I’ve just started working on a sailing catamaran as a
freelance delivery and charter deckhand.
I was excited to get the job because I intend to buy my own sail boat in
about five years to live aboard and sail for several years.
However, I have very little sailing experience, so an opportunity to get
paid to learn a little about sailing was pretty awesome. Boat owners typically don’t like crew
disclosing information about them or their boat, but I can say it is a 74-foot
sailing catamaran that is typically crewed by a husband-and-wife team, and only
takes on additional crew when the owners have bigger trips with extra
guests. In my case, they were going to
Bermuda for the America’s Cup.
On our first day, we were treated to some good tail
winds, following seas and the Gulf Stream, which gave us a good push around the
top of the Bahamas. Our route was taking
us along the western edge of the Bermuda Triangle, which made it interesting
for the superstitious, and I’m learning superstition is part of the sailing
culture. As the sun set, the eastern
skyline lit up with a massive electrical storm.
It looked like we were sailing right into it, but it was miles off, and
stayed ahead of us lighting up the sky and black seas around us for hours
before it finally died out.
The storm and sailing highlighted one of the biggest differences
between this crossing and previous trips I have done on motor yachts. In the motor yachts, we conducted our watches
inside, but on the sailboat we were outside.
Although we still watched and logged wind and sea state on the motor
yachts, it was much different being outside the whole time, feeling the wind
and air temperature. I enjoyed it more,
but I was also thankful we didn’t get rained on.
On day two, several small birds took refuge on the
boat. It was a wonder how they had found
themselves so far out to sea. Normally,
I hate to see birds on a boat because it always means you’ll be cleaning up
bird crap later, but this time I just felt bad for the little guys that must
have been blown out to sea on one of the passing storms. They were the size of a finch, and mostly bright
yellow with some black and white on their wings and head. We named one that was almost full yellow
Tweety, and the other Bandit, as it had black on its face resembling a Zorro
style mask. We put out a little tin with
bread crumbs and another of water, assuming they must be starved and
thirsty. They never took any interest in
the food, but, much to our delight, they did go about eating any bugs that
found their way on board.
On day three, my evening watch started after sunset and well
before the moon rose. I was lucky
because we also passed through some bioluminescence, which I may not have seen if the sun
or moon was out. The sky was nearly
cloudless, so I alternated between watching our wake light up, and watching the
sky for falling stars. Again, I probably
would have missed both of these on a motor yacht since you don’t have the
unobstructed view from the bridge that you do when you’re outside.
On day four, we saw some dolphins that chased us down, and
played in our wake for a few minutes before moving on, and on our fifth day we
arrived in Bermuda, with the early morning sun lighting up the colorful houses
along the south shore. We hugged the
coast around to the east side, and entered Saint George harbor where we needed
to check in for customs and immigration.
St. George
If you ever travel to Bermuda, I recommend spending a little
time in both St. George and the Dockyard area.
If you do, you will also travel the islands from end to end, which is
also well worth it. St. George is a
UNESCO world heritage site on the eastern tip of Bermuda. It was the site of first settlement on
Bermuda, and the site of the Sea Venture’s grounding in 1609, after it was
damaged in storms while sailing to Jamestown, Virginia, with supplies from
Britain. Sir George Somers and the crew
of the Sea Venture were able to build two ships from supplies they recovered
from the Sea Venture as well as the ample cedar that grew on Bermuda. After ten months, the ships were ready to
complete the resupply mission to Jamestown; however, some of the crew didn’t
want to leave the island.
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| Replica of the Deliverance, located in St George. It is one of the two ships Somers' crew built to replace the Sea Venture |
Their experience and Sir George Somers’ report back to the
British government led the British to colonize the island, which had no native
population before that time. Bermuda is
still a British territory, but has also grown more independent since WWII. Prior to the British, the island was first
discovered by a Spanish sailor Juan De Bermudez in 1503. Then the Portuguese visited in 1543, leaving
behind wild hogs, which they planned to use to resupply meat supplies on future
visits. However, the cries of the wild
hogs, tree frogs and birds – and the treacherous northern reefs – led future
sailors to refer to it as Devil ’s Island, and they preferred to give the
island a wide berth. (These reefs have
claimed more than 300 ships over the years, and I was able to snorkel around
some of the wrecks during my stay. The
hogs have all been eaten, but they remain on the local ‘Hog Penny,’ which was
one of the first forms of currency and is also the name of one of the islands oldest
pubs.)
Today, St. George is filled with colorful and historic
buildings dating back to the early days of colonization, and, despite being a
British territory, it is also linked to a lot of American history. Barber’s Alley is named for Joseph Hayne Rainey
(1832-1887), an American slave who escaped to
Bermuda and earned a living cutting hair there before he returned to the US and
became the first African American member of Congress in 1870. And, after building up defenses on Bermuda to
protect it from possible attack from the US, it housed US troops multiple
times. The confederate Army had staff in
St George, and US submarines were also stationed there during WWII.
