any regional regattas it seems ard to get a cruising multihull class together, but for this year’s Port Louis Racing Series at the Grenada Sailing Festival, held January 29th through February 2nd, we did. Four cats showed up. My Trini-built Ti Kanot was the smallest at 40 feet, and the boats we had to beat were Sasha, an Outremer 45 built for high-speed cruising with a tall rig, and Suave, a Lagoon 48 not perhaps designed for speed, but still a big boat with a lot of sail. Then there was Fenessy, a Majestic 530, which at 25 tons and sporting five staterooms with ensuite bath- rooms was really in the comfort cruising category. Jeff Fisher, who supervised building Ti Kanot, was sailing with me, as was Tony Phillip, a Grenadian pho- tographer. A great additional support cast came and helped on the days they were available. The first day opened the event with our conditions — “Christmas winds” blew at their smashing best. Ti Kanot loves wind; she has a cut-down rig to keep me alive sin- glehanding and comes into her own unreefed when there are over 30 knots across the deck. To make things more interesting the tide was running against the prevailing current, delivering short steep seas. We smashed and banged our way through these eastward along Grenada’s south coast, spray flying high. We sailed right into one wave that swept back over the cabin, soaking us all. The weather was rough enough that the J/24 Blue Bayou broached, sank and was lost, the crew quickly icked up by the coastguard. When I had time to look at the speed as we were beating hard to windward I saw nine to 11 knots. The other boats in Multihull Class had made dreadful starts and dropped back more; we won the first race by a giant margin. The second race of the day was in reverse: the rough art downwind, then a beat into the lee. We on Ti Kanot were the only ones to fly a cruising spinnaker and it paid off, taking us to the leeward mark first. But the rest of the fleet was a lot closer than before. The wind was gusty with well over 30 knots apparent at times and we experienced great bursts of windward speed, up to 11 and 12 knots. The Outremer tried to sneak off on a different tack a couple of times but we covered and finished first again by a big margin. Day One to us, or so we thought. I had been told Multihulls was an open class with no handicap. But now the race committee pulled the dreaded “Bible rule” on us (“the first shall be last and the last shall be first”). They decided to average everyone out and give handicaps that made us all equal. This means that, for example, a boat that is ten minutes late at the start and sails really badly can still sail really badly and, by only being five minutes late next time, be unbeatable. It is a silly rule that should be consigned to The History of Dumb Rules, never to be used again. If boats cannot be rated, let them race boat-for-boat until a proper handicap can be worked out. So now we were placed first in the first race and last in the second on handicap. Day Two featured only one race — from Grenada’s capital, St. George's, around Point Saline, along the south coast as far as Glover's Island, and then back. It was still fairly breezy, but not as before. Chad on Fenessy, who loved the first day, found a charter and left. That left three boats in our class. Ti Kanot started on time, followed by Suave, who made a fair start not too far behind and pressed hard on our tail. We put up the chute and managed to hold them, but only just. After the leeward buoy they took off faster but not quite as close. Above: Chris Doyle’s Ti Kanot just past the start line at the start of the Pursuit Race on January 31st Below: Suave, the ultimate Multihull Class victor by one point, racing on February Ist in Grand Anse Bay ¢ High Quality Sheltered Moorings ¢ Slips to 120’ with depth 10’ ¢ Shore power 30, 50 and 100 amps ¢ All slips with fingers ¢ Showers, Laundry, Restaurant, 24 hour security (2) L149 SASLS By the time we reached Point Saline I could see pos- sible disaster ahead. With the lighter wind, Ti Kanot could hardly point higher then Suave in the big seas, and they were way ahead. We tried a quick tack in toward the land. It paid off: we could point closer across the seas and soon got into calm water. We tacked out on port as Stave came in on starboard. Ti Kanot managed to scrape past the next mark first. On the downwind leg, we set the chute again and gained a minute. On the beat back the wind blew hard and we pointed higher and made up more time, finishing about eight minutes ahead of Sasha and about 20 ahead of Suave, who had dropped back badly on the beat. Another great race for Ti Kanot — but the Bible rule ut us dead last! Not only that, the other boats in our class all sailed so badly on the first day that we would have had to be another 20 minutes ahead in this race to win! Time to protest this nonsense. We talked to the ratings guy, who said he would do whatever all the skippers in Multihull Class agreed to. Meanwhile, Max on Sasha had also decided to drop out, his crew having gone back to work on the Monday. This left two boats in our class, so Joe, the skipper of Suave, and I went to see the race officer. 1 asked him to give Ti Kanot the same rating as Sasha, which would put Ti Kanot first for the day by a couple of minutes, but give both Ti Kanot and Suave a chance. Joe agreed, though got the feeling he thought I was pulling a fast one. The next day involved several laps up and down the south coast in strong winds and rough water. Joe was sailing Suave better; we beat him across the line only by about eight minutes, giving him the win on handi- cap by a second. On the leg back, Joe got the start. We both flew chutes, but ours filled a bit better and we arrived at the buoy on his tail. Suave took it very wide and we slipped inside him, then creamed him on the beat back: his main was not in tight enough and he was not ointing high enough. We finished 20 minutes ahead or a win on the new handicap. The last day was laps in the lee. Joe left early to ractice and at last he got it right: his main was trimmed properly and Suave was pointing as high as Ti Kanot and going at least as fast. We kept ahead by tactics and confidence, but it was hard work. We set the chute downwind, and still only gained seconds. In the day’s first race we beat him boat-for-boat by a couple of minutes, an easy handicap win for him. The day’s second race was much the same to the final mark. Then on the beat back, we went for speed rather than covering, as somehow we had to make up seven minutes. Joe got a couple of good wind shifts and fin- ished a little ahead of us. This gave him the overall win by just one point — a tight finish and lots of fun. My memories of Grenada Sailing Festival 2010 are of exciting racing in testing conditions (and excellent par- ties, which would be a story in themselves). I have one suggestion to the prize committee. I loved winning many bottles of champagne, but it would have been even more wonderful if they had been presented out of a big cooler of ice, cold and ready to drink! As for Joe on Suave, take note. Your handicap days are over; next time it is boat-for-boat and may the best man win! See more on the Port Louis Racing Series of the Grenada Sailing Festival 2010 in this month’s Regaita News, pages 14 through 17. We'll have a report on the Digicel Work Boat Regatia of the Grenada Sailing Festival in next month's Compass. For complete results visit www.grenadasailingfestival.com The Dominican Republic's newest marina catering to the needs of cruising yachtsmen 18.25.50N 69.36.67W ¢ Immigration office in the marina for clearance ¢ Free WIFI and Free Internet ¢ Dinghy Dock ¢ 12 miles East of Santo Domingo and 7 miles East of International Airport FREE Dominican Republic Cruising Guide at: www.dominicanrepubliccruisingguide.com Tel: 809 523 5858 Visit: marinazarpar.com Contact MARINA ZARPAR VHF Channel 5 email: info@marinazarpar.com HOUVA 7. G OLO SSVdNIOOS NVAddIVvS el 49Vd