SUMMER 2019
SW
040
Q Sitting in the cockpit of
Ron Zarella’s custom-built
Taylor 49 Blackfish, the crew
waits for a tender to take
everyone ashore. We’ve just
completed the first day of the
2019 St. Thomas International
Regatta, and we’re ready
for some shade and a round
of Painkillers.
“You’re supposed to sound
a horn three times to get
the tender to come,” Zarella
says. He’s standing behind
the helm, relaxed, but grow-
ing impatient. His boat captain,
David Abramski, descends
through the companionway and
returns with a foghorn, walks
to the stern, and blows three
sounds across Cowpet Bay
toward St. Thomas YC.
Soon after, a beat-up RIB
comes skidding alongside
us, its motor stalling as it
nearly crashes into the boat’s
gleaming black topside.
“Can you send the otherone?” Zarella asks, eyeing the
RIB’s deflated tubes. “I don’t
think we’ll stay afloat in
that thing.”
The driver smiles, shoves
o, and tells us he’ll be right
back. As the tender drifts
away downwind, we watch its
driver struggle to pull-start
the outboard.
“This could take a while,”
Zarella says, sitting down
behind the helm. He’s a big man
with a big personality—but at
this moment, he’s just another
skipper waiting for a ride, on
island time. He accepts his
fate and rests his palm on the
boat’s varnished wooden wheel.
From beneath his sun hat flap-
ping in the breeze, he admiresthe teak deck of his Spirit of
Tradition masterpiece and a
smile stretches from cheek to
bearded cheek.
Meanwhile, over his shoulder,
the RIB in distress drifts toward
the reef, forcing the driver to
throw out an anchor.
“I’d much rather be stranded
on this boat,” Zarella says.
Our waiting time has
increased exponentially, yet
no one complains. The trade
winds are whistling through
the rigging and whitecaps curl
in from the southeast. Across
the bay, the Caribbean Sea
stretches out on the horizon,
its blue and green hues reflect-
ing the tropical sky. All in all,
there are far worse places tobe stuck on a mooring.
To pass the time, we extract
a handful of beers from the
cooler and debrief on the day’s
racing. Only three years have
passed since Blackfish was
launched, and Zarella’s sail-
ing team is as new as the
boat itself. As with any new
crew, dividing responsibilities
is a process of trial and error.
In this regard, there is much
to discuss: “It seems like the
tactics-by-committee concept
is working well,” trimmer
Pat O’Conner says.
Until this moment I’d never
heard the phrase, “tactics by
committee” and thought it to
be odd.
“What happens when you’reRon Zarella’s and Carolyn Grant’s
custom Taylor 49 Blackfish
serves as the couple’s winter
getaway racer at the St. Thomas
International Regatta.
PHOTO: INGRID ABERYA Classic Couple
It’s said that a pet is often a reflection of its
owner. As one competitive couple proves,
the same can be said of a custom boat.STARTING LINE
EXPERIENCE
BY MICHAEL HANSON