The Musket Cover Regatta – what a hilarious, spirited yachty week. John and I have been looking forward to the Musket Cove Regatta for a few years now and it exceeded all our expectations. The best bit was we got to share the week with so many fun-loving people.
Johns's sister and brother-in-law arrived the week before the regatta started and we had a fabulous week in the south Yasawa and Mamanuca islands where we swam with manta rays, scuba dived with bull sharks, snorkeled every day in a pleather of colourful corals and abundant colourful fish, climbed beautiful mountains, and explored deserted beaches.
It was also our first experience of doing sevusavu: When you anchor in a remote island bay it is custom for you to go ashore and take the Chief of the community a Kava gift ( route of the kava plant from which the community makes kava drink and share most evenings, and they will share it with you , however, Kava is a bit of an acquired taste which neither John nor I have got!. Once you have presented your kava a short blessing takes place and the chief gives you permission to anchor and enjoy his island, also offering guides to take you on challenging walks!
In one place the kids, our guides, were very helpful and courteous in guiding us upto to the top of their island – Waya, but I think they took great enjoyment seeing us huff and puff and hang onto strategically placed ropes to walk a long a very steep precipies as they just zoomed past us in bare feet with no apparent care for the imminent death that would be inventible with one small error in foot placement.
We survived and went on to experience nature at its best spending hours observing Manta rays in a pass near Drawaqa , hours of beautiful snorkeling in colourful corals, and an abundance of sealife – spectacular. Then the crazy bull shark dive at Kuata which was extremely well organized and quite a show as the bull sharks circles and gobbled tuna
heads while we were guarded by the local divers.
Keeping us company for the past month has been Audacious Duo a fabulous couple we met in Tonga who had endured orca attacks and the joys of getting to know a new boat across the Atlantic and Pacific. Partial to a chardonnay or two, three or four!! they were such fun to be with and made our time in Fiji exceptionally entertaining as we share a love for being at sea with having fun.
The highlight was a week long party at Musket Cove( about 70 boats had entered this year). It started with the pirates race. – No rules - just a race to a remote island where pirates greeted us!. The red mist descended and John was not going to be beaten – engines, hosepipes water pistols, die bombs – you name it, it was deployed, as each boat would employ all tactics to sabotage others. Fortunately and by sheer tenacity of a crazy John, due to a course error made by an equally ruthless skipper at the last minute – we sneaked in and took line honors- of course that led the way to celebrating all week.
Throughout the week there was some very well contented hobbie cat racing. The standard was high and of course the winds ( “pressure” to those in the know!) , were flukey, and despite Nick and John being trophy holders at Burnham sailing club and the Royal Coritnitian, and world experts on how to race a dinghy– we were all knocked out in round three!
The round island race: – most probably the most serious race of the week – we did dreadfully, with a dodgy start it didn’t get better and like most we suffered from lack of winds. We did enjoy the great company on board as others joined us for the race and we made new friends as a very impressively sailed Lagoon 450 over took us! Well done Richard and Alexender.
We recovered some credibility the following day as Nick coached me in start tactics, and we really got our act together crossing the finish line as the first compliant multihull. The guy who crossed first raised his spinnaker illegally – that’s our story!
But it wasn’t all about racing, the parties every night were themed and hilarious, never had I seen a dance floor pack all night long as we danced our nights away using Musket money to keep our spirited hydration in order. The recovery remedy was beach cleaning – so many people make light work of cleaning the amazing amount of plastic that
accumulates on the windward side of islands.
The only time I felt my age was during the very painful “fun rum run”, I couldn’t even stop for rum- because I would not have got going again…having not run for about two years … it was a very hilly endurance test. His lordship had decided he had a sore knee and did not participate!!, and he was so busy chatting to folk at the finish line and failed to notice I was dying and required some TLC and water. Thank goodness for Clare and Nick, Clare trounced it and took second place in the ladies and Nick came in a very respectable 5th overall.
After a very impressive banquet laid on by the brilliant Musket Cove staff we headed to Port Denarau to drop Nick and Clare off before heading north for some R&R in the more remote Yasawa island.
A TASTE OF A FEW WEEKS IN FIJI - Fabulous people, fun filled activities and nature at its best.
See you next year Nick and Clare....
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