Sailing World – July-August 2019

SUMMER 2019

SW

058

Rosehearty. We know our strength is sailing

to windward, so we plot our oensive. They

go right, we nudge left, squeezing the maxi-

mum height out of our lady. The wind trends

left as expected. Rosehearty tacks on the

layline to the finish. The cross will be close,

but a few degrees of left-hand shift arrives

in time. A smooth tack and the finish is on

our bow. We cross the line and take the win.

The team is ecstatic with a fantastic start.

The second day is far trickier.

The Wriggly Course, which zigzags around

dierent islands, has much shorter legs, so

we can’t quite get a proper stride. The 131-

foot Hyperion is on top of its game, and

with its shallower draft, sneaks into the

water between us and the island, prevent-

ing us from jibing, so we have to sail more

distance. Third place is the best we can do.

On the final day of racing, we’re tied with

Hyperion and Rosehearty. Winner takes all.

Communication o‚cer: “14 minutes to

the start.”

Tactician: “OK, we only have time for one

more loop before our final approach.”

Helm: “Agreed, with this wind, let’s avoid

the jibe to save the battens.”

Comms o‚cer: “6 minutes to the start.”

Tactician: “We are on the final approach.”

Comms o‚cer: “4 minutes.”

Navigator: “1 minute to burn.”

Helm: “Approach is good, burning time

here early.”

Crew boss: “Standby hoisting spinnaker.”

Bow: “Bow ready.”

Aft deck: “Aft deck ready.”

Comms o‚cer: “2 minutes 30.”

Navigator: “20 seconds to burn.”

Tactician: “Good timing. Ready for

acceleration?”

Helm: “Happy with timing, bearing away.”

Crew boss: “Hoisting spinnaker.”

Comms o‚cer: “1 minute 30.”

Crew boss: “Bucket up.”

The start gun goes, and within seconds,

the gigantic spinnaker is steadily drawing;

Perseus gathers pace and punches the

line. On the flybridge, the guests cheer,

again stunned by the enormous spinnaker

towering above from the top of the mast.

With the lush green island of St. Barths in

the background, the scenery completes this

picture-perfect sailing day.

Bill, our helmsman, and I would love to

soak up all of this beauty, but the adren-

aline is still flowing too wildly. “That was

close,” I say. Crossing the line 5 seconds

late might sound like a bad start, but on this

639-ton yacht, this is as close as we ever

want to be in a downwind start.

There is no time to relax. Strong gusts

are rolling down from the top of the island.

A new patch of wind reaches us and the

giant sail plan pushes us forward. With a

more direct course to the mark, we make

gains on the boats that chose the other side

of the course. We are now quickly reaching

the layline, so it is time to set up for a jibe.

It might be hard to believe, but a jibe takes

a full 2 minutes to execute, start to finish.

Good communications and planning are key.

Our crew boss, Grimmy, is in his element

and coordinates the bow and aft-deck

teams. The staysail gets furled first. One

minute to the jibe, the mainsail starts to

come in toward centerline. Bill turns the

wheel and gradually, our big lady responds.

On the aft deck, more than 300 feet of spin-

naker sheet gets eased by a team of three

operating one winch. The new sheet is

pulled around by four crew on the other

Clear communication between Perseus’ bow

team, the aft-deck team and afterguard on

the flybridge keeps maneuvers sharp.