In years past we\u2019ve encouraged competitors to improvise if they want better flow with their wing-on-wing. They can use the boathook or their deck brush, or they can scavenge parts from the derelict boatyard across the street from the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, however, one competitor has done his homework and brought an old carbon windsurfing mast to use as a whisker pole. It was a wise move, indeed. Brown\u2019s equipment concern is a non-issue for the race committee, however, and after another pause they say they\u2019ll consider the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf it becomes too much of an advantage, we\u2019ll just tell them not to use it,\u201d they tell Brown as he turns to leave. It\u2019s the answer he probably expected. Not the one he wants. But that\u2019s the end of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d never met Brown until this moment. All I knew of him was that he was a J\/24 skipper who\u2019d won the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD in St. Petersburg, Fla. I\u2019d heard he\u2019s meticulous with his J\/24, that he likes to win, and does win when he sets his mind to it. I can tell he\u2019s seriously out to dominate this thing so his concern is valid. Fair is fair, and yes, it\u2019s supposed to be fun, but it is the championship after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few hours later we\u2019re on Sir Francis Drake Passage for the first day\u2019s buoy races. There are five competitors from their respective NOODs, and racers being who they are, their charter boats are dismantled as much as possible: dodgers down, stack packs neatly stowed, some of the biminis stripped to bare frames. It\u2019s jib-and-main action, but trust me, racing a 44-foot charter boat laden with water, provisions, and baggage requires talent, and an understanding of momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In winds that barely peg 8 knots, we complete three races. Brown and crew stun the fleet with duck-and-go port-tack starts and flawless sailing. It\u2019s obvious that getting away from the fleet is a sure way to win. A legitimate whisker pole would help, but he apparently doesn\u2019t need it. Instead, he\u2019s got a young and supremely talented crew: his wife Karen, trimmers Nate Vilardebo and Dan Borrer, Kelly Holleran, and Stephanie Karidas. They finish a leg ahead in most races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Cooper Island Beach Club bar later that night I ask Holleran what their secret is to being so fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Robby Brown,\u201d she says with a big grin and a twinkle in her eye. \u201cHe\u2019s the man!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following day the competitors are at it again, but this time it\u2019s a 12-mile beat to Virgin Gorda Sound. The Floridians breeze away at the start again. They\u2019ve engineered an adjustable backstay system that pinches the fixed split backstay, working the rig as if it were a J\/24. As the wind builds, however, Viper 640 skipper Dr. Jim Sears and his team from San Diego pass Brown and crew before the finish. Sears has a mothership from which he\u2019s enlisted bikini-clad rail riders, another wise move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
San Diego\u2019s righting-moment advantage doesn\u2019t sit well with Brown, however, and there\u2019s a protest flag streaming from his backstay as he finishes, protesting his rivals for stacking the rail with extra crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This protest, too, is a first for the committee, but the sailing instructions state nothing of crew swaps. In fact, it\u2019s encouraged. Still, an informal inquiry is held ashore, and again, Brown gets an answer he likely expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, his crew is preparing the coup of the regatta. As the SIs do state, competitors must submit a Mount Gay Rum-based cocktail to the race committee before sundown. Vilardebo later appears with an offering of boat-baked cookies and a divemask box full of \u201cThe Zayda\u201d (shown above). Vilardebo has done his pre-regatta research, too, and imported ingredients to make his Grandma Zayda\u2019s secret drink (rum, ginger ale, truffle oil, and basil). Here, too, they crush the competition, perhaps knowing full well the importance of winning over the race committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After two more days of races, Brown\u2019s USA 799 prevails, and at the awards party he confesses that his boat\u2019s new sails and smooth bottom helped. But after all the fretting about poles and crew, he\u2019s finally relaxed and smiling. He has the trifecta: good sails, a fast boat, and an outstanding crew, and that\u2019s really all it takes. That, and the will to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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