The Best Regatta in the World!!!
I'm wondering where to start, in reality it lasted 2 weeks rather than 1 and the amount of fun that was had is unmeasurable, the friends that were made are unforgettable and the racing, well, that was better than our dreams...
So from the beginning... Disco came out the water for a bottom cleaning session and was placed right behind Jus2 Do It, another First 47.7, the competition was on!!!! We met owners Ian & Annie and they were keen to compete with us both on and off the water!
Nicky & Nikki, the first of the crew to arrive, joined us on the Friday afternoon, they were both clearly in need of boat nicknames. Before the end of the first week they had become 'Perky' and 'Tufty Two Fists'. For the first few days of their stay we cruised Antigua, stopping in Five Islands, Shirley Heights, Green Island, Harmony Hall and managed to fit in a bit of spectating of the Classic Yacht Regatta. It was at Harmony Hall that we met up with Ian & Annie again and after a few Pinas we towed them in their dinghy back to Jus2 Do It and were invited aboard. It was very interesting as they have a different saloon layout - of course we prefer ours!!
We then went back to English Harbour ready for our crew arrivals. Craig and Emma moved onto the boat for the regatta so it was a full house on Disco. Our first arrival was Fiona 'Stalker'. She is actually Scotty's next door neighbour that had booked her holiday in Antigua expecting a relaxing time, only to learn that the Disco and its Mafia were in town! She joined us (her new found friends) onboard for dinner. Then we all headed into Life for a beer or two. Fiona then went off hunting with Tufty and Perky while Matt and I retired!
Thursday - Fatboy arrived! He found us in HQs tucking into a late lunch. We took him out to Disco for a welcoming beer or two, then onto the Skullduggery for Espresso Martinis! Fiona had opted for a night in so left us to do Trappas and the Mongoose!
Friday Night, the Mount Gay Hat Party! What a great party, everyone was there and of course we actually made it this year!!! After a few too many hours of free rum we headed to the Admirals Inn to see if Vikki had arrived, we managed to have another drink with her and then the words were starting to slur so we arranged to meet her on the boat in the morning!
Saturday morning passed very fast. Vikki and I left for the airport at 1.30pm. The Mafia arrived on time and they were all looking a little pale! After dropping them at their hotels, they all shot off to the beach leaving us to prepare for the drinks party at 6.30pm. We ate dinner in the Last Lemming and even managed a few beers in the Mongoose before bed!
7AM Sunday morning, all crew onboard for some all important practising! 9.25AM Bang! went our start gun and the week had officially begun. What a great first race, round the leeward side of the island to Dickenson Bay, we were packed away by 2PM (certainly better than our 5PM finish last year!!!) We headed into the beach around 5PM, the Carib Royal was certainly the drink of the night with the added pleasure of a 5th in class - Yeah Baby.
Monday 8AM, we were off to the start line, it was supposed to be two short windward leeward courses but the first was 3 hours and they then left us sitting around for another 1and a half hours before starting us on another 2 hour course. We practised gybing all the way out to the start and were very disappointed not to do one! We arrived in Jolly Harbour at 5.30PM, all of us completely shattered. The boys headed straight back to English Harbour, while the rest of us managed pizza and an early night! Results - 4th and 5th, Jus2 Do It beat us both times, need to beat them tomorrow to make it 2-2.
Tuesday, Jolly Harbour to English Harbour and Monkey called in sick!! His card is marked!!! We had a great race round, playing with Jacana and Celerity both placed in the top 3 in our class. Another 4th, another great day on the water. That night we met at the Skullduggery for more Espresso Martinis and then had dinner at the Admirals Inn and were joined by Fiona and her girlies. After a very average dinner we headed down to Playbachs (definitely gets my vote for the best night of the week), we danced, we drunk, we did the vodka louge (See Photos) and from there we went to the Mongoose AND from there some went on to Abras!!!!
Wednesday, thankfully was Layday, we had a few jobs to get sorted while the guys went up to Harmony Hall. We managed to join them there for dessert and then onto Life for some evening entertainment.
Thursday, first we had our new edition to the foredeck team, Trudy, who came down especially from San Francisco to play with the Disco and we also had the lovely Lucy, a camera girl shooting pics for the official video. We had the most amazing race and got a 2nd! BURN BABY BURN, we put Disco Inferno on the stereo as we crossed the line and did a little Disco dance for the camera! After such a blinding morning the afternoon race was a shocker that all started when the bottom of the jib came unclipped, we lost a lot of places and were clearly heading for the worse result of the week, however we managed to make a come back and received a 6th. Groovy Baby! Thursday night - Shirley Heights! Lots of BBQ food and then back down to the Mongoose.
Friday, the Ocean Race. It was a LONG race with 8 mile beats! We had a great race but unfortunately ripped the jib right as we were coming up to the final windward mark. We managed to change it to the Number 3 and only lost 1 place giving us a 5th. We came 4th in Class out of 13 and beat Jus2 Do It 5-2 and managed to have the most amazing sailing ever - BURN BABY BURN.
We anchored in English Harbour and popped the first of many bottles of bubbly, the committee boats came into the anchorage firing their guns and horns as we blared Disco Inferno from the deck speakers! Fiona came out from the beach, Vikki came out inn a water taxi and the Disco Team was complete. It was our best boat party yet! 9 bottles of poo and 1 large bottle of rum! Time for showers before heading for Espresso Martinis!! Then to the Southern Cross for dinner. For me dinner was quite a drunken affair and as so not to let my awaiting fans down I fell asleep at the table, Monkey kindly made me pillows from the napkins! I do however remember Fatboy crawling the length of the table and receiving a few feet in his face! Matt then thankfully took me home!
Saturday, we managed to meet the gang on the beach for a burger, I said my apologies for being so drunk and then confessions were made of people not remembering what they had even had for dinner so at least I wasn't alone!! The Matt and I went back to the boat to say our goodbyes to Tufty and Perky who were flying out that night and then Emma & Craig who moved onto another boat. Time for the Lord Nelsons Ball. Dinner was at the Copper & Lumber Store Hotel, Naked & I sat at the overhung end and didn't manage to say much for the dinner duration! Then the Ball. We were pleased to see that they had put together a 6 minute special footage video of Sailing Week, we appeared more than a few times and we were cheering ourselves on!!! It was Monkey's turn to crash and burn and he did it at midnight, lucky for us his room was in the Annex so Scotty kept going to bang on his door and then managed to persuade a policeman to get him out of bed - we were very amused! Bob, Matt & I headed back at the end, while the others went on to Life and bumped into Jus2 Do It - sober as always! for some crazy dance floor antics!!
Sunday, brunch at HQs, then before we knew it they were packing their bags ready to depart, Fatboy was staying with us for a few days recovery.
Its difficult to try and round up ASW2003, how can you express such great fondness and memories in words. It was by far my best regatta yet with some of the greatest people I know - See you all next year! YOU'D BETTER BE SURE!!!
BURN BABY BURN
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