A lot has happened since I last posted and unfortunately we had a bit too much to do for me to find time to update you all.
The delivery to Ajaccio in Corsica, 380 miles, took the expected 48 hours and we only had a couple of very minor problems so we were very happy about that. We hoisted the mainsail and boomed jib for the first time of the south east coast of Sardinia. It was a beautiful morning with a flat sea and about 8 knots of breeze. Chinook enjoyed it enormously as she gathered up her skirts and took off at 6.5 knots and even though loaded to the gills with a couple of tons of tools and other equipment. We arrived in Ajaccio just as the yachts were crossing the finish line after the first race of ”Les Regates Imperiales” to a great welcome from our friends in the classic fleet. We were offered a berth with the yachts and were treated to Imperial hospitality at the regatta village and we would like to thank Stephane Meil and his team for their welcome for the six days that we were there. We were locked in for this time due to violent westerlies blowing continually, so we carried on with our preparations for “Les Voiles d’Antibes” as best as we could and finally departed for Antibes on Monday 27th May to arrive in the early hours of Tuesday morning and only two days before the first race. We decided that we would not race an untried yacht in anything over 10 knots but the weather was kind to us and we made the first start but without the jackyard as we hadn’t time to figure it all out that morning. We hoisted the working topsail for a bit more power in the light stuff but as you will see from the photos, it needs some more work and makes the sail plan look a bit stumpy! I doubt we will use it much for racing but it will be a very useful delivery sail. We took a creditable fourth in that race but we, the crew, were all a bit lost sailing her for the first time and in a race! The following morning we set to a little earlier with our preparations and bent on the jackyard, wooled it and hoisted it at the dock. Now we were really ready to do battle. We took second on that day and were all much more relaxed and Chinook was transformed form the ugly duckling of the previous day into the beautiful swan that she is! On the third day we did an involuntary 360 due to waves and no wind and only managed 5th but on the last day we pulled out all the stops and and beat our little sister, the New York 30, “Oriole” to take a very unexpected 3rd place in our class. There was relief all round, smiles, champagne, a lot of back slapping and grown men hugging each other.
Now, finally after 12 weeks on the trot and an ample level of utter exhaustion, Sandra and I have returned to the jungle that used to be our home to evict the new multi legged lodgers who figured that we weren’t coming back and decided to do a bit of renovation of their own.

I have posted a heap of pictures for your pleasure and in amongst the photos is a short video that I threw together this morning. Enjoy!

Jono