear. I wonder how much 'square grouper' has been ditched as it put in appearances on the drug runners routes.
But whatever they might look like during the day they are all lit up at night and it turns the docks into a wonderland of lights from the mast heads showing the red markers for low flying aircraft down to the brilliant underwater spotlights. But it is the tasteful illumination of decks and cabins that fill in fairyland.
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