mattacme

On the evening of November 18th last year I arrived in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, a Spanish island off the coast of West Africa. I had traveled from California to Boston, where I met a friend I have known since grade school, Ron, and the two of us boarded a flight to Las Palmas with a layover in Madrid. The purpose of our trip was to meet up with another grade school friend, Blake, and his brother Tony aboard his 83 foot yacht in order to serve as crew during the 2011 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). The ARC has been running annually for over 20 years from Las Palmas to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia and has proven very popular, as such events go. There were over 210 entries this year. As with most sail races there are classes for each general type of vessel. Our ship, Mustang, fit into the open category. At 65 tons and 83 feet we were by no means the largest and fastest boat in the open class and Mustang's only previous attempt, in 2006 (different owner and crew) resulted in her dismasting half way across. Despite some very stiff competition we prepared to make the best showing possible while enjoying a true gentleman's race, which is sailed entirely with the wind.

I will spare you the minutiae and post pictures with little descriptions of what is pictured, if needed. Otherwise, enjoy.

Me, Ron and Richard in Mustang's cockpit, 11/19.

Mustang from across the marina.

Our neighbor in Las Palmas to port.

The Captain had a local artist paint this on the wall aft at the Marina.

Under way...

Me getting the ships cannon ready for firing as we cross the line.

Dolphins, and these are little ones. About mid way across during a watch on an overcast night we heard a splash and whoosh to port and knew that it was dolphins coming up for a breath and a look at us. Intensely curious, dolphins are always checking out boats. This night we were treated to a phosphorescence light show. I went forward to the bow pulpit and hung out over the water as perhaps a dozen large dolphins swam left and right and among each other just under and ahead of the bow, with an occasional silhouette of one of them breaching the surface, followed by the abundant phosphorescence caused by their re-entry into the water. Pure magic and one of the most incredibly beautiful things I have ever seen.

Back to the passage. A sail arrangement you probably have never seen...

Wing on wing on wing, The main, an inner fore sail and the outer fore sail, all flying at the same time, one spilling into the next spilling into the last. Very efficient and much safer than flying a purely downwind sail (spinnaker, tri-radial, etc.).

General shots...

We arrived in St. Lucia on December 5th at 07:30 local time, 13 days and 23 hours after leaving Las Palmas, a very respectable time. Our finish place was 4th in the open class and 24th overall, a fine finish. No one who came in ahead of us belonged behind us and many who came after us ought to have finished ahead.
This is White Knight, a fast Swan sailed by two really cool young Italian gentlemen who were great fun to hang out with.

I'll end this with a shot of yours truly at the starboard main winch and Mustang at rest on the west coast of St. Lucia.