Ep 110 The Race Is On! Oyster 485 vs Amel Marimu 32nm St Kitts to St Barts

The passage between St Kitts and St Barts is 32nm +/- and these gaps between islands can be brutally exposed. You get swells and wind unbroken, with fetch that crosses the entire Atlantic Ocean. But things were practically flawless this day. The swells were manageable and we were seeing an almost perfect wind angle for fast sailing.

Yes, we overtook Brian in his Amel Maramu, but I have to tell viewers that it was a new boat to him and he hadn’t really had the sailing time to dial it in. It’s hard to imagine this if you haven’t ever bought a new (or used) sailboat, but at first you’re scared that you’ll break something. The forces at play are insane. You have so much sail area up with a mid to upper mid-sized cruising sailboat, and you can feel the power surging through the rigging. There are new noises and you can’t be certain if these noises are expected or not.

With time you discover that the boat is practically indestructible under normal conditions, and these conditions, the ones we’re sailing in, were exactly what the designers of the boats had envisioned. So Wendy and I had no qualms whatsoever about loading up Talisman and letting her run. We were comfortable that all the rigging was in good shape and that our sails had seen much greater winds in the past.

One thing I was confused about was that I felt that Jamesby, Brian’s boat, could probably have pointed higher, although with all boats you just lose boat speed if you point too high. But I always wondered if he wasn’t “steering to course” as opposed to “steering to nav”. His plotter and autopilot were older, and for us with our newer gear we’ve found that the computer is amazing at compensating for currents and leeway. But only if you’re steering to a waypoint, or steering to nav as Raymarine calls it. If you steer to a course, or heading, the boat will maintain that course but will ignore forces that are pushing it sideways.

Anyway, two great, heavy-duty offshore cruisers, and it was a fun exercise all around with both crews enjoying the day immensely.

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