Every year for Memorial Day weekend the Marianas Yacht Club
holds the race up to Rota. This is
roughly 60 miles away and the race consists of two legs, one up and one
back. There are two divisions, a racing
class and a cruising class. But it
seemed to us the cruising class had no rules, they could leave when they
wanted, they could use the engine, they didn’t even need to follow the course
marks. So we tried to enter under the
racing class. We submitted our
measurements and asked for a rating.
There is no club rater and therefore ratings are rather loosely based on
similar boats rated elsewhere. There is
a similar boat to Sari Timur here in Guam and he had a rating so we said no
problem we will take the same rating.
Tropical Storm Sanvu passed by just 2.5 days before the
start of the race and upset the normal trade wind balance so we were expecting
light and variables for the race up hoping the trades would build somewhat for
the race back.
So at 4 pm the crew were briefed and we headed for the start
line for a 6 pm start. We had on board a
seasoned veteran of this race and he advised us where to head for local
conditions. The challenge was going to
be to get out of the harbour entrances on one tack and through the gate which
was set there. There is a large high
point that blocks the winds coming from the south, but we had enough way on to
drift through until we again picked up the wind from the other side. The lighter boats left us in their wake at
this point but pretty soon the winds filled in a little and we were able to
start to keep up with the fleet. The
crew did a marvellous job even though we nearly lost the wind three times.
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| Sunrise over Rota |
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| Wedding Cake |
As the sun rose in the morning we had Rota
and several sailboats in sight (one was even behind). The outline of Rota is quite nice when coming
from the sea. There is a large high area
that looks a lot like Table Mountain in Cape Town and on the south-western
peninsula is a unique feature they call the Wedding Cake as the hills form a
steep high edged area that looks like a layered wedding cake. Anyway we managed to cross the line at 8:59
am just shy of 15 hours. After tying up
and clearing customs we began to realise the attraction of this race. The people of Rota are friendly beyond means
and it is a chance for the Guam inhabitants to let their hair down so the beer
started to flow. REMEMBER I MENTIONED
THIS IS JUST AFTER 9 AM! Anyway at about
11 we got responsible and got the crew checked into their hotel and went for
lunch. After lunch most of us crashed
for a couple hours in order to be able to at least make the main party for the
day, if not the after party or the after, after party! This party was put on by the local resort and
a great spread of food, music and a show by the local youth dance group. Note there were no provisional results so we
should have tweaked that the organisers were not, shall we say, really
organised for racing but were so for the social activities which hey “when in
Rome!” Pauline and I elected to head
back to the boat after the main party and left the remainder of our crew to
wave the Sari Timur pennant and we have reliable information that some did just
that.
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| It's getting closer! |
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| Crew Quarters |
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| The first beer at the Party! |
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| Sunset at the Rota Resort |
The next morning we went back to find the crew suffering a
bit but ready to do some site seeing, that was after a breakfast of left over
burritos on board Sari Timur. The first
stop was to see Kurt and Christine at their home. We had met Kurt and Christine at the Home
Depot on Guam and had struck it off with them right away. They are a German couple that used to cruise
and eventually decided to settle in Guam, then Rota after their world
cruise. The crew all knew them and so we
crashed their house for a late morning visit.
Their house is off the grid. This
means there is no power and water piped in and they have to provide that for
themselves. They have built a house that
works great with natural ventilation, have a grid of 32 solar panels which keep
them in electricity and have just about every kind of tropical plant and orchid
growing on their property. They also
have chickens ad ducks for eggs and grazing.
The fruit selection made our mouths water. They have custard apple, pineapple, bread
fruit, limes, Madagascar cherries, Soursop, Guava, beautiful papaya as well as
several dozen kinds of vegetables. Not
to mention a beautiful view of a bay on the east side of Rota. After the tour we sat on the veranda and
sipped fresh calamansi juice, and nibbled on passionfruit and soursop all
picked within a few minutes before eating.
Finally at 12 we were loaded up with some fresh limes and papayas and
headed back to check on our last remaining crew who needed a bit more sleep
earlier!
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| View from Kurt and Christine's place |
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| View of the bay |
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| Custard Apple or Sweetsop |
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| papayas |
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| Madagascar Cherry |
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| Madagascar Cherry |
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| Pineapple |
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| Passionfruit |
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| Breadfruit with the male pod |
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| orchid |
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| Orchid |
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| orchid |
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| pretty flower |
After determining that everyone was among the living and
were going to be able to attend another party that night some of us again piled
into the car to go up to the north east side of the island and check the wind
and waves as well as see some of the sites.
