An encouraging fun week for "Jubilee" in Charleston.

Chilly temperatures greeted a record fleet of racing sailboats for the 2010 Charleston Race Week.  Over 185 boats braved chilly-morning temperatures as they sailed to the race course, but during almost the whole week their reward was a good 20-knot breeze that made racing "a serious adrenalin rush" as "Jubilee" A40rc skipper Cal Huge said.  Every day was providing picture perfect sailing conditions and Huge and his crew saw plenty of heated action and tight racing across the IRC fleet. Sometime, some skippers struggled to control their overpowered boats in gusty breeze but the Charleston's based A40rc was very confortable in that kind of weather. "A majority of the races were plenty breezy, so we really got the practice we needed to keep the boat from going over," said owner-skipper Cal Huge. Like many of the racers here, Huge "wasn't overly concerned with results," but was instead focusing on the fun that fast sailing brings.

After the first three races, local competitor Huge on Jubilee was able to maneuver well through the all-too-familiar currents, though they attribute their strong second-place position in IRC to more than just local knowledge. "Good crew, quick sets, quick douses and lots of practice gave us the tools to do well," said Ned Goss, the crew boss of Jubilee. "The wind was just ripping and we were able to keep up with it."

Overall, the Archambault tied with Teamwork for third and lost the tie break.  However, Jubilee beat them 5 times out of 8 races and was very proud of their improvement.  "Last year we couldn't even come close to this well crewed J-122" said Cal Huge.  "As a team we have made great strides with our Archambault A40rc. Everyone now believes in the boat and are really excited going forward".  Jubilee's crew have collected the input from this week and these datas are going to be analysed so that crew and their boat will continue to improve.  They sailed in winds 20 and above for two days followed by light stuff at the end.  The IRC fleet was composed of very well sailed boats with crews that have been together for a long time.  It would have been probably more fair to split the IRC division in two classes but the lack of bigger boats forced the race organization to include an RP 52 inside the 35-40 footer fleet...

Anyway, the most important is to enjoy and share these beautifull moments on the water as well as ashore ! "We continue to learn and grow as a team and as sailors" said Ned Goss - "I was not very excited where we finished when we got to the dock but after looking at the time splits in wind that was 12 Kts and less all most all day the last day, I think that we are on the right path and moving forward to where we all want to be".  Jubilee's team leader believes that his crew had the most to prove to themselves and to others that might have been watching and if they look at where they were last season and where they are presently, everyone will see that they took another large step in the direction towards their goals with their new Archambault A40rc.

Congratulations to Cal Huge, Ned Goss and all their crew on board of Jubilee !

Charleston Race Week 2010 - IRC 1 results

Jubilee / A40rc in action !