programs open on the laptop and found the alarm was
from the Adrena software,” he says. “I noticed that Proteus
had slowed to two knots and had seemingly retired. A man
overboard alarm icon was showing but not a yacht name.
“When we arrived we saw what we thought was another
vessel searching with torches, but once we got within 50m
we were surprised to find an upturned catamaran. The
crew hailed they were OK and I called the coastguard.”
Varuna sailed clear of Saba and relayed messages
constantly for over an hour between a mix of vessels and
also returned to the catamaran after being tasked by the
French coastguard to confirm further details. It was too
rough for a transfer to be attempted and eventually a
smaller lobster boat whose skipper, coincidentally, had
experience towing another inverted multihull, was able to
help get the crew off, by shuttling them on Fujin’s liferaft.
Fujin was then towed to Saba and put on a mooring
while a plane was chartered to fly the crew to Antigua.Fresh to frightening
For a little catamaran like the Seacart 30, these big seas
and strong tradewinds were a forecast of ‘fresh to
frightening’, but in one of the stand-out performances of
this year’s Caribbean 600, they brought the little
catamaran Morticia back home.
Australian skipper Shaun Carroll and his three crew had
spent several hours at dusk the previous evening
managing the boat through a big squall. It was already
blowing over 30 knots and they had two reefs in the main,
so they handed the sails completely and were still
barrelling along under bare poles at 8-10 knots. Tossed
around by the seas, they managed only two hours’ rest
each day for three days. The hulls constantly filled with
water, so did the cabin, and it was too rough to boil a kettle
or prepare food. Even the Doritos didn’t all get eaten.Selling the dream
The diversity of the fleet, from Morticia to the supermaxis,
and with club racers such as the SunFast 3600, Class 40s
and First 40.7s in between, give everyone a chance of close
competition. That competition is fierce, but it’s still only a
three- or four-day race that people can fit inside a week
away from the office.
The RORC’s Eddie Warden-Owen thinks the combination
of “offshore racing, seamanship and human endeavour”
makes it a special race.
“We sell the dream and that’s how we have grown it. We
are sailing in sublime conditions. It may be wet, but the
water is warm. But it’s hard to win because it’s demanding.
I thought it might be too tough for people but it’s a huge
challenge, and people really love a challenge.”
Warden-Owen thinks the race is perfect, in many ways,
for the times we live in. “We are all under so much
pressure at work. People come offshore racing and they
switch everything off for four days. When else do you do
that? Sailing as a whole may be going through one of
those dips, but offshore racing is growing and I think
that’s why. Races like this are cathartic.”‘competition is fierce, but it can fit
inside a week away from the office’
Left: George David
celebrates his win
in Rambler 88.
Below: foils and
rudders taking
to the air on the
Seacart MorticiaBig Atlantic seas
meant some
seriously white
water sailing for
the 84 crews