Wildcat Sailorgirl: Martinique to Bonaire

Poled out

April 22 2018

While we have had a great time in Martinique, it is time to move on. Southwest and specifically to Bonaire. We had planned to sail there last year/season but that did not happen. This season it seems to fit so we headed out.

We departed Martinique April 22 2018. Cruising friends, sv Blue Blaze was also headed to Bonaire so we buddy boated. That is not something we do much. In fact, we have only done it one other time but what the heck.

The sail to Bonaire is supposed to be a downwind passage. I know what you are thinking...... "A what? Downwind? What is this downwind you speak of?" I think I have mentioned before that the Eastern Trade Winds of the Caribbean are more the winds of stories and legends. The Eastern Trade Winds we experience are more Close Reach or Close Haul, NOT a Beam Reach. When cruisers want to head north out of safe hurricane holes (like Trinidad) at the beginning of the season, the Eastern Trade Winds are more out of the northeast. At the end of the season, when cruisers need to get south to safe hurricane holes again, the Eastern Trade Winds shift......yep.....southeast. We very rarely experience even a Beam Reach. A Broad Reach or a Downwind Run are like unicorns, they just don't happen.

The attachment point

In fact, we have never really done a Downwind Run in sv Honey Ryder. We have a whisker pole but have never used it. *The whisker pole attaches to the mast and helps keep the headsail out to the side when doing a Broad Reach or a Downwind Run. Tom did the necessary repairs to our whisker pole (from lack of use) and tons of internet research. There are many ways to rig up a whisker pole. Jason on sv Blue Blaze came over and helped with the final configuration.

The set up

Downwind sailing is real, it is also the thing of stories and legends. Over the years, many have waxed poetic about the downwind run in books and songs. "A Gentleman Never Sails To Windward" is a phrase that is tossed about quite a lot. It is also a book. Jimmy Buffet talks about "the downwind run, to Papetee" and numerous stories of "sleigh rides" across the Atlantic from east to west, and on and on. On the lake, I was never a big fan of dead Downwind sailing, It seemed to me the stern always shushed around in odd, uncontrolled ways, sending the boat this way and that a bit. I like a Broad Reach much better. Because of this, we tried to sail a Broad Reach and not dead Downwind. We basically sailed the rhumb line Broad Reach to Broad Reach, jibbing every 12 hours or so.

The wear

The motion? It was still weird. While we were not bashing to windward heeled over at a 30 degree angle, it was still tough. As I sort of described above, the boat had a side to side motions as she was pushed along. This side to side was tough because there was no tucking into a corner. No corner was exempt from motion from all sides. The motion was also less predictive than the up and down heeling of bashing to windward. Twice Tom fell asleep on the cockpit settee, rocking back and forth only to have bigger the motion pick him up and dump him on the cockpit floor. Luckily, I had rigged up the lee cloth on the salon settee for off watch sleeping. I had hopes of getting a few things down on this passage. Perhaps a bit of cleaning or some bracelets/anklets made. Again, the stories and legends of Downwind sailing across the Atlantic and all the wonderful time sailors have to sew, make things, work on projects, etc....... Um no. I am calling BS. I don't see how with the weird, rocking motion that anyone could do anything but the basics of cooking, reading and required maintenance. Stories and legends indeed. *I asked a British boat once we got to Bonaire about their Atlantic Downwind Run. She confirmed, utter bullshit that Downwind sailing is gentle and allows you to do all sorts of fun stuff. Again, we were not bashing to windward but rocking side to side enough to make you work. Every so often, a series of three big waves would come along and really rock us side to side, big time - wham-wham-wham! And yes, this happens on other points of sail as well but on this point of sail, it just meant we really rocked and rolled side to side.

Lee cloth in place

Speed is the other stuff of stories and legions. We always plan on 5 knots of speed and hope to do better. However, so many people said "Oh you will have a great Downwind run, a fast passage....."a sleigh ride" so that notion sort of seeped into our heads. The winds were forecast for 15-18 - perfect...we thought. It turns out that for a Downwind Run we could really use 20 knots. We went much slower than we thought we would. There may have also been some counter current at times. To be fair, we did not run a Wing on Wing sail configuration. Our main is a furling main which means it MUST be furled on a specific tack, at a specific angle. We weren't quite sure how to accomplish that while poled out to port or starboard. Most times, when we need to furl it is because there is a squall coming and we need to do it quickly! We didn't not want to risk jamming the main so we decided to forgo Wing on Wing and sail only with the headsail poled out.