Participant on Offshore Sailing School’s Latest Blue Water Sailing Adventure
From Captiva Island, FL to Charleston, WV

Captiva Island, Florida to Miami – Magnificent First Night at Sea

Oleg Polishchuk at the helm of Offshore's Jeanneau 439

We sailed away on a sunny Monday afternoon. After swinging the boat and practicing a couple of tacks, we set off for Key West. Our first night at sea was magnificent. We had a very pleasant breeze that allowed us to sail on a reach at 5-6 knots through the night enjoying a fantastic display of stars.

In the morning, we were greeted by a couple of dolphins. They played with the boat for a couple of minutes posing for pictures and generally having a good time.

Gulf Stream Baptism

Just as we planned, by mid-day, we were at the entrance to the Key West channel, and in a couple more hours we were greeted by the Gulf Stream, who meticulously baptized us into true coastal passage makers. The so-called baptizing came in form of a 25-knot Northeaster,  rousing waves and our spirits 6 feet high. It was a jolly good ride for a while. The wind and waves kept us thoroughly entertained for many an hour.

However, after being close-hauled for hours on end, our exhilarating beating started to feel more like… a downright beating, indeed. Bruised an exhausted we were only too happy to bolt for Miami for a well-deserved R&R.

Miami to Charleston – Due North in Following Seas

The second stage of the expedition was much more peaceful. We left Miami with an ebbing tide making our way through choppy waves raised by the Southeastern wind. Once we left the harbor and set the sail, the going got much smoother.We were met by dolphins again who staged a fantastic show jumping from wave to wave, obviously sporting with us and having a great time.

From Miami the course was due North. We were in following seas for a night and a day enjoying frequent surfs that would carry the boat forward at 11 knots or more. Wind conditions remained challenging forcing us on occasion to deeply reef the main. We experimented with dropping the genoa altogether when the wind veered farther south. While a flapping genoa is not much fun, furling it deprived us of early warning signals indicating we might be sailing by the lee. So, the genoa was back pretty soon.

Collision Course on the High Seas

Captain Jeff Werner (left) and Oleg Polishchuk

One night, while on a starboard tack, we encountered what seemed at first like a Flying Dutchman trying to take us head on. Despite, or maybe in spite, of all navigation rules, it was sailing, as any respectable Flying Dutchman worthy of its name would, on a collision course. After long minutes of peering through the binoculars and a series of not so pleasant radio exchanges we figured out that the boat was crewed after all. It was sailed by a frightened couple heading God knows where and why. They lost the engine, and with just a foresail up they were pretty much at the mercy of the wind.We decided to be nice and did not complicate the matters any further by being sticklers to the navigation rules.

Veering Winds and the Milky Way

Another day and another night followed. The wind veered, and we had to deviate from our course to steer by 20-30 degrees before we finally tacked for Charleston, and then the wind died.  But before it did we enjoyed a fantastic star show featuring constellations and the one and only Milky Way, annotated by expert observations from Capt. Jeff. We hove-to and spent our last night at sea in a peaceful slumber interrupted now and then by intermittent and quite intriguing Securite calls from the Coast Guards.

Charleston met us with a cold morning, by the light of which we could clearly see the reason for the previous night’s radio activity. Right at the entrance to the harbor there was a Navy speedboat sitting snugly on the wave breaker. We docked soon thereafter at the city marina, gliding to the pylons as smoothly as an old man would ease himself into a hot bathtub.

We made it!

Thanks to Oleg for this delightful story about his Offshore Sailing School  Coastal Passage Making course with Jeff Werner as lead instructor.

Offshore Sailing School students sail a Colgate 26 in the Gulf of Mexico off the Pink Shell Beach Resort

The contest is official!  Now it’s time to dig into your memory file and send us a story on “How your experience with Offshore Sailing School has impacted your life.”

Anyone who has been touched by Offshore Sailing School is eligible.  Write a  story about a course, lessons, cruise, corporate or university adventure or other program you participated in at Offshore Sailing School.  Your story should be no more than 700 words and must be accompanied by at least one photo taken during your experience with Offshore.  No photo? Videos or drawings will work too.

