Mother nature and hangovers don’t go well together. When we made plans for New Years Eve, we knew what we were getting into, or we thought we did. WindGuru, said the winds and waves picked up late on the 1/1/2015, since we stayed out LATE to bring in the new years we encountered the wind/waves. Yup we found the weather today.
Started out early, up at sunrise. Set the Jib, cornered around the bottom of St. Vincent, nice down wind sail, with the waves. We turned the corner in the Lee of the Island, we had tossed out the fishing lines, zing, no sooner than the starboard, unpainted cedar plug was in the water with a new hook it took off. Before I got there, it quit. Oh well. Its a long day, lots more opportunities.
Busy morning on the water, lots of boats got up early and are going the same direction. We all hugged the coast, some had main’s up and others had none, no sails like us. No sails, we go faster, we passed another cat whose main had 1 reef in, we were set for 2 when we raised, but we had a long island to pass before needing to use the sail.
Made some omelettes, the first one, Christine’s was perfect, mine the pan was too hot and couldn’t get it to flip. Ahh.. it all tastes the same, just not as pretty with the cheese seeping out.
We get near the end of the island, wind is busting a move, something like always 20knots. We are into the wind, we raise to the 2 reef point, yellow. Still hugging the coast, the skys darken over the top of the hill, 30knots, I swear I see 58knots on the gauge, followed by a solid 60knots, but never really felt that at the helm, just the gauge showed it. Quick check of our manual, yes we do read them occasionally, says 2 reefs in the main 2 reefs in the jib and we should be good for 40 knots. Good, its blowing 30 something in the shadow of the island.
Then holy waves batman, where did these things come from. Checked back at the boats around us, the Mono, dropped all sails, the Cat took another reef, we were hugging the coast to get a better angle at St Lucia, the waves were knocking us around. Screw it, lets take another reef, now we are good to 50knots of wind. Still trying to make the angle, the waves got bigger, we were running the engines round 2000 RPMs and bashing into the big waves. Boat, me and everything is covered in Salt. Its water, then it dries, then its salt, then repeat.
Give up on making the best angle and start going for a smoother ride, and still beating the wind with 38 degrees off the starboard side. The mono, never raises sails, the catamaran turns before we did, the pulled a little jib. I had a beer. After that was done, we too pulled a little jib, found a bit of rhythm, still splashing the boat with salt. Hours go by… We are going the right direction and making point. Triple reefed, in the goove, not comfortable, but its got to be done.
Good thing for big breakfast this morning, as everything is flying about inside, and the beers are running low. We make it close to St Lucia, the wind dies down to 25knots, I think about shaking out a reef, from Red to Yellow, and then its back to 30knots, so that never happens. We have grown used to the motion by now, and can see our destination. We see others coming too, and we know there are a limited set of mooring balls between the Piton mountains, I kick up the RPMS to 2400, we pull in the jib, and eventually drop the main.
YES, one ball is available, B-line for it, the 2nd boat boy is there to help. Yippie. Ask him if he’ll run me to customs, as his boat is WAY faster than our dingy. Sure, and I shower (rinse one layer of salt off) and go clear customs.
Customs / Immigration done, find bank, go to grocery.. ARGH! it closed at 1pm today, its a holiday of sorts. Find a bar, order 2 beers to go, and find my boat boy and back to find Christine had cleaned up our mess from bashing across the water today.
Had the beers, made some pizza for dinner, found some good internet, watched the sunset, skyped, chatted, pondered the trip, and whats left as we are now on the down hill slide back to reality. At least one more day before the cleaning and stowing truely starts. Course it will start tomorrow, at least slowly.
Between the Piton’s.
Old glory didn’t like the wind today either.
Sunsets are awesome here
Even the star clippers pose for sunsets. Pulled the sails back down before really heading out.