HA.3.iv Racing the Regatta
Quest: Racing the Regatta
Difficulty: Hard
Enemies: Your fellow racers, Time.
Time Sensitive: yes.
Requirements: Complete multiple courier tasks for the harbormasters/Sea Marathon quests from
Merchants in taverns, Rank 3+
Required items: Lugger (regular), 50,000 pesos
Quest Giver: English soldier in English port (any).
Rewards:
Ranks 3 – 10: 250,000 pesos, Brigant, boussole, swept-hilt rapier
Ranks 11 – 24: 250,000 pesos, Hand Mortar, boussole, Madonna sword
Ranks 25+: 250,000 pesos, Asoleeta rapier, Milano Cuirass, boussole
All ranks: Also you may bet 100,000 pesos on yourself, payout varies.
SPECIAL NOTE: If you don't have Hook's Mod, this quest is bugged and cannot be finished.
Hook fixed the bug in his mod.
Once you have completed a number of courier quests for harbormasters and/or Sea Marathon quests
from merchants in taverns you will be approached by an English courier the next time you land in
an English port. He will hand you an invitation to The Regatta, a race held in Port Royal by the
governor. You have a month to go to Port Royal and sign up. To do so you will need a lugger, and
50,000 pesos. Before you can enter you must also put all ships other than the lugger into mooring.
I strongly suggest that you upgrade speed and manoeuvrability on the lugger in Port Royal and
Capsterville respectfully.
When you arrive in Port Royal talk to the governor, he will send you to his aide in the meeting room
across the room. The man there will give you more details on the race, including the route you will
take, and the rules.
You musn't switch ships for the duration of The Regatta, and you cannot add any other ships to your
squadron. You have to check in with the harbormaster at each port, and they should be open 24
hours during the duration of the race (they aren't, or at least one of them isn't).
He then offers to take a bet for you, you can bet up to 100,000 pesos on yourself. The payout, he
says, varies.
Once you give him the money and tell him you are ready, he will tell you to meet him in 3 days at
noon at the docks. Prepare your ship with the necessities, gunpowder, some resources for repairs,
and grape shot, and chain shot. If you plan on fighting your way across the ocean you may also take
bombs and cannonballs, but I didn't want the extra weight. You will want extra gunpowder though,
for mines.
Three days later at noon, everyone will gather at the docks to see off the contestants. Three, Two,
One, GO!
Port Royal to Belize
The start of the race is pretty straight-forward. Head down the coast West towards Belize, hitting
Cape Negril with your Go-To function if it is available. It never came up for me. Make sure you are
popping into global whenever you reach a region line, or you will be essentially sailing in place for
a while.
Depending on the wind direction you may want to go southwest and hit Caratasca Lagoon, or
straight on to Belize. When you get there you will be greeted by a shipwright who wants to sell you
pretty blue sails. He says they go faster, but I honestly couldn't find the difference. It might be
similar to the speed boost you get from port Royal, only without the silk, and I already had it.
It did make them blue though! 15,000 pesos well spent.
Belize to Port-Au-Prince
You have two choices upon leaving Belize, you can either head north along the coast, tagging the
different bays and coves as you go, eventually grabbing Cuba and heading East, or you can just
head straight east by the Cayman island.
If you choose north, you will eventually come across Anna Maria Bay, where you will be greeted by
a couple Spanish luggers that will attack you. You will need to take care of them either through
violence or by slowing them down enough to escape them.
If you just go East, you will encounter some water and wind, and an Island. After that, you can go
north and hit Port-Au-Prince from the other side of the cape. Much easier.
After you check in with the harbormaster you will exit to find a smuggler type offering to shoot at
your competitor's sails for 50,000 pesos. Sir! I am a gentleman sir! So, of course, I want that.
Actually he didn't offer this service to me in the last game I played... dunno why, but maybe it was
my reputation.
Port-Au-Prince to St. John's
You again have some options. Option 1 is that you sail north, hitting Gonaive Bay and curling
around to eventually tag La Vega and then Samana Cove. At this point, you could head East past
Puerto Rico and go south beyond that, but if you do you will be attacked by 2 luggers and a
Corvette. EW. Alternately you could hit Santo-Domingo lighthouse and go south, skirting the
Puerto Rico region altogether and heading East by way of Guadeloupe. If you do this you do not
encounter any enemies.