Entries go in the 2014 Book of Memories

With Offshore’s 50th year right around the corner in 2014, all stories submitted will be gathered in a book of memories for the big 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2014.

Winner gets a week-long stay in sunny Florida with use of a Colgate 26

The Pink Shell Beach Resort on Ft. Myers Beach, FL

What a way to get away!  The winner of Offshore Sailing School’s 2013 contest will get a six nights/seven days stay for two people in a one-bedroom beach front accommodation at the Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina on Ft. Myers Beach, Florida — with use of a Colgate 26 throughout your stay. This great adventure is available up through December 31, 2014 and is valued at up to $2500.

Imagine you and a friend or loved-one, sharing cocktails on a broad lanai overlooking miles of sandy beach and a spectacular sunset. It’s all about the sunshine, with great sailing in the Gulf of Mexico, fun and funky shopping, incredible dining ranging from open air beach bars with Jimmy Buffet sing-alikes to fine restaurants with magnificent views.  Imagine stepping aboard your Colgate 26 anytime you like during your stay and gliding out into the Gulf with dolphins playing alongside.

Submit your story between March 1 and September 15, 2013

Entries should be sent to Doris Colgate at Offshore Sailing School. Email and snail mail addresses are below.  Judging will be done by Blue Water Sailing magazine.  The winner will be announced on or before October 15, 2013. Official rules will be posted here soon.

Not yet an Offshore Sailing School graduate or participant?

Well you have plenty of time to get involved.  There are so many options from two-hour lessons to 10 day advanced certification courses with three-day, five-day and seven-day options in between.  You can even participate in a corporate team building or university adventure program.  Check out the Offshore Sailing School site to find out more.

Contact Doris Colgate for an entry form:

Doris Colgate
doris@OffshoreSailing.com
Offshore Sailing School
16731 McGregor Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL  33908

Steve and Doris on working honeymoon December 1969

In 2014 the Offshore Sailing School team will celebrate 50 years of continuous leadership in sailing education.

Our theme for the next two years is Remembering 50 Years!  As part of that theme we are collecting stories from our graduates of their most memorable times with Offshore Sailing School.  Your story can be about a Learn to Sail, cruising or racing course with Offshore Sailing School, going on a bareboat or crewed cruise with the Colgates, or some other encounter with Offshore.

2013 prize soon to be announced

The winner will get a special vacation at one of our destination resort partners. We will provide contests rules and announce just where that prize will be in our February blog and e-blast.

Singing in Tonga 1992

And now for the BIG one . . .

We welcome your ideas as our team starts to roll out plans for our 50th year. In the meantime, take advantage of the 2013 contest dedicated to collecting memories of good times with Offshore. Yep, that’s Steve (in the middle) and moi (Doris far right) at a sunset impromptu poetry and song writing gathering of participants on the Offshore Cruising Club cruise in Tonga in 1992. Oh what a good time that was!

How Offshore began

Steve Colgate (my hero, partner and husband) started Offshore Sailing School at a cocktail party in New York City – November 1964. He met a guy with a boat, he had the expertise . . . and Offshore Sailing School was born.

How we got together

Steve and Doris with Offshore grads in Yugoslavia 1989

I met Steve when I took my second course at his school. My first course was learning to sail in July 1967 on Long Island Sound with one of his instructors in very light winds. I didn’t meet Steve then because he was in Newport, RI sailing on American Eagle in the America’s Cup Trials.

My second course was a very windy week at one of the Sailing Symposiums Race Weeks which Steve ran out of Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas. Boy did I get my come-uppence then! One of my crewmates on the Solings we raced on was a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Canada, who congenially slapped me on the back at our first breakfast together and said, “Eat up lass, we need all the ballast we can get today!” I weighed 100 pounds then.

