We just returned from a 10 night Caribbean cruise, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights. We sailed out of Tampa, Fl on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. The ports-of-call were Puerto Rico, St. Maartin, St. Kitts, Antigua, and Tortola BVI.

When we were in St. Maartin, the wife and I went on a 12 meter racing sailboat race; called America's Cup Challenge. We were on the True North, a Canadian boat, and raced against one of Dennis Connor's Stars and Stripes boats. This excursion is one in which you actually participate in the race; you are not just a passenger.

The boats are the actual previous 12 meter America's Cup winners or entrants, and are little changed from race condition. The major difference is the boom is moved up a few feet to keep from knocking anyone overboard, and they use standard sails rather than racing sails.

The course consisted of 5 legs, three where you had to tack to get to the turning point.

We were running fast, and started in the lead, We had maintained the lead all race, and heeled over so much so that our our gunwale was buried under water. However, we caught a wave, most of which was deposited on me, and one of the female crew fell (but not overboard). By the time the captain had checked her out and found she was OK, we lost the lead, and lost the race by 2ft.

But it was a fantastic experience.

My wife was the sail trimmer, and I ran the mainsail grinder, which means that any line my wife let out, I had to winch back in. In the photo, my wife is on the left, with a pink and white top, and white slacks (she is also holding a beer), and I am sitting to the opposite of her wearing a Hawaii shirt. I'm the hatless guy in the background sitting to the right of the standing guy with the beer.



When we went to Antigua, we stumbled on a mega-yacht show.



The Raymarine dealer was in one of the historic buildings at the Admiral Nelson Dockyard Marina.



We didn't have a lot of time at the marina, so this is the only Yachts we could get close to.



I thought this was a cool Sailing Yacht.



Some of the larger yachts were too far away to get a good photo.



And the real Mega-Yachts were behind fences.



Here is a mountain view of Falmouth Harbor, and Admiral Nelson's Dockyard Marina where the yacht show was held.

Wow cool. That race sounds like an awesome experience!

So are you gettting the sailing itch?

Looks fun. Someday I want to do some sailing, and maybe if things go right, one of those big sailing cats would be a nice home on the water, too.

Nice shots Al. Looks like the race was a lot of fun. I can't believe you had such a non-competitive captain that he slowed down to check on the woman who fell. We'd all have dumped her over the side with a pfd and come back for her later!

Don't tell us any more........I used to sail and wish I would have bought sails last time esp. since I am moving to the coastal waters.

Nice yachts, you did not spot "Privacy" on the way back?

h

Well the racing boat captain did offer anyone a life jacket that felt uncomfortable swimming on their own for a few minutes; but there were no takers.

There was a judge boat as well as a paparazzi boat close by, so they could come to anyone's aid pretty quickly should they go overboard.

It's possible should she have had a life jacket on, the cap't may have let her fall overboard and the chase boat pick her up.

If any of you ever get to St. Maartin, I cannot recommend this activity enough. It was the highlight of the trip. It's about $100 per person, but you race for about an hour. Adding the time to get aboard, get to the starting gate, and be dropped off to buy those expensive photos the paparazzi boat took, its almost a 3 hour experience.

You also are offered beer on board, and rum-punch after the race (no extra cost).

Here is a photo I took of the next race after we were aboard the cruise ship (they were doing 3 races per day).

It's making me want to go just for the sail boat racing excursion. LOL

Also you can tell from the last photo that they don't raise the mainsail all the way, or the boats would end up too fast (and more dangerous).

Al, I used to race sailing yachts in my teens and early twenties. Raced in some big races like the Sydney to Hobart, Sydney to Noumea, Sydney to Fiji. Loved it.
Plan on buying a sail boat and retiring on it and go cruising.

Mark

Sounds like fun.

sounds like a great trip, al. we did a similar caribbean cruise a few years ago, stopping at the same islands. didn;t see the racing excursion then. sounds like fun.