The Double handed St Croix Race took place from ABYC on 4 October. The course was a Harbour start taking St Croix to Starboard to a finish off the break water. A light South Westerly breeze saw 10 boats on the start line. Valiant got us away at 10:00 and in the light 9 knot wind the fleet doddled out of the harbour.

Once out both Chinook and Tikalox II stuck up their kites and disappeared towards St Croix, "Madgas" followed suit but suffered from halyard problems with the kite not going all the way up and was soon snuffed. Employing different tactics Struan and Wattoo headed straight for the Island wing on wing, while Malgas head towards the beach. Valliant with their orange and red reacher sailed up through the middle of the fleet. Unfortunately a 300 foot monster in the shape of "MSC Catalina", the first paying commercial vessel to enter Nqgura, played havoc with both Chinook and Tikalox II's tactics, with a few blasts and deviations in course for the leaders.

After 3 hours of down wind sailing Struan rounded St Croix behind Chinook, Tikalox II, Valiant and Wattoo. Just about everyone tacked inshore, only tacking across because a great big Harbour called Nqgura got in the way!

After another 4 hours of beating we crossed the finish line off the harbour entrance. Gringo got in amongst the whale and played a little, only finishing at 19:00. By which time some serious brown frothy things where being quaffed on the deck, a good days sailing and a good time had by all.

A Double handed race sees only two sailors per boat - the skipper and his mate.

Provisional Results: 1st - Tikalox II, 2nd - Chinook, 3rd - Wattoo, 4th - Malgas, 5th - Struan, 6th - Proteus, 7th Valiant, 8th - Skybird and 9th - Gringo.

ABYC October's Sailing Regattas: 11th October - Open weekend (Public Welcome), 18th October - Medium distance race and 31 October - First of the round the cans racing for this sailing season.

Source: Derek Bouwer