Fun and rewarding years

Aboard Our Ocean Racer "Sleuth" in 1979

Happily I found the man I would marry in December 1969 at that Race Week. And the rest is a whole lot of history and fun – opening new sailing school branches, setting up and leading so many cruises with graduates, traveling, sailing and more sailing.

It doesn’t seem possible that all that time has gone by. Our lives have been and continue to be fun and incredibly rewarding. This is the true sailing lifestyle!

I’ve included a few photos of past adventures with our graduates.  Dig through your memories and join us in celebrating 50 Years of Memories!

Doris Colgate

CEO and President – Offshore Sailing School
Doris@OffshoreSailing.com 

Guess Where We Are and Win a Cap

As we head into 2013, we and all the team at Offshore Sailing School send our best wishes to you for a very Happy New Year! Since we live and work in sunny Florida we thought you might prefer a winter scene for welcoming in the New Year.

Be the first to guess where our travels took us, and we’ll send you one of our signature Offshore Sailing School logo caps!

Email your answer to doris@OffshoreSailing.com.

Good cheer, good fun, great health and success in 2013 and the years to come . . . and make sure you fulfill that dream to take sailing lessons!

Learn to sail, go on a bareboat cruise or get into sailboat racing and check another “gotta-do” off that bucket list.

From Steve and Doris Colgate
Offshore Sailing School founder (Steve) and tireless leader (Doris)

Our ocean racer Sleuth in 1979

In 1978, Doris and I went to Newport to look at a beautiful 54’ ocean racing aluminum sloop named Demon that won the 1974 Newport to Bermuda Race under the name of Scaramouche. I read the ad and told Doris that we could never afford the asking price. In her inimitable manner she said, “It doesn’t cost to look.” We both fell in love with her and found a way (a nautical loan company) to make her ours.

I wanted to call her Legerdemain for the “sleight of hand” needed to be up with the big boats in an ocean race. Another choice was Five Kids in College in that we had no children and the campaign costs should be comparable to my buddies putting kids through college. Rats, the transom was too small for either name, so we settled on Sleuth, a popular play at the time. Racing is as cerebral as physical, so we felt the name was appropriate.

Our 10th anniversary celebration

I had raced to Cork, Ireland in 1969 and now there was another international sailboat race to Cork from Marblehead, MA. We both had found memories of that race.  I raced on Dyna, and Doris (who was then working for Yachting Magazine) flew over on Aer Lingus with a story assignment in hand. Since 1979 was our ten-year wedding anniversary, we decided to enter, but this time on our own 54′ ocean racer.

Preparing meals for the race

Normally Doris raced with us and did all the cooking, but this time she decided she’d rather fly over to greet us when we finished rather than spend two weeks cooking for 12 guys. I felt it was important to have a doctor on board and advertised in the New York Times for a “doctor who could cook.”  Shortly after I placed the ad, a gal who was helping us in the office yelled at me that “Dr. Cook” was on the line. He turned out to be an emergency room doctor who had served in Viet Nam. He knew very little about sailing or cooking, but he had great emergency medical experience so we took him on anyway, and decided to make the cooking as easy as possible.

For weeks every night after work, Doris would cook up a meal, which I would then put in “Seal-A-Meal” packets and place in the freezer in our one-bedroom New York apartment. We filled multiple ice chests with dry ice and added the meals to these coolers after they were frozen.

On to Marblehead

Steve at the helm of Sleuth

Sleuth was already in Marblehead, with our crew getting her ready for the race. A few days before the start, Doris and I loaded up our Suburban with the ice chests and while I worked with the crew, Doris filled the freezer on the boat so that breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day was packed in the order they were to be eaten. Doris had prepared a menu for “Dr. Cook” to follow, which was posted in the galley. All “Dr. Cook” had to do was take the next meal off the top and heat it up.  We dined like kings.

A perfect light air start – good for morale

I learn something new in every race. We started in light air next to the committee boat. There were so many boats on the line that I couldn’t see the buoy end. Our tactician suggested we were early and should kill our speed, but I noticed the race committee member sighting the line was looking well ahead of our bow. So we went for it and got a perfect start. A good start is good for morale, even when there are thousands of miles to go.

