Achilles Keel

After taking significant damage in the Miami Nassau Race on 2019, Achilles was towed back to Fort Lauderdale, where she underwent a 4 month refit. New Fridge Freezer, New Stove, tow rails removed and rebedded, rudder dropped faired and reinstalled, keel was faired and epoxied, and all systems replaced or repaired. Then COVID hit and she has been stuck in Florida.
We have taken the decision to retire her from Racing, and spend some time cruising the Caribbean, and may be do a few friendly regattas.
We had a good run, the peak of which was winning the overall SORC Islands Of The Stream series in 2017. We have had a lot of ups and downs, and whilst results were not always good in the 10 years that we have campaigned her, we have retired only once!
I just wanted to thank everyone that has raced her with us, I hope the experiences were good.
I would also like to thank Dario at Absolute Boat Works. He managed the refit without me having to oversee the work, and the boat is looking better than she ever has.

Great Movie, although the end left some serious questions! Main star of the movie is Achilles' Keel's sister ship!

The Boat (2018) - IMDb Directed by Winston Azzopardi. With Joe Azzopardi. A solo sailor is locked inside the head of a sailboat which is under steam on autopilot.

See My Location The SPOT product family uses both the GPS satellite network to determine your location and the Globalstar network to transmit messages and GPS coordinates to others including an international rescue coordination center.

Achilles'has decided to enter SORC this year. If you are interested in joining the team reach out to me!

A great Article with Achilles' featured!

An interview with Chris Woolsey about the 2019 Miami to Havana Race I checked in with Chris Woolsey, the race administrator and regatta chair for the 2019 Miami to Havana Race (March 13), via email, to learn more about this intriguing offshore race.

Achilles' is entered for the TR2019, and has a guarenteed spot for Fastnet 2019. Who wants to have some fun?

Madison Martinborough is one of the few sailors from the Bahamas that wants to venture offshore. She is 17 years old and in her senior year of high school at St. Andrews in Nassau, The Bahamas. Having started sailing at a very young age with her father recreationally since 2014 she has been training and racing with the Bahamas Sailing Association. With experience on sunfish, lasers, class-c sloops and J-22’s, she has plenty of time on the water. Sailing has always been something that she has enjoyed doing and something that she is very passionate about. This will be her first race over the horizon, and she is looking forward to the challenge. From Team Achilles' point of view, we are very excited to have her on board, and hope she enjoys the race and this will be the first of many offshore races with us.

Gabrielle Stephens a 21-year old Michigander. Sailor of 8 years, started racing in the frigid Great Lakes and has recently migrated her way to ocean racing. Currently an active racer in the Hobie 33 North American class, Southern Ocean Racing Conference, Helly Hansen NOOD regattas as well as most Great Lakes Regattas. Captaining Bella Luna” a Beneteau 36.7, now ranked number one in the worlds keeps her busy when she is not racing with others. She is excited to join the team and compete with Achilles Keel in the Fall

For the Miami Nassau race we have pretty much the same crew as last year, with some minor changes. Victor is back as 2nd helm, Manny is back to control the fore deck, Bob is back running the pit and James will be assisting on helm and trimming. We have bought 3 new crew onboard, and will introduce those in the next few posts.

After a period of hiding, due to our two non-starts this year, Achilles is preparing to come out of hiding. We have refreshed the crew line up, and the boat has had multiple upgrades over the last few months. She is eager to get out and have a shot at the Nassau Cup.

This morning the race committee for the Newport to Bermuda Race confirmed Achilles' Keel's participation in the 2018 Bermuda Race. The team is pretty much the same as our successful 2016-2017 season, but Gabby Stephens joins us on foredeck, and Welf Ludwig, rejoins the crew after last sailing with Achilles in the 2014 Heineken Regatta.

http://caribbean600.rorc.org/News-2017/fleet-building-for-10th-rorc-caribbean-600.html

Fleet building for 10th RORC Caribbean 600 | News 2017 | News

We made the list on the Farr Design Web Site! Design 202!

2016-17 SORC Sailing Islands of Stream Series
•1st overall - "Achilles Keel" Beneteau First 45f5 (design № 202) - Andrew Pike

Florida, USA

March 2017

FYD | 2017 Race Results

Who's coming?

2018 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Promo 1-4 MARCH – The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta 38 years strong and it just keeps getting better. Four days of world-class racing with some of the world's most ...

So the team has come back together for the 2018 Season. This year we are relocating to Antigua, and racing the RORC 600, Heineken, BVI Race Week and Antigua Race Week. Let's hope for a season like this year and some podium finishes!

Achilles Keel goes green:- During the servicing of the engine this week, it was discovered that due to head room, the engine head would have to be removed to pull the injectors. Therefore it has been decided to replace the engine with a new one, due to the long distances the boat will cover in the next couple of years. It was also decided to take the environment in to account and purchase the new HPCR type of marine engines. Downside is we have to be careful how clean the fuel is, however on the upside we get more power for the same weight, and an engine that does not smoke, and meets all modern emission standards. It also means the off watch crew in the aft cabin will get a lot quieter sleeps, when resting and charging coincide! Part of me is reluctant to go to a fully electronic controlled diesel over the old mechanical injection systems, but it is time to embrace new technologies, and will allow engine monitoring remotely using an Ipad or any of my Raymarine multifunction displays.

