Tom Cunliffe Joins the Crew of the 135ft Schooner Eleonora for the Caribbean 600 Race
One of the great wonders of sailing is that, no matter how wide our experience or how long we’ve been at sea, none of us has seen it all. Take me, for example. When asked, I generally say that an extended life on the water has put me at the helm of everything from a Firefly dinghy to a square-rigged ship and filled in most of the gaps between, but at the end of February this year, I rediscovered the schooner.
The first boat I sailed for a living was the schooner Hindu out of Province town, Massachusetts. Designed for the Bermuda Races, she gave me a good start. Later I served aboard a working trader, then it was Olin Stephens’s 1930s masterpiece Brilliant under the late Captain George Moffett. Fine vessels all, but none prepared me for the impact of sailing aboard Eleonora in the RORC Caribbean 600 race.
Eleonora was launched in 2000. She is a straight replica of the 135ft, 214 ton Herreshoff schooner Westward. Under the command of her Scottish captain, Charlie Barr, Westward swept across the Atlantic in 1910 to take 11 1sts in 11 starts against the smartest Europe could produce.
This is Eleonora’s heritage. She was born to race, but sprints around the cans mean an exhausting workout for crews handling spinnakers and golly wobblers the size of a supermarket car park; the boat is hardly into her stride before the interesting sails are dropped for the next beat.
The RORC Caribbean 600 is different. The race could have been dreamed up for schooners. Set across the north-east trade winds among the islands around Antigua, it features reaches up to 150 miles long, a beat or two and the odd run that, with luck, shouldn’t be too extended.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2017 من Yachting World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2017 من Yachting World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
TAKING OWNERSHIP
WILL BRUTON ON UPSKILLING ON BOARD
SPECIAL REPORT
DAN HOUSTON ON CHANGES TO THE SHIPPING FORECAST
NAVIGATION BRIEFING
TOM CHENEY ON RACING ACROSS THE CHANNEL
NEW YACHTS
SOME EXCITING, AND VERY DIFFERENT, NEW 40-FOOTERS
21ST CENTURY TWINS
RM'S DISTINCTIVE NEW FLAGSHIP OFFERS AN ENTICING COMBINATION OF GOOD SAILING QUALITIES, SPACIOUS ACCOMMODATION AND TWIN KEELS AS STANDARD
UNLIKELY HERO
A CROSS-EUROPE ADVENTURE IN A 10FT DINGHY SEES SANDY MACKINNON NEARLY COME A CROPPER OFF WHITSTABLE’S MUD FLATS
HER OWN WAY
COLE BRAUER IS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO SAIL SOLO NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT HOW SHE’S SHAKING THINGS UP
THE MIGHTY ESSEQUIBO
JAMES AND JAYNE PEARCE DISCOVER THEIRS IS THE ONLY YACHT IN THE COUNTRY CRUISING REMARKABLE GUYANA
CAPE NORTH
CRUISING BEYOND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, JANNEKE KUYSTERS AND WIETZE VAN DER LAAN ENJOY A SURPRISING SUMMER IN NORWAY
DOWN WINDING
WHICH DOWNWIND SAILS ARE THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU? AND HOW DO YOU TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF SAIL HANDLING ON A TRADEWIND PASSAGE? TOBY HODGES QUIZZED MORE THAN 240 SKIPPERS IN LAST YEAR'S ARC TO FIND OUT