And a near win

The race was uneventful and for a while it looked like we may have won. Jim Kilroy of Kialoa and Huey Long of Ondine both came to the boat as we tied up and congratulated us on a good race. Both boats were much bigger maxis and the owners had far deeper pockets, so it showed that sailing is made up of fine gentlemen for the most part. In the end, the Naval Academy entry, Patriot won, and it was well deserved. We were second.

Sleuth went on to compete in the infamous Fastnet Race from Cowes, Isle of Wight to Plymouth, England that August, which I wrote about in an earlier blog. This time we won our class.

If you’d like to learn how to be “first” come down to Florida and take our Performance Race Week with North U.

Steve Colgate
Founder and Chairman, Offshore Sailing School

Our boat in the distance in Virgin Gorda Sound

Cruising the British Virgins – We Always Want to Go Back for More

I don’t know what it is about the British Virgin Islands, but no matter how many times we have cruised there . . . we always want to go back for more. And that’s the way it was at the end of October when we invited Daniela and Friedrich Jaeger to join us for a week in those glorious islands.

Introducing Friends to Sailing and the Laid Back Atmosphere of the BVI

The Jaegers are very busy people, running a publishing empire with more magazines than I can remember from their offices on Sanibel Island, Florida. We weren’t sure they would really like the laid back atmosphere of doing nothing but sailing, eating, swimming, snorkeling and more sailing for a whole week. But take to they did, making our trip one of the most enjoyable we’ve ever had. We were bareboat cruising – no hired skipper or mate – just the four of us.

I arrived late in Beef Island the night we were supposed to board the boat because our American Airlines flight from Miami to San Juan was about two hours delayed and 10 minutes too late for our scheduled departure to Tortola. Steve managed to get on a Cape Air flight while I went through a nail-biter for the next three hours wondering if I would get on the last American Eagle flight of the night.

I was so tired, and so happy to sip a glass of wine and enjoy beautiful cheeses and pate Daniela and Friedrich bought earlier in the day, I didn’t even realize we had been assigned a Moorings 54.4 instead of a 50.5. In fact, none of us did until the next morning during our briefing.

An afternoon of sailing in Sir Francis Drake Channel

Getting into Island Time

It didn’t take long for us get into island time, departing late afternoon for a short hop over to Cooper Island.  We were on the tail end of Hurricane Sandy which didn’t affect the islands other than to leave huge swells and some anchorages too rolly to stop for the day or overnight.

Cocktails in the cockpit as a full moon rises over Saba Rock

The next day, with all good intentions to stop at The Baths which was flying a yellow “caution” flag, we headed instead straight to Virgin Gorda and Saba Rock – a stone’s throw from the Bitter End.  A popular sailors’ haven, the Bitter End was in the first days of its annual Pro-Am Regatta, but we were more interested in watching the full moon rise behind Saba Rock’s rollicking bar where “pain killers” attracted just about everyone in the harbor at sundown.

With fresh winds and big seas outside Virgin Gorda we opted to spend two nights in this idyllic harbor, watching the goings on, exploring ashore with lunch at the Bitter End, and lounging on deck with a good book.

What could be a better way to get acclimated to the pace we would follow the rest of the week? It didn’t matter where we went, it just mattered that we were all relaxing and having fun.

Reaching in a Southerly Breeze

With very unusual southerly winds for the first four days, we found ourselves reaching rather than beating from Virgin Gorda to Jost Van Dyke.  As we left the Sound on Tuesday morning, we watched huge waves crashing against the shore, probably 30 feet up. The swell created troughs that were sometimes 20 feet deep, hiding most of any sailboats in our view. As we passed the reefs bordering the entrance to Little Jost Van Dyke, we saw waves good enough for surfing (except for the treacherous reefs below).

