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Musket Cove Regatta: Races 2 & 3: 2023

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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.

Musket Cove Regatta: Pirate Day 2023

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We were lucky enough to get on a winning catamaran called “Wow” last year during the 2022 Musket Cove Regatta. This year we arrived the day before the regatta and did not have a chance to secure a position for all three races.

There are over 100 sailboats in the anchorage and on the moorings.  It is packed!  About 80 boats signed up for the regatta this year.  But that does not necessarily mean that all 80 boats are racing.  For example, we signed up Sugar Shack but we don’t plan to race our home.  We signed up so we can participate in the challenges, games, opening and closing night dinners.

This is a great shot (taken by Musket Cove) of the Island Bar and the boats in the marina.

Day 1

Day 1 of the Musket Cove Regatta is the Beachcomber Pirate Date Race.  This is definitely the most fun race as anything goes!  We were lucky enough to secure a spot on a beatiful Fountaine Pajout catamaran called “Salty.”  We know Mel who is crew on it and she invited us on after we bribed her with jello shots and cookies.

Such a different experience from last year.  We were in party mode the minute we stepped onto the boat.  Everyone was carefree and jovial and ready for a good time.  With that said, we were still in a race and managed to get a pretty good position off the start line.

Like last year, we did not have much wind so it was a motor sail (anything goes in this race).  We sailed right past the marker with a bird who was just watching the excitement go by.  Matt tries to inflate his pirate sword and we arrive to Beachcomber island after 2hrs.  I think we were 5th in the catamaran category.

Once we get to shore we are immediately taken as prisoners.  They shout at us to behave or we will end up in the sandy grave yard.

We walk across red hot coals and are forced to take our rum vaccination. Can’t have a pirate day without rum!

Everyone dresses the pirate part.

The crew at the Beachcomber.

Funtabulous Time

This is Viki from Island Cruising, she is the organizer of our South Pacific Rally.

Cruisers like any excuse to dress up and drink.

My favorite pirate.

And then the silliness occurs…

Do I make a good sea monster?

Meet the “salty” crew.

Fijian Dancers

Such beautiful expressions

And the fire dancing

They really stepped up their show compared to last year!

The Salty crew successfully conquered Pirate Day!

Stay tuned for Part II of the Musket Cove Regatta 2023!  Coming soon

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early September.  Did you read our very cool post on Yadua and Yadua Taba?

Musket Cove Regatta: Sandbank Race & Awards

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The third and final race of the Musket Cove Regatta 2022 is called the “Sandbank” race.  It is short, maybe 5nm in total, but it proved to be challenging with very light winds.  All the competitors start at the sandbank inside the reef, then fight for position through the pass, out to a mark, then back.

The captain and team on “Wow” are determined to redeem ourselves after our poor showing and retirement from the Around the Island Race.  The boat is prepared, we are psyched and ready!

Engines are off 5 minutes before the start and we position Wow at the start.  Only working sails can be used for the first 5 minutes to ensure everyone has plenty of room and can see as they exit the small pass.

The Musket Cove Regatta photographer gets a few great photos of the crew on Wow.

We quickly take the lead despite the very light winds.  The spinnakers slowly start to be unfurled as everyone desperately tries to capture the wind.

We unfurl our red spinnaker and see little puffs that catapult us forward.  There are times we only have 1-2kts of wind.

Surprise!  Burt is trying to take our lead

We slowly start to see the local boat, Burt approach.  The owner of “Burt” is also the owner of Malolo Island (aka Musket Cove) and organizer is of the race.  He won first place in the Around the Island Race.  Yes, he won his own race in his super light hobie cat boat!

Burt made this a challenging race.  They quickly overtook us, then we were side by side. It wasn’t until we made the mark that we took the lead.

It was super difficult to maintain the lead back through the pass and to the finish, but we did it!  How the heck did we out maneuver this lightning fast boat?

Wow, what a great feeling to come in first on the Sandbank Race on the 2nd race in the Musket Cove Regatta 2022 race week.

Award Ceremony

The closing night was a huge party and celebration.  There were tons and tons of prizes for the hobie cat races, SUP races, Around the Island Race, and the Sandbank Race.

They had an enormous amount of food including pigs cooked in a lovo.

The sponsors gave away lots of swag during the race as well.  This does not include the prize winnings.

Sure was fun participating in the 2022 Musket Cove Regatta Race week.  Wouldn’t have been the same without being crew on the beautiful boat Wow!  Feeling pretty blessed about now.

The events from this blog occurred in early September 2022.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We retire from the most challenging race during the Musket Cove Regatta – did you read about it?