Monday
1037 - 3 days of racing at the BVI regatta…check! 1st place.. you know it!!! With fine company, heavy winds, delicious spirits and some incredibly exciting racing now under the belt this tired and war weary soldier of sailing is happy to rest his weary head back aboard the mighty Audax.

The crew: Tony – captain extroidinare from Antigua. Mike – his compadre hailing from the Isle of Man  (an island nation that he claims does exist between England and Scotland????) Manueala (Man-well-a)and Johanes (Yo-han-es)- a lovely couple from Germany now living in Antigua whom bring sail bumming to a whole new level! Angela – bow women excellente and a fellow American from Florida. Ricky -a splendid English chap from Manchester living in Tortola who has never sailed before and was kind enough to share his tent and let me cuddle for the 2 nights spent on land. Sarah- a 17 year old who is cruising around the world with her family, take a look at www.kaiohana.com and Nikki -14 year old world class Opti racer who is a born and bread native of St. Thomas.

The boat: The awesome Augustine from Antigua. A Beneteau First 40 -1981 vintage… muy manufique!

The conditions: WINDY, GUSTY, INTENSE. 25-30 knots, 4-8 foot swells, reefed main and #3 jib

The courses: 4 races: 1 Friday, 2 Saturday, 1 Sunday.

The competition: Racing in the performance B division with 8 other boats. The primary competitors being an X-boat named Xpresso and 2 J-40’s

The results: 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd (We did officially cross the line 1stall 4 times but got 2nd due to boat handicapping) Not to shabby overall!

My duties: GRIND, GRIND and GRIND some more. Winching until I could not winch no more.

A sore back, christ we have to do another tack.
Sprayed without fail, salt caked face to no avail.
Not always an easy feat, simply being “rail meat”
It all was all so neat and now I am so beat.
We won the fleet and that was super sweet!!

BREAKING NEWS: WE HAVE OUR CREW FOR THE RETURN TO BERMUDA. Full briefing and the release of bios to follow. A heartfelt and sincere thank you to all the incredible support and offers to help. We had some very tough desicions to make.

Check it out: Saying goodbye to fellow mate Jordi as he helps aid in the delivery of the S/V Area up the coast of America you can follow his position by clicking on the link below.
http://charthorizon.com/m/cz/map?vessels=Area&history=FL_to_MA&v_scope=all