Daniela cooking up a feast in the galley of our chartered 54 footer

We Dined Mostly Aboard Thanks to Daniela

Daniela, a superb cook (no call her chef), cooked all of our delicious meals aboard except for the night we went ashore in Jost Van Dyke for lobsters at Foxys. In 1972, when Steve and I led our first flotilla cruise for Offshore Sailing School graduates, we met Foxy and his wife Tessa for the first time.  Then their emporium was a tiny little shack with a sizable bar and picnic tables in the sand and open air.

Now it is a big operation, with a gift shop (that closed just as we arrived), a bigger bar, and a whole lot more tables in the sand and on a concrete slab under cover.  Oh, we had such memories and stories to tell about our first years visiting Foxys on each cruise.  When we asked if the legend (Foxy) was there that night, we were told he was “still on vacation,” which I suspect is what they always say.  Our lobster dinner was fantastic and so was the price – $4.50 an ounce!  Between the four of us we had about 45 ounces of lobster!

Our Favorite Anchorage – the Bite at Norman Island

That night started out nice and calm, but the wind turned slightly SW and we ended up broad side to the swells.  We left early the next morning for a nice leisurely reach over to the Bight at Norman Island. This was a great harbor. Calm, not crowded, with plenty of moorings and beautiful crystal clear water. We anchored as far away from Willie T’s bar as possible, near a private sailboat from Canada with the most industrious couple we’ve ever watched – spending every moment cleaning and polishing their tricked out cruising sailboat.

The next morning, with the winds still SW but trying to go East, we set sail thinking we would end up back at Cooper Island.  We spent a couple of hours enjoying the breeze in Sir Francis Drake Channel, tacking and jibing with full sail, and then decided to head back to the Bight and Norman Island for our last night before going to The Moorings docks.

Daniela steering on our favorite sailing day

Relishing Time on the Helm

Throughout our cruise Daniela was in her element – loving every minute as she steered our big yacht with a gentle touch on the helm. She is as good a sailor as she is a cook and business leader – and that means a lot!

When he wasn’t navigating and tweaking sails, Steve was engrossed in a great novel “Cutting for Stone” – which I had read a year ago.  I was content to sit and enjoy the breeze as we sailed or sat on a mooring – carrying on lively conversations about just about anything, including politics as our cruise ended only a few days before the election.

We managed to keep up with the terrible news about Sandy hitting the NE (and our boats at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ) with our iPads and phones, but mostly just savored the good feeling of being on a beautiful yacht in one of the most beautiful cruising areas in the world.

Nothing Better than Marveling at an Amazing Sunset from the Deck of Your Yacht

You will hear me say this over and over, but there is just nothing better than marveling at an amazing sunset in a quiet harbor from the deck of a cruising yacht. And boy, did we have sunsets. From our mooring at Norman Island, both nights we waited in great anticipation for the “green flash.”  It didn’t materialize but boats crossing the path of the setting sun made for some mighty wonderful photos!

Waiting for the Green Flash from the Bight, Norman Island

We have new found friends and a renewed belief that one must get away from all the craziness that is going on in this world regardless of deadlines at work and whatever long list of “obligations” we all seem to have.  Now, we have new shipmates to share our love of sailing with and more great memories held in our thoughts and on “film.”

Last Night Aboard

When we arrived back at The Moorings base our Offshore Sailing School base manager, Mike Huffer, greeted us and accepted graciously all the leftover wine and goodies. (We always order too much.) The next morning we met up with five students starting their Fast Track to Cruising course with Offshore Sailing School. That evening we shared with the Jaegers a nice meal at Charlie’s at the base, and then after dinner wine below on our last night aboard.

The next morning we joined the Offshore Sailing Club flotilla meet and greet with Mike Huffer and Cap’n Fatty Goodlander – the celebrity sailor  and popular Cruising World magazine writer who was joining this cruise. All the participants seemed to be Offshore Sailing School graduates, ready to set sail on four new Moorings 50.5s we chartered for this flotilla cruise. They were anxious to get underway, we were not anxious to be heading back to reality in a few hours.

