ABANDON SHIP!
To encourage yachts to join in the 2017 America’s Cup festivities, I had been working with Spirit of Bermuda and the replica yacht America in the spring of 2016 to create a race from Antigua to Bermuda. Once the idea was in motion, I also decided to bring Monterey, our 56ft Farr Pilothouse sloop, back from Greece to join the race and take advantage of a Bermuda customs hiatus that would allow us to use the boat in Bermuda to watch the racing.
Monterey had left Bermuda following the 2004 Bermuda Race, traveling to Scotland via the Azores and Ireland. After that we’d spent the summers joining the Royal Swedish Yacht Club cruise and exploring such places as Lisbon, Malta, Turkey and Greece. In May 2016, we’d sailed the boat to Corfu for some work that included replacing the boat’s 16-year-old rudder bearings. We then made our way to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, where we joined the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) for a fabulous 17-day passage to St. Lucia. From there we brought the boat up to Antigua, hauled her and painted the bottom, ready for the May 12 start of the inaugural Antigua-Bermuda Race.
Twenty-one boats had entered the 935-mile event, ranging from the graceful 105ft gaff schooner and a Volvo 70 to two Pogo 12.50s. As in the ARC, a crewed division permitted motoring. We had a great crew of six: Jock Macrae, Cam Macrae, Bob Medland, James Watlington and longtime friend Kit Tatum.