Team Achilles Keel announces its long term race programme.

After the 2016/2017 Season which finishes in March this year, Achilles will take a break cruising the Bahamas, for the remainder of the year. In December it is anticipated to move the boat and base it out of Antigua for the 2018 Caribbean Season, with RORC600, Heineken Regatta and Anitgua Race week as the key events planned. The boat will then cruise back through the BVIs, Turks & Caicos and back to its home in Nassau. it is anticipated that much of it's current crew will remain with the team for both the 2018 and 2019 programme.

2019 will be Achilles' most challenging season and will depend on funding and crew. However the preliminary schedule is to compete in the TR2019 from Newport to England, Rolex Fastnet, Rolex Middle Seas Race, then return to the Caribbean with the RORC Transatlantic Race.

Meet the team part 8:
Jim Evans joins the team from Charleston, SC. Jim grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, NY where he began sailing sunfishes at an early age then eventually moved to South Carolina for high school. Jim was working an extended consulting contract in Miami that made it easy to join the team for the SORC, Islands in the Stream series. Jim is a longtime member of a J35 sailing crew in Charleston. His team competes year round in the Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA) races and is currently back to back 2016, 2017 Frostbite series winners. Jim also competes annually in Charleston Race Week which is currently the largest keelboat regatta in the Western Hemisphere. Jim is an experienced at all positions: skipper, pit, mast, grinder, bow, head and main trimmer and will act as floater in the Miami to Havana race.

Meet the Crew Part 7
Manny Leon joined the team for the Nassau Cup and runs the foredeck. A Miami native and recent Penn State graduate, he got into sailing at a young age but never did so competitively until 2014 when his father purchased a used Hobie 20. He began racing it Biscayne Bay and decided to add another boat to their fleet. It was with the purchase of a J24 named La Niña that he discovered the South Florida racing community. He currently races La Niña with a few high school friends and his cousin Victor, who also races on Achilles Keel. The 2016 Nassau Cup was his first offshore ocean race and he demonstrated the attention to detail smaller boat trimmers bring to the big boat teams.

Meet the Crew Part 6

Geoff Jarvis, a fellow RORC member, joined the team for the 2016-2017 Season with the Miami-Nassau Race. Geoff brings decades of experience to the team, and after our watch captain failed to show for the Nassau Cup, he took over as alternate help and the 2nd watch leader. Geoff is an accomplished sailor some of his accolades include,
• Winner overall Miami - Nassau
• Winner Sigma 33 Cowes week (twice)
• Winner Laser 28 CORK week
• 2nd in Class Fastnet
• 2nd in Class Overall RORC championships
• 2nd in Class Fort Lauderdale to Key West
• 3rd in Class Fastnet
• 10th in Class ARC (transatlantic)

Geoff will be back with us for the Miami-Havana Race as the alternate helm/2nd watch leader, a role he fulfilled on the Miami-Nassau Race flawlessly.

Meet the Crew Part 5

Kira Maixner ie new to the boat for the Miami-Havana, bringing assistance to the foredeck. Kira is a mountain girl from Colorado who found her love of sailing when she moved to San Francisco four years ago where she hopped aboard a J/88 and never looked back. Since then she has crewed regularly in the J/88 and J/105 fleets competing in several series around the Bay Area including the Rolex Big Boat series in 2014, 2015, and 2016. She has competed in several offshore races and this year and is picking up double-handing to compete in the Great Longitudinal Pacific Race (LongPac) and the 2018 Pacific Cup.

Meet the Crew Part 4:- Victor Leon first sailed with Achilles on the 2016 Miami to Havana Race and has race with the boat in every race since. At 32 years old, he is an accomplished sailor and sailing enthusiast with an extreme passion for offshore racing. Growing up with sailing in his blood, Victor followed his fathers footsteps racing the famous Lauderdale - Key West, Wirth Munroe, and Nassau Cups. Before that Victor began sailing like most others, at an early age competing against his older brother in the optimist class before honing his skills sailing dinghies all over Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys. Victor’s love for big boats came during his first Antigua Sailing Week, sailing for the Chivas Regal team in 2012. From there he began his forray into offshore sailing participating in regattas in and around the Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean. Although not a full-time sailor, Victor spends his most of his free time racing on 5 different sailboats throughout the season; Force 5, Hobie 20, J24, Big boat handicap bay races (BBYRA) and offshore with Achilles’ Keel.

Meet the Crew Part 3.

Polly Jarman joins the team for the final race of the series. Bought on board for her sail shape trimming ability, she began sailing as a result of the 2012 London Olympics. After racing lasers for only 4 months she jumped straight into skiffs - the Uk Cherub and International 14 and started competing immediately. By 2015 she had started a 49erFX campaign for the 2020 Olympics. For the past 2 years she has been competing in the 49erFX including a few National 1st results. Her keel-boat sailing also increased over the past few years resulting in a 1st C*C Frostbite Series, 2nd in the C*C Summer Series and 3 top 10 results in international Smeralda 888 sailing. It is anticipated that Polly will focus on the detailed sail trimming and sail shape, that dinghy sailors especially in high performance classes usually excel at.

IRC Start. 2016 Nassau Cup Race. via SORC Media

Official Results for the series are out, this could be our year!
http://www.sorcsailing.org/sheets/IslandsInTheStream-Standings17.pdf