I digress here a little but a rather interesting thing
happened on the way. A lot of the roads on
Rota are very rural, what we used to call when I was a kid, two tracks. And the map is only partially correct when
showing these roads. We were first
heading to the As Matmos Fishermen’s cliffs which were at the extreme end of one of these
roads and we were a little unsure if we were heading correctly. And suddenly we saw a truck and two guys
doing some bush cutting. We stopped and
asked through the window to one of the guys if we were on course and could he
direct us. He said “Not really, I am
from Kentucky and do not know where things are here but ask my partner” It was just the strangest reply out in the
middle of nowhere half a world away from Kentucky to find a guy cutting the
bush. Anyway his mate did know the way
and we were indeed on the right track. We
soon found the cliffs. These are pretty
spectacular and the water clarity is fantastic.
We could look down a long distance and see fish swimming directly
beneath us. It made the angler among us
pretty upset he left his rods and reels on Sari Timur. The pictures don’t really do the cliffs or
the spray justice but if you look at cliffs with the people in the background
you start to get a perspective on the heights.
I know when I peered over the cliff I was struck badly with vertigo.
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs |
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| As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs | |
After leaving the cliffs behind us, we backtracked to one of
the regions’ significant historical sites.
It is an area full of latte stones in their natural state. Supposedly one of the largest and most
important sites in the North Pacific.
Latte Stones are a symbol for this part of the world. They are carved foundation stones that sort
of look like an inverted vase. Many of
the older topstones have fallen off supposedly due to the large number of
earthquakes in the region. This
particular site is carbon dated prior to 1300 and supposedly was occupied until
the late 1700s. All over the ground are
pieces of old pottery and it is interesting to think how the village was set
up.
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| Machong latte stone ruins |
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| Machong latte stone ruins |
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| Machong latte stone ruins |
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| Machong latte stone ruins |
Anyway after a while the mozzies
suddenly arrived and we figured it time to continue on. We took the coast road and followed along
seeing the famous swimming hole area and other sites before finally coming back
to the resort. We quickly showered and
headed off for another party. This was hosted
by a couple that used to live in Singapore so Pauline and I talked to them a
bit about that. We came to find out that
he was a former Oceaneering diver and know some of the same people as us. Small world.
Anyway they put on a great spread including a roast pig that was
fantastic. We tried to take some
pictures but the lighting was all wrong.
The race start for the following morning was 7 am so Pauline
and I headed out at 11 to get some rest and be ready to prep the boat for
departure at 6 am. The evening was full
of showers and the wind died off completely.
During the start sequence we just put our engine in neutral in case we
go into any situations but everyone stayed out of our way and we were able to
drift across the start line ok. We
coaxed up the spinnaker and were riding a favourable current while we waited to
clear Wedding Cake and hope for some wind.
And sure enough it happened. I
have never flown the spinnaker as shy as we did. Usually about 75-80 degrees but we were able
to carry it for almost 2 hours before the wind came around so much that we had
to go back to white sails. But we were
back with the fleet and the wind had piped up.
We were having a glorious trip.
We even passed 2 boats! Again our
tactician had us steering a great course and we came around the entrance at
4:10 pm or just over 9 hours right on the heels of another boat. About 20 minutes to go and we are battle
ready. But alas, what is that over there?
Is it 2 kids on a disabled jet-ski asking for help? Cannot be, because if so, surely the other
boat in front of us would have seen them.
But after some quick signalling we soon found out they were indeed
panicked and worried that they were drifting towards the Philippines and being
ignored. So we retired, dropped sails
and tossed them a towline. We were hoping to gain redress from the race committee. After towing them for a while we saw a whole
search party was out for them and that even the Coast Guard had been
called. The searchers finally spotted
them behind us and came over to bring them home.
Anyway after clearing customs we went ashore and grabbed
some spouses, children, dogs and spectators and did what Sari Timur is famous
for, that is we held an impromptu party.
All in all a great weekend and thanks to a great crew we sailed a great
race.
See Kelly, I never even mentioned about the buxomy babe crew
we had that lost her chap stick for two days, only to find it in a secret
compartment in her bra!
Final note. Apparently
we did really well, so well in fact that we caused all of the other racers to
protest our handicap. As they figured
out it was indeed close, it was starting to cause friction so we withdrew our
entry. But we still had fun and got to
see Rota. However we do know something
about how racing works in Guam and will not take part again.
