The first race of three was from Guadeloupe to Falmouth, Antigua, a viscious rain squall doused the fleet at the start of the race, Mike Slade's Leopard 3 revelled in the feisty conditions and pulled away from the rest of the fleet, the 100ft Maxi was unstoppable and despite upwind conditions, Leopard 3 nearly broke the course record to win by a handsome margin. This had been a baptism of fire for Lee Overlay Partners who finished fourth. Virtually upwind the whole way, the longer water line length of the opposition was a telling factor, it would be a monumental achievement to beat the much larger yachts to claim the Ocean Series.
The next morning there was dramatic news, Leopard 3 had broken its boom before a pre-start and was out of the Ocean Series. The record breaking yacht with an all star crew was a fine adversary, it was a shame to see gear failure put them out of the series.
The next day, the fleet of yachts gathered for the Round Antigua race, starting off Shirley Heights, the 50 mile circumnavigation was a test of tactics and boat speed at a variety of sailing angles. Sailing conditions were fabulous; a stiff 20 knots of trade winds gusting up to 25 knots at regular intervals. The beat to Green Island saw Sojana creaming through the two metre swell to lead on the water Lee Overlay Partners had a good beat and were up for the chase, baring away around the north coast, the Farr 50 was screaming along, touching twenty knots of boat speed. A huge plume of spray was bellowing out of the Lee Overlay Partners as the competition was overhauled one by one, on the west coast the wind speed reached over 25 knots and on a tight reach, Lee Overlay was hard pressed, even with the keel fully canted to add stability. The beat home favoured the powerful ketch, Sojana and she took line honours. The crew on Lee Overlay Partners were hiking to the max, knowing that every second would count on handicap and in the end it paid off, Lee Overlay beat Sojana on corrected time by less than 5 minutes in a 50 mile race, to clinch handicap honours.
The last race of the Antigua Sailing Week Ocean Series was a tough 80 mile course to Redonda and back. The mile wide rock, is an extinct volcano, 40 miles due west of Falmouth Harbour. The Easterly trade winds would provide a high octane sleigh ride to the rock followed by a 40 mile beat into Atlantic swell back to Falmouth. The maths was simple, to win the Ocean series, Lee Overlay Partners needed to beat Sojana. The Farr 50 would be quick downwind but the 115 Farr would be much faster on the upwind return.
Race day arrived and on the line set under the foreboding rocks known as the Pillars of Hercules, Lee Overlay Partners got a cracking start nailing the pin end and forcing the giant hull of Sojana about, slowing down the 115ft ketch. At the turning mark a perfect bare away set saw Lee Overlay Partners launch off to the west, the bow full out of the water with warm spray lashing the crew on deck, but Sojana was not far behind. America's Cup helmsman an Olympic medalist, Peter Holmberg was calling the shots on the 115ft ketch and had lined up the yacht to take full advantage of the ocean swell.
As Redonda lumed ahead, it was decision time; the volcano rises 1000ft out of the Caribbean sea, causing a huge wind shadow to its west face. Giving the rock a wide birth meant staying in the breeze but sailing more miles, cutting the corner reduced the miles but risked the possibility of getting becalmed. Sojana had already gybed to give the rock a wide birth but Lee Overlay Partners had decide to go for a close rounding, hoping to get through the one mile wind vacuum. It was touch and go as the Farr 50 slowed down to a virtual standstill, just short of the breeze line, you could feel the tension on board as Sojana carried her wey and was sailing around Lee Overlay Partners. However, Lee Overlay Partners had judged the approach spot on, just making it to the fresh pressure.
A forty mile beat into a big seaway lay ahead and there would be know stopping Sojana overhauling Lee Overlay Partners on the return to Antigua. In a matter of minutes the powerful blue hull passed Lee Overlay Partners, the two masted giant of a yacht dwarfed the 50ft Farr. The only way to stay in touch was to play every shift, Lee Overlay was agile enough to tack and take a lift whilst the powerful Sojana did not have the same dexterity.
The beat back was hard on the wind and the crew, the three metre swell was complemented by the occasional giant wave and the crash in the trough was a jarring experience. For nearly six hours, Lee Overlay Partners were tacking on every header and the tactics were working, as the Farr 50 was lifted towards the finish line and Sojana could not shake free to get far enough ahead to win on handicap. However about an hour before the end the crew on Lee Overlay Partners heard a deafening bang, instinctively the team looked up, fearing that the rig was coming down. Thankfully, this was not the case but a solid stainless steel inhaul ring had broken under the strain, the beat was gruelling.
Adrian Lee's Farr 50, Lee Overlay Partners,crossed the finish line after over eight hours of tough racing to claim their second win on corrected time and the glittering prize of the overall handicap winner of the inaugural Antigua Sailing Week Ocean Series.
'To come to Antigua Sailing Week and win the Ocean Series was our objective, which I'm pleased we achieved. Commented Adrian Lee.
'Lee Overlay Partners campaign is focused on offshore racing exclusively (the marathon race versus the sprint distance).Our 3 year goal is to compete in an win overall each grand prix offshore racing event in the world-The Antigua Sailing Week Ocean Series is definitely going to be an established one, going forward.
Offshore racing requires skill, technology, experience and team work and a lot of persistence. The discipline is very satisfying and great fun in the Caribbean, where the constant trades eliminates a lot of the 'crap shoot' that often plagues offshore events in cyclonic regions! I feel its much fairer-the sunshine helps a lot too!!
We did the Job, Lee Overlay Partners beat the international opposition over a variety of courses and we are looking forward to our next offshore test'
Crew pictured above: Adrian Lee, Scott Wilson, Daire O'Reilly, Ruairi Hegarty, Eoin Leahy, Louay Habib, Mike Grant, Henry Ford, Scott Cavanagh, Flavia Zamboni, Gerise, Toby Hodges.
