Sailing Video of Rolex Regatta 2011

Just posted the sailing video of the experience of racing the St Thomas Rolex Regatta 2011 with NauticEd students and Safe Passage Sailing.

Safe Passage Sailing chartered Kialoa V, an 80 ft maxi, and Northern Child, a 51 ft swan. NauticEd students and charterers with Safe Passage Sailing attended. Over all, we had about 20 people on Kialoa V and 9 on Northern Child.

Race conditions were perfect with 10-15 knots of wind and sunny days.

Kialoa V is a legendary racing sailing boat, built in the 1980’s it used to win regattas worldwide. Northern Child is a professionally Captained Charter Boat. Christian Reynolds and Lucy Jones are the Owners and professional Crew Members they specialize in cruising, racing, and corporate charters in the UK, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. They offer their clients a range of charters from individual berths to full boat charters.

Safe Passage Sailing put this together as an experiential event – providing people a safe team environment where they could do something they’re not likely to do on their own. And from the testimonials on the sailing video, you can see that everyone had a spectacular time.

Dowsing the massive spinnaker on Kialoa V

It was a week-long event. We started out flying in on Saturday, getting acclimatized to the Caribbean waters (not hard) then on Tuesday and Wednesday we had two practice days of learning how to sail and handle the boat. We all fitted into our natural positions on the boat and Brian Thompson and Rich Stearns the professional racing mentors lead the team.

On Friday Saturday and Sunday, we raced the St Thomas Regatta. Each race was between about 10-20 miles with upwind beats, cross-wind reaches, and downwind runs flying our spinakers. While none of us came first or second, the experience told it all. The learning curve was steep but no one minded a bit.

Watch the video you’ll see how much fun we had.

If you want to get on the list to be invited to the next regatta we will attend, make sure you’re a fan of NauticEd on Facebook – that you’re following us on Twitter and/or that you’re signed up for at least a free account on NauticEd.

Tassos who is sailing a maxi yacht – he’ll never forget this

Here’s a pic of the all-female crew of Northern Child led by Suzette Smith who had participated in an all-female crew in the America’s cup.

Northern Child All Female Crew

Conclusion: Everyone had an incredible time.

Cheers

Grant