Steve and Friedrich enjoying a good laugh underway

Renewed, Relaxed and Ready for More

Whatever you do, get out there and enjoy what nature has to offer. Set sail in the British Virgin Islands on a sleek yacht from The Moorings or one of their sister charter groups. Grab that time away as often as you can, and go back renewed and ready to take on any task in anticipation of another week or two in paradise very soon.

Happy Sailing!

From Doris Colgate
Offshore Sailing School’s CEO and President

Sailboat racing is Steve Colgate's passion

 The late Palmer Sparkman and I were crewing for Ernie Fay on Pride in the 5.5 Metre Worlds Championships at Seawanhaka Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY. Ernie had a favorite mainsail that had a zipper foot to change the draft down low.

After each race we brought the sails ashore to wash the salt spray out of them. Seawanhaka had a platform with some poles and halyards for drying the sails after washing. Palmer and I washed the favorite mainsail and hung it up to dry.

Sidetracked by a cocktail party

Since by then a cocktail party for all the competitors was in full swing, we joined it. In the middle of the night I woke up with the wind howling and the realization we hadn’t  lowered and folded the mainsail.

Oh no, no zipper

We were at the platform bright and early the next morning, lowered the mainsail and found the zipper was no longer on the teeth making the zipper foot useless. We looked all over the platform for the zipper and in the long grass all around the platform. No luck.

I resorted to ESP

What to do? Desperate again, I resorted to ESP. I sat in the grass near the platform, closed my eyes and imagined the mainsail flailing in the wind. I “see” the zipper fly off the foot and make a big arc into the weeds. I get up, walk over to where I imagined it to be and there it was.

Learn more

Sailboat racing is my passion, even today so many years later.  And cruising with our Offshore Cruising Club in gorgeous cruising grounds like the British Virgin Islands or further down in the Windwards gets my adrenalin going too.  If you race and aren’t doing too well, or want to get into racing, check our our Performance Race Week.  And if you’d like to go cruising, we can set you up with bareboat certification in less than a week.

Steve Colgate
Founder and Chairman
Offshore Sailing School

I was sailing in the 1964 Olympic Trials on Ernie Fay’s 5.5 Metre Pride. As usual there were wonderful competitors from all over the country.

The hexer - Steve Colgate, circa 1964

Voodoo from a Bayou Country crew

One boat was crewed by sailors from the bayou country around New Orleans, LA. They kept us in stitches, which I think they used to keep us distracted to offset lack of success on the race course. They were big on voodoo to crush opponents. They claimed the best hex was to tie a pelican feather to the spreaders of a competitor’s boat. Needless to say, we carefully inspected our boat each morning before racing.

Three boat lengths behind in last race

The trials came down to the last race between us and Don McNamara’s Bingo. If we won, we would be sailing in the Olympics in Japan. If Don won he would go. The last two legs were supposed to be a run followed by a beat to the finish. A wind shift changed it to two reaches. Because of a mistake early in the race, we were behind Don by about three boat lengths. As we started up the final leg it was clear that equal boats would not change places while reaching.

I hexed them!

What to do? I was desperate and thought, “If the Louisiana sailors have such faith in hexing, it’s worth a try.” Since the head of Don’s jib had pulled out in a previous race, I hiked out and muttered to myself over and over, “Hex on Bingo’s jib. Hex on Bingo’s jib.” After about five minutes our third crew member said, “What’s happened to Bingo’s jib.” I smiled to myself that there must be something to this hexing stuff.

50 yards more and we would have gone to Japan

Unfortunately, this time it was the clew that pulled out. Don, a strong heavyweight type of guy relinquished the helm to a  crew member and grabbed the clew of the jib trimming it in. From three boat lengths behind, we finished overlapped. If the race had been 50 yards longer or had the head pulled out as before, we would have gone to Japan rather than Bingo.

Want to learn more about sailboat racing?

If you haven’t tried it, you’ll have a blast. And Offshore Sailing School has a great racing program every April to really hone your skills.  If are a racer, hope you are in the winner’s circle!

