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Oyster Regatta Grenada
Photos: Ingrid Abery, Louay Habib
The island of Grenada offers some of the most idyllic cruising grounds anywhere in the world. Wonderful hidden coves and beaches with sand like fine sugar. Known as The Spice Island, the mountainous interior is festooned with spice plantations with the sweet scent of nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.
The 26th Oyster Regatta has attracted 30 examples of the impressive Oyster to Grenada, to enjoy sailing in these outstanding waters and attend wonderful parties, hosted at some of Grenada's best waterside establishments, which provide breathtaking views of the island and the sparkling Caribbean Sea beyond.
For the first race of the regatta, I was ailing with Polish Oyster 46, SunsuSea, judged the line to perfection, to get away well. Owned by Mariusz and Paulina Kierebinscy, SunsuSea came to the Caribbean in the 2009 ARC, they installed a SAILOR Fleetbroadband 250, which has proved highly rerlaible.
“Working in the electronics industry, I really appreciate the quality of the workmanship. The 250 has been really useful for keeping contact with friends and for business, while we have been cruising. We couldn’t do without it.” Explained Mariusz.
Besides Mariusz and Paulina, SunsuSea is crewed by their family and friends. Daughter Claudia and son Martin are fast learners in the cockpit. Whilst friends, Artur and Margaret trim the mainsail, helped by their daughter Adriana, who is just 11 years of age.
The second race was a 19-mile coastal race to Le Phare Bleu and it was full of excitement for the Oyster Fleet. GWM Racing set an adrenalin packed course, fueled by strong winds of well over 20 knots, funneling around the awe-inspiring southern coastline of Grenada.
For the race, I jumped aboard Ole and Lotte Vagner's Oyster powerful 62, Golden Gate for a great day on the water. It started with a traditional Danish breakfast including Gunille’s homemade black bread, which was fantastic!. The crew sailed extremely well in the windy conditions, executing some excellent mark roundings, including a text book gybe-set at the penultimate mark, to steal an advantage on their competitors. Golden Gate finished the day in fine style.
"Although we are Danish, we decided to call our yacht Golden Gate, as we saw it as a gateway to adventure and it certainly has been." Explained Lotte Vagner. "This is our fifth Oyster Regatta, we have enjoyed Oyster Regattas in the Mediterranean and Caribbean and it is so nice to meet up with our many friends in the Oyster family. After the regatta we will be cruising with Golden Gate to Newport Rhode Island and among other locations, we plan to visit Cuba and Miami."
Part of the reason for going to Cuba and Miami is because Ole is a keen musician and his A-Band will be performing during the tour. By all accounts Ole is an accomplished base guitarist.
"Grenada is one of my favourite places in the Caribbean. The people here are so friendly and they have not been too influenced by tourism. We are really enjoying this regatta and much of that enjoyment is due to our excellent crew, Chris the skipper and his wife Gunille are such an important part of that. Often the hard work that skipper and crew put in goes unnoticed, without them we would never be able to enjoy sailing Golden Gate, as much as we do."
During the race, Golden Gate had a close call with the Oyster 56, Asante. Although there was no infringement, Ole felt that perhaps they had come close to breaking the Spirit of Oyster sailing and as soon as Golden Gate was dockside, he offered his apologies to Andrew Walters, the owner of Asante, offering him a bottle of champagne. It was duly accepted with a smile and a gracious remark from Andrew. "The situation actually stopped us from our plan of going inshore, which would have been the wrong move, so Golden Gate actually did us a favour, it was a lovely gesture by Ole, in true Corinthian spirit."
After racing the fleet made it's way into the delightful little marina of Le Phare Bleu, where a cocktail party was held on board the lightship Västra Banken, originally built in Sweden in 1900. The Oyster fleet was treated to a rather unusual musical performance, as a steel band played on board a tugboat, which sailed around the bay. It was an intoxicating atmosphere, as the sun dipped down on a perfect day and 180 Oyster guests settled in for dinner at Le Phare Bleu restaurant. A sumptuous buffet of local fayre was very well received before The Doc Adams Blues Band performed live to rapturous applause. Playing a string of all time favourites, it wasn't long before the dance floor was throbbing to the music. With a break from racing the following day, the Oyster family partied well into the night.
Just 35 miles from Iran, across the Strait of Hormuz lies the Musandam Peninsular.
