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There we were, sitting in
the cockpit, moored in Chaguaramas Bay, Trinidad, in the West Indies, in
December 1999 minding our own business and congratulating ourselves on being almost
ready for the Great Millennium Launch of this illustrious magazine
(which plan was dashed by a mishap, of which more elsewhere), when
a racing yacht happened by.
'Millennium Round The World Race' was emblazoned down the length of the
65' hull, with too many national flags painted beneath the legend for
one to have time to recognise them all, so swiftly did she pass. An
array of ensigns flapped gaily in the breeze, almost concealing the
forestay.
Soon, the first was joined by three more, all four settling into
neighbouring berths at Crew's Inn Marina, adding to the generally
colourful pre-Christmas atmosphere.
Well. This must be the fickle finger of fate. Having decided to make a fuss about the New
Millennium, we hadn't
been able to decide which of the many celebratory marine events we were
going to concentrate on. The rest of the marine media seemed to have
things pretty well covered and it seemed pointless to cover the same
ground, especially when limited to Internet access which, although
treating the media very well, is no substitute for being able to meet
the people involved, most of whom appeared to be doing, or planning to do,
their thing in the Pacific, whilst we had no plans to leave the
Atlantic in the foreseeable future.
Someone had got to stay this
side of Panama, and it may as well be us! Until this race happened by,
we had thought it meant that any racing interviews would be conducted by
e-mail, or not at all!
We gave the fleet a couple of days to settle in, watched them sail
out with hordes of delighted children on board, and back in again, and
then pounced in the early evening, just when they thought it was safe to
relax!
We are very pleased to be able to say that we were so impressed with the
yachts and the people that we opened up the Spirits Of The
Millennium section, especially so
that we could follow the Race through the rest of the legs and Phases, to
the finish in mid-September 2000.
We arranged to stay abreast of events via newsletters
from Hugh Martin, the skipper, and members of the crew of Spirit of Minerva.
It was
fortuitous that we picked the Minerva as she turned out to be the winner!
Who, we wondered, and what, did it take to celebrate a
new millennium by racing all the way round the world?
We had decided that we would probably make a better job of things by
simply approaching crew in an informal way and asking if they would like
to tell us their stories, before approaching the organisers for the
official line, thus having no preconceptions by which to steer our
interviews. This approach seems to work for us, although it does mean
one has to be ready and willing to cheerfully accept rebuffs and go on
one's way none the wiser, when meeting some of the more arrogant and
unsociable types. Still, painful though that may be, it is a lot more
realistic than being given an interview through gritted teeth by one who
has an obligation to handle media interviews and just wants to get them
over with.
There appeared to be plenty of crew members around the four
yachts and the first person we met was a very personable young man,
sorting out a tangled mass of electrical cable. It looked as though, in
the rush to be off sailing with the local children, someone had stowed
the cable in the lazarette (the yacht's equivalent of the trunk, or
boot, of a motor car) without coiling it. These things happen!
The young man still found time to talk to us, whilst he untangled the
mess.
Richard Ingram, as his name turned out to be, hails from Leatherhead in Surrey and saw an
advertisement for the Millennium Round The World Race in the Sunday
Times Magazine.
At 22, he is the youngest of the crew, although by no
means the least experienced. Having started sailing at four years of
age, he has been racing the last 7 years. Class 5 winner at Cowes Week in '93. 5th overall round the
island in '94. No mean achievements!
Evidently he feels more at home sailing than talking about himself and,
within a few moments, he had introduced us to the man he felt would best
be able to tell us about the boats and we were soon chatting with Geoff
(O.S.) Jenkinson, who is the Oldest Crew.
Don't ask what the second letter stands for, this is a family magazine!
He looks younger than the rival crew who gave him the nickname, anyway.
Did I say that? Hey, it was twilight. Just kidding, Jeff (on Spirit of
Isis), you all looked younger than each other to me.
Geoff, who has always enjoyed dinghy racing, retired five years ago from
his position as executive director of a building society and had needed
something interesting to do. It was his wife who saw the advertisement
and encouraged him to go for the opportunity which, given what good
company he is, was very noble of her. Geoff has been keeping a journal since the start of the race in
Portsmouth which, as his neat and even handwriting revealed, was at noon on
October 10th 1999.