Steve Colgate
Chairman and Founder
Offshore Sailing School

During another international yacht race, on the 58’ aluminum yawl, Dyna, we were closehauled on starboard tack just laying Bermuda, but being gradually headed. We had a commercial pilot as navigator aboard and I overheard him tell Clayton Ewing (the owner) while we were off-watch that he figured an unforecast low pressure area was about to hit us with some pre-frontal activity.

Using Weather to Make Gains

If we tacked to port, we could sail to the other side of the low and get a favorable slide into Bermuda downwind. We took his advice and it worked out perfectly, except dinner ended up on the cabin sole and the only way I ate dinner that night was scooping it up off the floor. The next day no boat was in sight, except a much larger 72 footer that gradually overtook us that morning. We finished second to her and won our class!

And Even More Challenging TransAtlantic Race

1963 from Newport, RI to Eddystone Light, England

By now I was very used to sailing with Clayton Ewing, his son Mark and other very compatible crew. We went through a series of squalls one night 1000 miles from the finish and, as watch officer,  I made the mistake of putting “the petal to the medal” too quickly as the dawn broke and the wind moderated.

We lost our rudder!

We set a masthead spinnaker on the 58’ aluminum yawl, Dyna, and as the wind increased we suffered a number of broaches that so severely stressed the rudder post, it broke off at the hull and was lost. The wind built up to above 60 knots from astern, so we set a small storm jib and ran before it.

The owner of the crew gave each watch a project.  One watch was to figure out how to rebuild the lost rudder from whatever they could find ashore. Thankfully, my watch’s task was to sail the boat – fast – with just our sails.

We finished fourth in our class on both elapsed and corrected time!  What a feat!

Want to learn more about sailboat racing.  Check out our annual Performance Race Week with North U.

Steve Colgate

Founder and Chairman
Offshore Sailing School 

Clayton Ewing gave each member of the crew this framed thank you - that's me 2nd from left in first row!

The heaviest storm I have ever been in is the 1979 Fastnet Race – a 600 mile, bi-annual international sailboat race which starts off the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and finishes off Plymouth.

We started in glorious moderate winds, just the kind of racing everyone looks forward too. But before long, the weather started to deteriorate. Again, this was an unforecast low pressure area. I decided that the wind was going to fair us as the low moved past to our north and we would be lifted up to a course that cleared Bishop Rock, a mark we had to clear or go aground. It worked out and I was able to reassure the crew. When we arrived in Plymouth, England after those grueling days at sea, we found 15 people had died on that race and countless yachts were abandoned. Here’s a newscast video from BBC during that storm.

From my 1979 Fastnet Race scrapbook

Winds Over 80 MPH

Our boat – a 54′ Frers called Sleuth - had an anemometer with a needle that pegged at 60. I estimated the wind to be 70 steady, gusting to 85 mph. After the race I compared the barometric pressure at the time we were going through that storm, to wind strength one should have with that pressure. My estimate was confirmed.

We sailed with a double reefed mainsail at first and somehow managed to throw in a third race. We also had our #4 jib up which was trashed in a squall in round the island races before the Fastnet start. Thank goodness I had the forethought to drop out of the earlier race and head in to be first in line at the sailmakers ashore.

We were relatively comfortable with three reefs and the #4 jib, except the waves kept filling the cockpit and washing us around.

Harnesses and Jacklines

By this time harnesses had been invented and boats had jacklines to attach them to. I made a rule that anyone coming on deck had to pass up their tether line to a crew member in the cockpit who would hook them on to a jackline before they emerged from the companionway, and vice-versa when going below. This rule has now been commonly adopted in ocean racing circles, since a few years after this Fastnet Race a crew member was washed by a wave overboard on the Sydney-Hobart Race when he detached his tether to go below.

And, oh yes, we won our class in that race too!

If you want to read more about this race, check out John Rousmaniere’s excellent book - Fastnet Force 10.

So much I have learned in ocean racing translates to the Leadership and Team building programs we run for corporations, universities and groups.

Steve Colgate

Founder and Chairman
Offshore Sailing School