(English Harbour, Antigua)-Pamala Baldwin, owner of the J/122 LIQUID based in Antigua,
gave us a report on her epic experience sailing the RORC Caribbean 600
Race two weeks ago.
Baldwin is a 60-year-old recruiter from New Jersey
specializing in executive recruitment for remote five star resorts and
private island estates worldwide. Needless to say, she is living her
dream sailing on her J/122.
“Last night at Antigua Yacht Club my team and I were honored at the 10th
anniversary of the RORC CARIBBEAN 600 to win RORC IRC’s ‘Caribbean’s
Highest Performing Yacht’ in IRC Class 2 Racing following the 600 and
3rd in Class.
Conditions were grueling over the 600nm course, presenting the
competitors with unexpected and dangerous conditions...constant winds of
25-30 knots with gusts to 41 knots and 4 meter sea states and endless
squalls with record low temperatures.
Of the 85 competitors, 40 retired. There was a man overboard, a sinking
and helicopter rescue, about a dozen medical emergencies and endless
squalls.
Commenting during this perilous yet high adrenaline ordeal, ‘my team is
relentlessly teasing me about offering up cappuccino during a perilous
squall with little visibility’.
We
were wet 24 hours a day and cold; we were all physically punished so
hard it felt as if we were in a train wreck, pushing our limits with
shear grit. And, to think pre-race we opted to fly our cruising sails
and not our 3Di’s…thank goodness, that was a blessing.
My team was skippered by 33-year-old Nico Dillingh from The Hague,
Holland- his first race as skipper. Last season Nico was on the crew and
showed solid potential. When the Caribbean regatta season wrapped up,
Nico sailed Europe’s racing season, including the Fastnet.
Lymington UK based Julian White is our co-navigator, foredeck, and is an up and coming star on our team.
As our winter season unfolds, Team LIQUID is sailing the famed Heineken
Regatta in St Maarten, St Thomas International Regatta, British Virgin
Islands Race Week, Voiles de St Barth, and wraps up with Antigua Sailing
Week