Hi everyone,
Sorry for the gap in posts, but losing the satellite electronics has made emailing posts and general comms impossible to achieve.
.
I left Coral Bay on the 11 April bound for Antigua and the Classics. I had 2 crew on board Sara and Dougie. The wind was against us all the way, and we took 5 days, stopping 2 nights and one night heaving too. A total of 53hrs sailing time we arrived in Jolly Harbour Antigua to sign in customs, then round to Falmouth Harbour and anchored for the night.
Next day we were on the dock at the yacht club visiting the laundry to dry everything after a very wet trip. Big waves and a hard beat to windward (26-35knts) all the way. GL performed flawlessly.
2 days later on 18th, the regatta started, and in the afternoon 14.00hrs I did the single handed race coming 7th.
The race days started the next day and the wind was high and swell waves were huge. After the 4 races were over and having had the hardest weather, pushing GL more than I have ever done in the 18 years I have owned her, we finished 3rd in class overall.
So now I know after that thrashing if there was any weakness in the repairs that were made after the reef disaster, it would have shown up during this, sailing GL that hard did however show me the one seam I did not re-caulk started leaking, and 3 new plank butts had the caulking washed out. Right now I have hauled the boat out yet again to fix these leaks, The last haul out I hope for a while at least.
The fun we all had was worth every effort I made to get here for the 2013 Antigua Panerai Classic Regatta.
Roy
