THE NEXT CHAPTER

THE ARCHETYPAL SCHOONER CRUISER-RACER IS BACK ON THE CARIBBEAN CIRCUIT. NIGEL SHARP JOINED ADELA'S CREW FOR ITS FIRST REGATTA IN FIVE YEARS, THE ANTIGUA SUPERYACHT CHALLENGE

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There were at least eight determined and energetic crew out on Adela's bowsprit and its netting. They were frantically trying to unhank and retrieve the remains of the Nol jib which, with very little time before the race start, had suddenly torn from leech to luff. But very quickly they managed to remove it and replace it with a No2 jib, just in time for us to surge across the start line off Fort Charlotte near the entrance to Antigua's English Harbour.

Adela was back where she belongs, on a Caribbean racecourse in brisk tradewinds, and it was game on! Adela will be a familiar sight to so many. Signposted by her spinnaker emblazoned with the huge 'A' logo, she has been a stalwart of superyacht regattas in the first two decades of this century.

Built by Pendennis Shipyard and launched in 1995, she is a near replica of a 1903 schooner (originally of the same name but later renamed Heartsease) which was designed by William Storey and built by Fay & Co in Southampton. The main differences are that the newer version - whose design was updated by Gerard Dykstra - is of steel construction instead of composite, has a modern underwater profile and more beam, and is Bermudan rigged instead of gaff.

At the time of Adela's launch her main mast was easily the longest carbon spar to be built, her foremast almost certainly the second longest, and her 471m² triangular mainsail was the largest ever produced by North.

In 2000, Pendennis literally cut Adela's hull in half to allow her length to be extended by 3.6m. This was to provide better crew quarters but did also, of course, improve her sailing performance by increasing the waterline length and by further separating the rigs. She now has a hull length of 46.0m, a length over spars of 55.5m, and a displacement of 270 tonnes.