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| Some colorful and historic buildings on Water Street, St. George |
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| One of several torture devices you can find in King's Square, St. George. |
Although the Dockyard - on the western end of the island –
is the largest and most impressive fort on the island, St. George is also
surrounded by many interesting forts that reflect the changing nature of
coastal fortification over the last 500 years -- from Fort St. Catherine, the
oldest fort in Bermuda, to Alexandra Battery.
St. Catherine has the classic look of a coastal castle, complete with a
dry moat and draw bridge, while the Alexandra Battery is nearly invisible from
the sea, and was equipped with modern cannons to defend the island during
WWII.
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| One of the gun positions for a disappearing cannon at the Alexandra Battery |
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| Fort St Catherines |
The Dockyard
After the US declared independence from Britain, the British
established a significant naval fort on the western tip of Bermuda to defend
against American aggression and support what remained of its Colonial Empire
across the Atlantic. Construction began
in 1809, with slaves doing most of the work until they were liberated. Then convicts were shipped in to complete the
construction and housed on old ships that acted as floating prison barracks
until construction was completed. Interestingly, rather than protecting Bermuda
from US aggression, the Dockyard was the place the British planned and conducted
their attacks on Washington D.C. and supported the blockade of the US seaboard
during the war of 1812. AND, it later
housed the US forces it was built to deter, during WWII.
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| View of the clock tower mall from our boat at the Dockyard |
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| The Victualing Yard, where the British Navy prepared and stored food and other supplies for their ships |
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| View from one of the gun positions in 'The Keep,' the final defensive fort in the Dockyard |
The British operated the Dockyard until the 1950’s, and,
although the British Navy departed, they maintained the historic lease on the
site until the 1990’s. During those 40
years, the site was largely left to the elements, but in the past 20 years, it
has seen a major revitalization as a harbor for private boats, and major Cruise
lines. In addition, the historic buildings
built to house supplies, personnel and naval ship repairs have now been
renovated into shops, restaurants and an impressive museum.
We were lucky enough to dock at Pier 41 for the duration of
the America’s Cup. This gave me an
opportunity to explore the Dockyard, and provided a ‘backstage’ view of the
America’s Cup team docks and Race Village.
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| Watching Team Oracle(USA) leave the docks, as Team New Zealand preps their boat in the background. |
America’s Cup
I didn’t know much about the America’s Cup before this trip
other than it was a sailing race, but, I’ve learned that it’s actually the
oldest trophy in international sport, and it was named after the first boat to
win the race in 1851, which actually took place in England. The victorious sailing yacht, America, returned to America and gave
the trophy to the New York Yacht Club, which then began holding the race in
which one challenger competes against the current champion. This challenger is the winner of a race series
– called the Louis Vuitton Series - prior to the final race for the cup. However, the defender doesn’t even compete in
the initial Louis Vuitton series of races.
Instead they are guaranteed the spot in the final series of races
against the single challenger. In
addition, the defender gets to select the boat design for the race and decides
some of the rules for the race. One
analogy I heard was that it would be like the winner of the Super Bowl being guaranteed
a spot in the next Super Bowl, and
writing the rules for the next season!
This explains why the race also holds the record for longest winning
streak in sport history.
The America’s Cup has led to many innovations in sailing as
well as controversies. This year’s race
featured several of those innovations.
The primary one is the foiling catamarans that actually fly through the
air and sea. The main sail is actually
more like a plane wing on a Boeing 737 than a traditional fabric sail, and it operates
like a wing as well, providing horizontal lift as the wind flows around it,
propelling the sailing ships at 3 to 4 times the wind speed! On a traditional sailing ship the wing sail
alone would not be able to provide enough power to overcome the drag of water
flowing around the ship’s hull, so they have reduced that drag by using a
hydrofoil. The hydrofoil is a wing under
water that provides vertical lift to raise the boat out of the water, so the
only points of friction are the small hydrofoil wing and the rudder used for
steering and stability, like the tail of an airplane. They are amazing to watch in action, but also
controversial within the sailing community, which has found it hard to accept
such radical innovation in the oldest race in international sailing.
The second major innovation is a creative system to keep the
boats ‘man-powered.’ I feel I need to
put it in quotes because there seems to be a fine line the race teams sail in
this regard. The boats actually have a
lot of computer devices to aid the sailors, and the majority of the ‘sailors’
on board are actually called grinders or cyclers, who really don’t need sailing
skills or knowledge; some of them actually come from Olympic cycling
backgrounds. They are responsible for
charging a hydraulic system that’s used to control the hydrofoils and other
systems on-board. Although
controversial, these innovations have led to astounding speeds on the race
course of over 50 mph!
