Assembling the Inaugural Race your Dreams Team
No worries, mate! We’re diving headfirst into our first Regatta on Jua Kali with JUST Sailing and Race your Dreams. Who knows what we’re getting ourselves into, but it’s too late to back out now. Tomorrow, we’ll be setting sail from Lavagna to Saint Tropez.
Right now, we’ve got 6 crew members and a skipper aboard, and enough sails to keep us out of our bunks. We’ll be meeting the other 3 crew members in Saint Tropez, where we’ll have some time to practice race maneuvers as a team before taking on the in-shore and off-shore races. Let the adventure begin!
We’re a bunch of random sailors from all over the place – English Swiss, Scouse Italians, American French, German Italians, Canadian French, English Italians, Russian English, Indonesian Dutch Italians (mail order bride..!), and even an Italian Thoroughbred. We will eventually call ourselves the Dysfunctional Family!
Some of us crashed on the boat the night before departure, while others stumbled in just before we set sail. Those of us who drove had to figure out where the heck to ditch our cars. On the rooftops of Porto di Lavagna seemed like a plan, but let me tell you, I had a lovely encounter with some frisky locals in a stairwell who were too far gone to know what’s what!
But hey, I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded Jau Kali and saw the embroidered pillows, fancy fruit bowl and a vase of flowers on the saloon table. There were even high-heeled boots and women’s shoes stashed everywhere you looked. I guess it’s all because we were about to go for a wild ride on Daria’s Boudoir!
Got some last-minute stuff done, like fixing the transom platform and stern lights before crashing for the night.
Sure thing! Our awesome host and co-owner Daria took care of all the provisions. We packed our personal stuff and stashed them in our assigned cabins. The sails, which were temporarily stored on the deck overnight, have now been moved below deck. We’ve completed the navigation preparations for our trip from Porto di Lavagna to Marines de Cogolin. We’ve checked everything for safety, untied the ropes, and boom… we’re off!
En route to Marines de Cogolin
We’re looking at about a 135 nautical mile trip, which means we’ll be sailing overnight for around 24 hours. It’s going to involve taking turns keeping watch and sharing bunks, so get ready for a real adventure!
The wind wasn’t doing much at the beginning of the trip, so we decided to whip out the new boom tarp and just cruised along without bothering with the sails. We kicked back in the shade, enjoyed some grub, had a few drinks (tea), and chatted about all the crazy stuff that’s happened since our last sailing adventure.
We also had a good ol’ chat about the pros and cons of getting a catamaran versus mono-hulls and whether those catamaran folk can even call themselves sailors! And hey, does hoisting and sailing under a fancy rainbow spinnaker make ya one of those shirt-lifting sailors?
And sure thing, we had our ongoing argument about whether B&G or Navionics is the superior navigation tool. I personally think that real sailors and racers seem to swear by B&G, while the fisherman’s choice is Navionics. It’s like a never-ending debate, you know?
We also gabbed about our sailing dreams and wondered about the new crew still to join the boat in Saint Tropez (Hey guys, listen up! You won’t believe the things people were saying about you. I’m telling you, your ears must have been on fire! 😉).
Oh, and don’t even get me started on the discussions about the team t-shirts that were not provided, as a courtesy, by our Grumpy Skipper 😎. We even had time to daydream about living in the cozy “garden shed” that was booked on a campsite far away from the Marina..! I’ll get back to you with more on that later..!
And then just like that, out of nowhere as predicted by the awesome PredictWind App, we finally caught some useful wind! We quickly unfurled the genoa, stashed away the boom tarp, and hoisted the mainsail after fixing a little issue. Life onboard instantly picked up its pace. No more leisurely sipping tea and chit-chatting. There was work to be done and a boat to be managed.
With the wind in our sails, we cruised all night towards Saint Tropez, passing the dazzling lights of Monaco & Nice to starboard. In the morning we grabbed Scott (one of our new crew members) in lightning-fast style from the marine quayside, like we were rescuing a political hostage. Then back out into the Golfe de Saint-Tropez, were we practiced our sailing skills, trying out various maneuvers and eventually started to look like a pro team of regatta sailors.
Finally, we docked among the other boats in our class at Marines de Cogolin. We settled in, checked out the facilities, had a debrief, and made plans to grab some grub and hit the hay in the garden shed for a well-deserved rest…
Luckily, we had Scott, our newest team member who lives nearby in Saint Tropez. He offered to be our Uber driver and made countless trips between the marina and the garden shed at Les Prairies de la Mer – Riviera Villages. And let me tell you, that place was absolutely cozy! It was such a relief to have a comfortable hideaway, instead of being crammed on a boat. Thanks Daria for organizing this crib.
Hey, check this out! There’s this gossip going around that Radioactive Scott has some sort of superpowers. Some say that he glows in the dark and messes with ships radios causing them to crackle like a geiger counter. Can you imagine? Maybe he’s the next Marvel superhero! How cool would that be, right?
Training Days in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez
In the mornings, all seven of us rushed through the only shower and toilet, grabbed a quick cup of tea or coffee, and had a teeny-tiny breakfast that was barely there at all! 😄
And our skipper, as always, arranged for our ride back to the marina to join our boat. I mean, we put on our flip flops and took a stroll while he got a fancy Uber from Radioactive Scott. The walk was nice, and we needed it since we don’t get much exercise on the boat. Up above, we could hear and see helicopters buzzing around, ferrying other race crews from their luxurious hotels to their million-dollar yachts.
On our way to the boat, we made a pit stop at Le Comptoir des Marines, a cute little café-bakery by the marina. This is where we had breakfast every day: some espresso or regular coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, bread, butter, jam or honey, and of course, a yummy croissant with a lovely view of the marina. It quickly became our favorite breakfast spot! 🥐🍊☕️
After having breakfast, we hopped on the boat. Before we set sail, we made a quick pit stop to grab some drinking water and use the bathroom. Can’t be taking too many bathroom breaks on the boat, unless it’s an emergency!
Our last two crew members, Arturs and Daria, joined us for two days of intense training before the three days of in-shore racing kicked off. These two have tons of experience from previous ROLEX Giraglia regattas and brought with them a whole bunch of knowledge.
We were out on the Golfe de Saint-Tropez, having a blast in the awesome winds. We all got together as a Team and practiced our tacks and jibes. Hoisting the genoa, dropping the jib, working with the spinnaker and pole, and even putting the sails away below deck. We actually managed to coordinate pretty well, believe it or not!
At night, we took care of various maintenance tasks like fixing sails and replacing the Windex at the tippy top of the mast. Anna, who we playfully named Mast Monkey, took on the Windex replacement duty and even managed to give the carbon mast a good cleaning using her thighs.. talk about multi-tasking!
We had our roles all sorted out. Arturs was the slick bowman with Nick backing him up. Our lovely ladies handled the sheets and winches in the cockpit, Ian rocked the helm, and us guys did everything from providing ballast to navigating and being ready to jump in wherever help was needed.
And man, let me tell you about Diah, she’s a legend! She frantically ran into town with our shirt sizes and miraculously found some T-shirts in the exact same color. Now we can rock the field like a pro team. Big shout out to her, she’s the real MVP! Thank you, Diah, you’re amazing!
And then, race day arrived. Cue the adrenaline! What could possibly go wrong..?
Viva la Vida, Explore... 