Arriving in Noroton, after weeks of starvation, no beer, bread, pasta, and feeling faint, Team Solaise staggered to the weigh in to find that we would cruise in, under 10 lbs light. An orgy of bacon and egg butties followed, with high sugar orange juice, Red Bull and coffee laced with real suger (none of that imitation crap). Giddy with excitement, we had the new sails measured and went to find our charter boat. Some anxious moments as the keel was measured, and re-measured several times but eventually given the thumbs up. Others were not so lucky, the sound of electric sanders echoed accross the parking lot, West System filler was in abundance and crews worked late into the night with ingenious homemade oven devices to speed up the curing process. Mast up, to discover 6mm too short and we had to insert nylon blocks under the foot to make up the difference. Then a crane into the water. It took three days to measure all 74 boats.
Without dwelling on the aspects of every single race, several things struck me. Almost total disregard for rules at mark roundings, he who shouts loudest wins, and we’d been primed about the starts. Nothing, however, prepares you for the frenzy and the first leeward mark rounding. As Mike alluded to in his report, you just find a gap, stick the nose of the boat in there and shout, and hopefully you come out of the mess on the other side in a better position than you entered. We now know the Japanese for “you can’t go in there, no room round eyes.”
The other thing that struck me was the number of sailors from other countries who say “Hey, Bermuda, when you doin’ the Dark and Stormy Party?” If our performances on the race course don’t make us friends, our reputation from those that have been at Worlds before ensures our popularity. A tradition was born and long may it continue with future J24 Worlds teams.
Mike, I thought, had a great regatta, the conditions were brutal, not windy, just light, shifty and with lots of current. There was only one really windy day. We, on the other hand, were hopeful not to be DFL, and we succeeded in having a couple of top two thirds finishes. The last race, it turned out, was our best with a 45th. It was a real thrill to look back and see 29 boats still to finish. 71st from 74.
A long hard week, very unforgiving on the race course and tough in the bar afterwards. I’d do it all again in a heart beat.