A CORINTHIAN DREAM
Short-handed open ocean racing has a reputation for being ultra-tough. However, there are also many glorious days. That was certainly the case for the start of the outbound leg of the 2019 edition of the Azores & Back Race, better known as the AZAB, sponsored by MailASail. My partner Kass Schmitt and I were on Zest, her 11.1m Rob Humphreys one-off. We left Falmouth on a beautifully sunny day with a light easterly breeze. By contrast, the finish a month later saw Zest surfing the last few miles to the line at 14 knots, under storm jib and trysail.
The pleasant weather of the start quickly deteriorated thanks an advancing depression and a succession of fronts only a few hours apart. Each of these brought big windshifts, creating a chaotic sea state in which it was difficult for all competitors to avoid crashing off waves, even though the mean windspeed rarely topped 25 knots.
It’s never good to hear a Mayday on VHF and doubly chilling when it’s a friend’s boat 100 miles offshore. We were only a few miles away when Rob Nelson’s J/105 Bigfoot experienced water ingress and cracks in the hull. We made best speed to stand by, joining Kate Cope’s Sun Fast 3200 Purple Mist. Fortunately, as Bigfoot turned downwind towards the Scilly Islands, the ingress slowed and she was
