Part II of the Musket Cove Regatta 2023. Be sure to read Part I: Musket Cove Regatta: Pirate Day 2023. Day 2 of the regatta is a “down day” and meant to be onshore for the games, activities, and hobbie cat races. But Day 3 is the famed Around the Island Race.
If you might recall last year, on the sailboat “Wow” we had to leave the race without finishing because we tore the jib. This year we were determined to simply go all the way around the island. The problem is we did not have a boat to crew on.
Luck of the draw…we met this boat called “Wings” in Viani Bay a few weeks prior to the regatta. They shipped “Wings” their beautiful 46′ Dehler from Austrlia to California so they could participate in the prestigous Transpac Race (California to Hawaii). After they finished the race, they sailed from Hawaii to Fiji which is where we met them. The race course around the island.
Racing on “Wings”
Ian, the owner was gracious enough to invite Matt and I on to their boat for the Around the Island race. We were thrilled to be back in the game! Even though this is a really sleek racing boat, I was not sure how well we would do. I just wanted to finish!
Wings is made for racing and Ian takes her all over the world to compete. In the top photo Wings has her racing sails up but for the Musket Cove regatta she used her standard ‘working sails.’
Well equiped and ready to race with easily visible instruments, and key performance indicator sheets.
The Race Photographer captured some great shots of Wings while underway.
Ian, being the master race captain, positioned us perfectly at the start line and we were the first to cross. It was a packed start as we all were tacking up the narrow channel in a fight for air and position.
The crew: Ian, David, Mark, Alissa, Janesse, Matt and I. Yes, it looks like we are hardly working, but the only time I can take photos is when we have a “lull” It becomes super difficult to stop and take photos during a tack or jibe.
As it turns out, we were the 2nd monohull to cross the line. We won’t know for sure until the awards ceremony, but we are 99.99% confiendt we came in second.
The Sandbank Race
The next day, 3 of the 4 crew members decided to go surfing. Ian, asked if Matt and I wanted to fill in and we decided “why not?” Of course, we don’ know 1/10 of what his crew does, but we muddled through it the best we could.
The Sandbank race is short and usually has very little wind. Making it challenging to get this heavy boat to move. Our start was not as good as the day before, but we made the best of it. This is the race course:
We certainly did not do as well as we did on the Around the Island race, with little wind, and short 3 crew, but we sure did have fun!
Awards Ceremony
Wings came in 2nd in the prestigous Around the Island Race. We won tons of prizes. Matt and I received a bottle of champagn, a new hat, and a $100 fuel voucher. We then won several drawings. We got 2 months of free internet from Vodafone, 1 year professional subscription from PredictWind, and we won a huge bag full of wine, goodies, and more.
Our crew on Wings and Salty.
We had many beautiful sunsets where the anchor lights dot the sky making it look like falling stars.
Soem Fijian Love
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events. This event occurred early September. In our last blog we get down and dirty as pirates.