You can also sail south around the horn of Port-Au-Prince and tag the Spanish beaches/port. Then
you have the same option of heading past Puerto Rico or not.
Sail into St. John's harbour, and you will be greeted by a monk. He will ask for a donation, and if you
are generous enough (10,000 pesos), he will warn you about a lugger in the harbour that is planning
on trying to blow you up. I just told you for free though.
After you check-in at the Harbormaster you will meet a girl who will offer to sell you a good
telescope for 10,000 pesos. Ripoff....
Leaving the bay you will see that lugger, named “Welcome”, in the harbour. Give it a wide berth.
St. John's to Bridgetown
After you dodge the first attempt the lugger makes to get close to you, drop a few mines while you
run away. 2 should be enough to sink it. If you let it get too close to you it will blow itself up and
take you with it. That is some dedication to a race I'll tell you what. Something you don't see in
Nascar.... yet.
After it is sunk, head South past Dominica, tagging Cape Scott Head and moving on. When you get
close enough you can go to Harrison Cape on Bermuda, at this point you will notice something
distinctly wrong... the Spanish Fleet in the harbor.
That isn't good, but we have to land at the harbor anyway. They should be far enough away for you
to dock, but save before you try either way. I don't think you will be taking any of those ships of the
line on with your lugger. Land at the port and go to the harbormaster. If it is night time, and of
course it is... it will be closed. Wait until day time and visit him. On your way out you will be stopped by
an English soldier. He will tell you that the governor wants to see you. Do you think it has anything
to do with the horde of women standing behind him? Probably.... I hope I don't know all of them.
The Governor asks for your help in evacuating the women and children from the island before the
Spanish attack the city. Apparently every ship he had is now sunk, and so your lugger is all that
stands between 100 women and a mass raping. At some point, he mentions children too, but since
there aren't any children in the Caribbean, I must have misheard.
If you agree, and how can you not, you will load all of them up on your lugger. Then you will take
them down to Harrison Cape, where of course a Sloop is waiting for you. You will need to defeat it,
so give it a few shots of grape shot and board it. Afterwards, you can land at the cape, and then you
will battle a small squad of Spanish soldiers.
Once that is done, the lieutenant asks for you to escort him and his harem to a nearby cave, just in
case there are more Spaniards. Just go left to the cave, and inside he will thank you and tell you
about an expert navigator at the church in Bridgetown. Give him the soldier's name and he will go
with you the rest of the way to Port Royal. He has 100 navigation. You get a large boost to honour for
this.
Go pick up your navigator and move on to Port Royal.
Alternately, you can leave them all to get raped and murdered. You monster.
Bridgetown to Port Royal
Here is where it gets real. If you enter the global map from this point on you will be chased down
and attacked by Gentlemen of Fortune. In my game, they consisted of 2 Heavy Galleons. Just a
warning.
Leaving Bridgetown you have several options. You can go north, and hit Dominica and then
Guadeloupe, but as soon as you go into the battle map of Guadeloupe you will encounter 3 ships.
You can go south, and past Curacao, but there you will meet some angry Dutchmen with a corvette
and a lugger.
The third option, and my favorite, is to go past Martinique. Here you will encounter nobody, and
sail smoothly the rest of the way to Port Royal. At Port Royal you will not be able to use Go-To, so
you will have to RP sail the rest of the way to the port, and dock.
There you will be greeted by everyone, who will hopefully tell you that you have won! My time
was 90 hours total, and I blew them away. Just to test it out I did the last leg of the journey on the
global map, forcing the fort at Port Royal to take care of the heavy galleons when I got there. I
ended up with 130 hours, and still first. My guess is that at 90 hours my competition was just
docking at Port-Au-Prince....
Rest until the next day, and then go to the governor for your rewards. See Henry Stivenson about
the winnings you made from betting on yourself.
Do not tarry, you only have a week to claim your prizes or the government gets them!
Congratulations, you've won the Regatta!