Another interesting fact about sail racing is that the race
actually begins before it starts. In the
America’s Cup races, the two competitors enter the race course two and a half
minutes before the start, and spend that time trying to out maneuver their competitor
as they approach the starting line. They
try to cross the start line with the best angle and speed to attack the first
mark or turning point on the course.
However, if they cross the start early, they have to drop back two
boat-lengths behind their competitor as a penalty. All of this makes for some very exciting
racing before the race has officially started.
One shocking statistic that highlighted how crucial this pre-race jockeying
was is the fact that Team New Zealand never lost a race if they won the race
to the first mark.
I was fortunate enough to get to watch the races from
several vantage points ranging from a small boat on the edge of the race course
to a TV in a pub. But the best place was
at the America’s Cup Village Grandstand, where I was able to see the race course,
listen to the animated play-by-play of the announcers, feel the wind in my
face, and watch the race footage on a big screen. Without the race-course graphics and camera
angles on the big screen, it could be hard to tell who was in the lead at
times. In addition, they have put
multiple cameras on board each boat, plus chase boats, helicopters and drones;
so the race footage and instant replays are excellent, making TV viewing the
second best option, beating out in person viewing from land or even a boat on
the edge of the race course.
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| Watching Team Groupama come into the finish line from the Grandstand |
Not only did I get to watch some of the preliminary Louis
Vuitton Challenger Cup races from the Grandstand, I was also lucky enough to
have the owners of the sailboat that I work on gave us tickets to join them in
the sold-out final day of races. It was
a great experience.
The mood was set early, before we even left the yacht, as we
could hear the announcers doing sound checks and announcing winner ‘XYZ’ and
‘ABC’ before cuing pre-selected victory soundtracks. As the
announcers were rehearsing, we could see the teams preparing their boats for
racing and leaving the docks.
We arrived at the race village shortly after the gates
opened and, despite our early arrival, the Grandstands were filling
quickly. However, we were still able to claim
prime seats behind the announcers’ booth.
After claiming a seat, I went to the Cup merchandise tent and discovered
a fire sale crowd in a feeding frenzy of half-price bargains. The line for check out extended the entire
length of the store, and, as I waited to buy a T-shirt and hat, I heard some
other shoppers chatting. "This is
the danger of a sale," a man lamented. "You buy a bunch of stuff you
don't need. We came in here for one shirt. Now look at
all this. I
don't even know what this is,” the man said, holding up a tote-bagged item as
his wife ran about the store returning to his spot in line with nearly one of
everything.
I returned to the stands just in time for the announcers to
begin their pre-race analysis, and pump up the crowd before the races
began. As the announcers probably said,
the mood was electric. The Team New
Zealand fans knew they only need one more race to win the first-to-seven
competition, while the American fans hoped it would be the start of another
epic turn-around similar to their famous come-from-behind victory in 2013 when
they won eight straight races to beat New Zealand 9-8.
As the race started, the American fans were cheering early
as Team USA won the race to the start line and around the first mark, a
critical task when racing Team New Zealand.
However, the mood began to change and then the energy flipped as Team
New Zealand pulled into the lead, causing the other half of the stands to erupt
in cheers of excitement.
Throughout the races, the announcers had been throwing some
groan-worthy analogies, and they didn’t disappoint on this final day of racing,
as they announced that “Team USA’s chances are slipping through their fingers
like sand at the beach!” And it continued to slip, as Team New Zealand slowly
gained ground. “It is their race to
lose” the announcers loved to say as a team secured a lead, and in this final
race it was close, and New Zealand could lose if they slipped up, dropped off
foil, or jumbled a jibe. But they didn’t
and the New Zealand fans were elated as they brought home the win and the cup,
for the first time since 1995 when they beat the American’s in San Diego.
Typically, the race is held in the home country of the
champion. However, after successfully
defending the trophy in San Francisco in 2013, with one of the greatest
comebacks in sport history, the US team decided to open a bid for next race
venue, and Bermuda won the bid. It
turned out to be a pretty great location for racing, with a large lagoon
protected from the big sea swells of the open ocean, and fairly-consistent
winds. Five of six teams in the race
actually voted to keep the races in Bermuda in the future; however, New Zealand
opted out. As it turned out, New Zealand
won, so the next America’s Cup will most likely be held in New Zealand, much to
the Bermudian’s dismay.
If I stay with the yacht I’m working on now, I might just
make the journey to New Zealand in 2021 for the 36th America’s Cup. The owners of the yacht were rooting for
America and a return to Bermuda. It was
a beautiful and central location for the races, and as my boss says, “New
Zealand is 100% farther than you think.”
I certainly wouldn’t mind experiencing a Pacific crossing, but 2021 is also
100% farther than I think.
