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BERMUDA RACE WARM UP |
First time Bermuda Race entrant Mike Sleightholme has been preparing for the 630-mile ocean race since the fall of 2009. The final test of the boat and crew was the 180-mile Block Island Race sailed May 29th. Both the crew and boat passed with flying colors as APSARA won the IRC 35 class in a race that turned from idyllic to grueling. The first half of the race was quick and APSARA hit the current gates well. But after catching the flood current coming back into Long Island Sound, the wind went crazy and alternated between nothng and very light, with very brief 30 minute shot of 18 knots. “We used every sail in our inventory except for the storm sails, which made the race a great practice for the main event in June,” said Sleighthome. As the wind came and went, the crew had a lot of practice changing sails. There were outside and inside spinnaker changes, genoa tack-changes, straight-away genoa changes and even a baldheaded change. Routing software was tested and battery consumption was monitored. Even the galley was put to the test as the two French chefs in the crew battles for the best dinner award. All this good practice led to a terrific finish for APSARA, which was awarded two trophies, one for winning her division, and the Commodore’s trophy for winning her division by the greatest margin. APSARA beat the second place boat by more than four hours. For the race Mike added a MatriX offshore main with two reefs, a new MatriX No. 1 genoa, a Tape-Drive jib top for heavy air close reaching and a code zero for light air close reaching. APSARA will be one of the smallest boats in the 200-boat fleet heading for Bermuda on June 18th, but Mike and his crew are hoping for sterling results. |