We sent my father off yesterday on the first leg of the 2003 Bermuda 1-2 Yacht Race, on his boat, Nimros. There were a few last-minute things to finish, as always. So he ended up leaving the dock a few minutes before the official start, as we hurried over to a vantage point on Newport’s Goat Island to watch it.
 Nimros, in front of a boat with sails |
Even from far away, Nimros was easy to identify, because it was the only sailboat in the race with no sails. Making sure they could be raised was one of those last-minute things we hadn’t quite finished.
The starting gun went off, and the other boats that had been jockeying for position finally tacked forward across the starting line, while Nimros alone drifted lazily backward, away from Bermuda, and toward the Newport Bridge.
A minute later, the mainsail started to rise. Almost immediately it stopped, with only a small triangle visible, and stayed that way for several minutes. Nimros appeared to be racing with a sail the size of a picnic blanket.
Then even that small concession to the practice of sailing was taken down, and Nimros drifted further away from the starting line over the next few minutes, toward the rocks at the foot of the Rose Island lighthouse.
Fortunately, Nimros avoided a wreck by raising the jib, which proved powerful enough to get the boat over the starting line about ten minutes later, for a total of about half an hour’s delay. Nimros was still easy to identify, because all the other boats had their larger mainsails raised, in addition to having already left.
We left as Nimros disappeared into the mist at the mouth of Narragansett Bay, headed out into the Atlantic, mainsail still down.
My father contacted us later that day to explain that a winch had failed, forcing him to re-thread the main halyard before he could raise the mainsail. So everything is apparently fine again.
It’s my turn on the boat next week, as the crew for the return trip. Wish me luck.
More coverage from the Bermuda 1-2 web site: [2003 Bermuda 1-2 Start From Newport].