Spirit of Minerva had arrived in Lanzarote, Canary
Islands at midnight on the 18th of October. They had left Lanzarote, on
the second leg, at 1700 hours on the 28th of October and reached the
Antigua finishing line at 19.41 on 11th November, subsequently racing
down through the Caribbean islands, stopping around four days at each.
Their best time had been 18.7 knots which, given their hull speed of 22
knots and no really ideal weather so far, was pretty good going.
When leaving Grenada at 1800 hours on the 11th of December, they had
allowed for an early morning arrival in Trinidad, which would be about
right for the ninety miles or so between the two islands. Crossing the
finishing line, just outside the Bocas, a series of short channels
leading between the outlying islets into Chaguaramas Bay, at just after
midnight, they were not surprised at the lack of a reception committee!
The second boat arrived four hours later. They would be leaving Trinidad
on Tuesday 21st December, two days after we met them, to race to Tobago.
Spirit of Minerva had won three out
of the eight races so far, which placed them equal first with Spirit of
Isis. They clearly planned to stay at the top. To catch up with the rest of
the racing, you may like to check the results in Hugh Martin's
newsletters which are all published here.
Geoff was kind enough to offer to show us over Spirit of Minerva. He
didn't have to ask twice.
We swarmed aboard, and passing through the vast cockpit which stretches from amidships to a
few feet short of the stern, were soon ushered down the companionway
steps.
Having been suitably impressed by the enormous amount of headroom down
below, we were even more impressed by the useable space this design
offers (our 1976 staysail schooner is six feet longer than these yachts
and yet they offer almost twice the living space) and the splendid
galley, placed centrally, allowing access to the fo'c'sle from either
side and, doubtless, being equally comfortable to use on either
tack.
Beyond the fo'c'sle, which houses the huge sail bags and their
contents, including a vast number 1 and number 3 genoas, a working jib,
staysail, trysail and two types of spinnaker - the 3000 square-footer
and another, gigantic spinnaker, sporting 4,500 square feet of one and a
half ounce cloth. The forepeak is divided into two chambers, or rather
three, if you count the sealed bulkhead at the very peak itself, which
has a small central panel, secured with more than thirty bolts
with wing nuts to keep it firmly closed against any ingress of water in
an emergency. The sheeting, halyards and other working equipment live in
serried ranks on the starboard side and spares to port.
By dint of a rather natty design feature, when the boats are going on
longer legs, the CQR anchor and chain are brought down into the forward
chamber of the forepeak, whence they are stowed beneath the rear chamber
of the forepeak and the fo'c'sle, with a special panel placed forming a
secondary forepeak floor.
Trinidad is not a particularly cool place at the best of times and we
escaped from what was rapidly reminding us of a sauna, to work our way
back past the galley and see the rest of the yacht. The main cabin has
at least eight feet of headroom, making it very airy. In spite of the
fact that these are racing boats, not cruising vessels, there are very
nice touches here and there, to reduce the austerity below. Elegant
curving trims which may be wood or a modern composite, it looks so like
wood none of us felt the need to enquire.
Bunks either side of the cabin provide a place to sit when not occupied
by exhausted off-watch crew.
We were treated to a glimpse of the cavernous, horizontal, central
refrigerators, just aft of the companionway. These make very good use of
the space below the cockpit, with a natty-looking Yanmar generator
nestling next to the hefty watermaker, three-quarters of the way along
the unit. The whole outfit is built to allow easy access from above,
provided one doesn't attempt to leap up ecstatically with some tasty
morsel one has just unearthed from the depths.
There are, apparently,
six water tanks aboard which, perhaps, is how some of the extra living
space is created, using smaller spaces around the boat for water storage
instead of dedicating one or two large spaces to it. One imagines it
also helps to keep freshwater weight more evenly distributed and to
minimise the slopping effect in ungainly seas.
Being no great engine enthusiast, I was amused to realise, too late,
that I had not enquired about the engine and no-one I had spoken
with had seen fit to mention it either, evidence that this is a
proper sailing race and whatever engine there may be is of little
consequence to those who have taken up the challenge. A word which I
heard on the lips of everyone we met, spoken with pride and pleasure.
"Challenge".
Read the second
part (on another page to reduce page-loading times).
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