America’s cup sailing in St Maarten excursion

[Obdave]

May of 23 the admiral and I booked this excursion. It was fabulous bucket list stuff. Lined up on the pier alongside the other excursions, our nine person group dwarfed by the groups going horseback riding, beaching or the large and boisterous group headed off to tour distilleries. 
A short walk, or roll in the admiral’s case as she was using a knee scooter due to a broken foot, around the harbor to the marina led to a pontoon boat where we met nine more folks. 
We were divided into two squads and ferried out to the boats.   And these weren’t just any sailboats but actual 12 meter yachts from the 1980’s Americas Cup.  We boarded the fabled Stars and Stripes, the boat Dennis Conner skippered to bring the cup back to the US while our rivals joined Canada 1. Each boat had a captain and a couple of crew and we were assigned positions as these boats required a full crew of 11 to sail.  This was no leisurely sunset catamaran booze sail, each of us had an active roll to play.

A race course was set up in the bay with buoys and we would race head to head with Canada 1.  The horn blew and the sails were raised, each boat shot forward like a cannon.  We learned the intricacies of yacht racing as we rounded the buoys and tacked back and forth. The boats heeled and spray flew.  The Stars and Stripes emerged victorious and a round of celebratory beers was handed out.

But that was not all.  Captain Morgan said let’s take a sail and pointed her out to sea. And then, wait for it, he said, “Dave take the wheel.”  It was glorious, headed out to see in 13 knots of wind with 5 foot seas in a fast twitchy rocket ship of a sailboat that boasts a pedigree like few others.  Twenty minutes later, it felt like a lifetime with both hands clenched on the wheel, it was time to come about and head for “that big white thing at the pier, you can’t miss it.”  The big white thing was Wonder of the Seas tied up at the quay.

On the way back in others, including the admiral, had a chance to take the helm.  Captain Morgan admired the admiral’s WWF hat with the panda logo and she traded him for his salty 12 meter racing cap.

On return to the dock we were treated to rum punch and had a chance to buy souvenirs in their office at the marina.

If you like sailing, adventure or once in a lifetime experiences this excursion is for you. We’ll never forget it and was the highlight of our cruise, though snorkeling with turtles was pretty cool too.

[HeWhoWaits]

I did this version many years ago (while my kids watched from the ship) and more recently a similar one in Cozumel with my adult sons (with vessels from the catamaran era of Americas Cup racing). Definitely a good time and a workout.

FTR, my boat won both times.

[Xaa]

Thanks for the recap.  Now it's on my list of things to do.  This was a Royal excursion?

[Obdave]

Yes Royal excursion 

[teddy]

My wife and I did this in January 2020.  We still talk about how much fun we had. When we go back to St Maarten, we will do it again.

We were on the Stars and Stripes as well and won the "race".

You can be as involved as you want.  My wife was nervous about being in a smaller boat, so our captain made her the team captain and told her what commands to give while she sat down.  I, on the other hand, had to do actual work

[Xaa]

I'm guessing 2 things about the race.  First, it's always really close.  Second Stars and Stripes always pulls it out.

This is definitely on my list of things to do.

[teddy]

Oh

We booked directly through their website (12 Metre Racing).  The majority of people we were with booked it through Royal.  I can't remember the actual price difference, but it was cheaper booking directly.

[Xaa]

Thanks @teddy.  This thread has inspired me to try and shoehorn in a March break sailing on Wonder to visit.  The site shows like $105 pp, Cruise.

I don't think I'm going to be able to make the cruise work though.  See what you started @Obdave?

 

[HeWhoWaits]

8 hours ago, Xaa said:

I'm guessing 2 things about the race.  First, it's always really close.  Second Stars and Stripes always pulls it out.

This is definitely on my list of things to do.

It's usually close but when I was on the excursion in St. Maarten, my boat won by several boat lengths (which is not considered close) and I wasn't on Stars and Stripes.

The Cozumel version was about two feet difference at the end of the race.