Bermuda Ocean Race 1986 |
Start of the 1986 Bermuda Ocean Race (BOR), Annapolis to St. Georges |
Ghosting at the Start |
In
1986 Tim Kirkpatrick entered his one year old Sweden Yacht 38, Saker, in the
Bermuda Ocean Race (BOR) from Annapolis to St. David. The crew on this race
in addition to Tim and myself included Peter Bell, Cynthia (Chunkies) Chin,
Don Deering, Fred Selover, Sean Kirkpatrick, and Howard (Pete) Parker. The
1986 BOR was the first ocean race for everyone in the crew except Peter
Bell.After ghosting across the starting line under spinnaker a light breeze
filled in from the south and we started a slow beat down the bay.We entered
the ocean the following morning along with most of the other boats in our
class. By that time the we were sailing under overcast skies and a
freshening breeze. We would not see the sun again until after we had docked
at the St. Georges Sport and Dinghy Club in Bermuda |
The
overcasts skies produced lots of wind and rain with occasional heavy rain. |
In Foul Weather Gear for Most of the Race |
A Soaked Chunkies |
There were few watches that did not include at least one sail change down
and one back up. |
In
the ocean the breeze continued to fill out of the southwest. Making for a
beam reach in 15 - 25 knots wind. We were routinely running at 8 - 9 knots
of speed through the water. Most of the fleet elected to sail well south of
the rhumb line. We elected to sail only far enough south of the direct
course to allow for a northern push from the Gulf Stream. This strategy
reflected our inexperience with this race and we would pay for it at the
finish. |
|
Peter Bell at the Helm, Flying Chunkies' Teddy |
While
beam reaching toward the Gulf Stream on the first day we were passed by a
Swede 55 (completely different design and construction than the Sweden Yacht
38). This boat would be the first yacht to finish. It is a boat built for
a beam reach in a fresh breeze and they got their conditions all the way to
the finish line. |
We
had elected to not rig any sea berths on Saker, but instead covered the
cabin sole with foam panels. We slept on that foam and sail bags the entire
way to Bermuda. Given the number of sail changes we were performing each
watch, no one had trouble dropping off to sleep even when the berth was a
soaking wet #3 Genoa. |
Myself, Off Watch, Sleeping on a Wet Sailbag |
Don Deering, Off Watch |
Don, Getting Ready to Go On Watch |
Bunkmates, Deering and Bell |
Tim
Kirkpatrick at the Helm |
On
the other side of the Gulf Stream we caught the bottom half of a cold water
eddy and got a slingshot push toward Bermuda. In spite of being passed by
the Swede 55 the previous day we were feeling really good about our speed
and navigation. |
Sean Kirkpatrick |
St. Geoges Dinghy Club Dock |
We
made landfall on Bermuda around 3:00 AM of the fourth day out and crossed
the finish line off St. David just before sunrise. We were elated to
discover only three other boats at the dock in St. Georges when we entered
the harbor. One of those boats was not in our class and the other two owed
us time (on PHRF) so we knew we had finished no worse than third in our
class. |
After
we were secured to the dock and had downed complimentary Heinekens we
brought all of the wet sails and clothes on deck. |
Drying Out Saker |
Saker, Moored to the St. Georges Dinghy Club Dock |
At
the awards ceremony two days later Tim received the 3rd place trophy for our
class. We also learned that two of the boats that finished ahead of us beat
far south of the rhumb line before running to Bermuda under spinnakers. One
of those boats was the overall winner of the race. Since we knew we were
faster than both of these boats on a beat we believe we could have beaten
both of them across the line if we had sailed the same course. |
Bagpipes at the Awards Ceremony |
Presenting the Awards |
If
that had happened we might have been the overall winner rather than 3rd in
class. Even then we only lost to the 2nd place boat by a few minutes (after
700 miles of sailing). So one or two sail changes were the real
difference. Still we were very satisfied to win any kind of metal on our
first ocean race. |
After
several days touring Bermuda we departed and cruised Saker back to the
states. |
Royal Navy Dockyards |
Anchorage Off the Dinghy Club |
All of the pictures on this page were taken by Fred Selover.
I brought a small Kodak Disk Camera (remember those things?) with me, but I
put it in one of the sail lockers at the start of the race then promptly
forgot about it. When we got to Bermuda I found the camera swimming in
salt water. Needless to say whatever pictures might have been on the
disk were lost. Surprisingly I just washed the camera off with fresh
water and it continued to take pictures for several more years.
Unfortunately I kept Fred's pictures on stock for over 10 years before I
scanned them into a digital format. Much of the color had faided by
then. I also wasn't that adept at the scanning process. Thank
god for digital cameras. |
Fred Selover, Sailing Mentor to Myself and Many Others |