Season 4 Numbers - 2017

It is not about the numbers but more about the journey.  However.....

Oct - Dec 2016 =713
Jan - June 2017 = 683.7
Season 4 totals =1396.7
To Date cruising = 16 different Nations, 28 different land masses/islands

We look forward to new adventures in season five.

Sail To Dominica

Our enclosure

Have I mentioned how much I love our cockpit enclosure?  I do.  And yes, dear..... I am saying it here in writing!!  This is one of the best upgrades/investments we made to sv Honey Ryder.  We had three different squalls on our sail from Martinique to Dominica.  We saw winds up to 30 knots and substantial rain, but we stayed dry and comfortable.  Not everyone can say that.  Many of our catamaran friends get soaked with each drop of rain or splashing wave.

Sail From Tobago To Martinique - Wrong Way Sailing

We had a fantastic sail.  It turns out that when you go with the wind angle, you can have a beautiful sail.  See, there is a bit of a misnomer in this whole tradewind sailing.  A big chunk of cruisers in the eastern Caribbean spend hurricane season south of the hurricane zone aka Grenada or Trinidad.  Then come November and December they set sail for St Maarten, BVI's or USVI's like they are racing in a regatta - gotta get there, gotta get there.  These are popular spots to have family and friends fly into for visits.  However, during November and December the easy going easterly tradewinds that we hear so much about have shifted slightly and are blowing from the ENE.  Add apparent wind and you get wind on the nose.  Yep - bash, bash, bash to St Maarten.  And just because Mother Nature and King Neptune are a couple of jokesters, when most cruisers are headed south at the end of the season, they shift the easy-peasy easterly tradewinds slightly ESE so that with apparent wind cruisers get to....you guessed it..... bash, bash, bash their way south.  FYI - Part of this is also because the eastern Caribbean island chain is slightly curved like a crescent moon.  Hopping island to island usually means moving slightly closer to the wind.  Bigger jumps can help ease that.

As you know, our season was a bit different than our other cruising friends.  We only went as high as Bequia originally.  Then we sailed back down to Trinidad for carnival, experiencing one of our best sails to date....because we were going "the wrong way" so to speak.  We were heading south with ENE winds.  This allowed true beam sailing and then.....gasp broad reaching!  Woo hoo!  

We when sailed from Tobago to Martinique we had a similar experience.  Our course was due north (with set and drift) on ESE winds.  Double woo hoo!  We were having such a good sail we opted not to slow down.  We reached the area between St Lucia and Martinique well ahead of schedule.  Despite being in Cul de sac du Marin Martinique before, we didn't want to enter at night so we hove to until first light and then headed all the way into Le Marin - our ultimate destination.  Multiple fishing floats along the channel, including one IN the channel, as well as several scattered in the anchorage confirmed our decision to heave to.  I don't think it would be much fun to get one of those wrapped in the prop in the middle of the night!  Additionally, it was good practice to heave to in calm waters, moderate winds for fun vs during a raging storm when we have to.  When was the last time you practiced heaving to, huh?  

Heaving to - per the book "Offshore Sailing" by Bill Seifert
"With the reefed mainsail sheeted in hard, tack the boat but do not release the windward jib sheet.   As soon as the sail is aback, reverse the helm to keep the boat headed up.  Wind pressure on the backed headsail holds the bow off  while wind pressure on the mainsail keeps the vessel from falling off."  

Fishing Net Dangers

sv Imagine's rudder damage

Tom = "Good morning dear.  Hey, I think Kurt's boat sv Imagine is on the mooring ball behind us."
Sabrina = "Rut-row.  That can't be good.  He should be in Grenada by now.  It wasn't there last night when we left the cockpit at midnight to go to bed.  I hope everything is ok."
Tom =  "I am going to get us doubles for breakfast.  I think I will stop by on the way back and check in with him." 
FYI - Best husband in the world.....he went and got us doubles for breakfast.  YUM!

I know you have heard me mention on more than one occasion how we have to keep a close eye out for fishing floats and how hard they are to spot.   They are usually marked with two or three small plastic pop bottles- often clear in color.....because that's easy to spot.   NOT!!  If you will remember, we even snagged a fishing float on two different occasions in season two.  These fishing floats are usually 1-3 miles off island coastlines. 

Besides these coastal fishing floats, we also have to keep an eye out for bigger fishing nets.  These are much larger and spread out over a bigger area.  Usually between Grenada and Trinidad.  These seem to be set out at night.  They might have a tiny light or two on them or they might not.  Same is true for the fishing pirogue (type of fishing boat found in the Caribbean).  Sometimes the only light is the headlamp worn by the fisherman.  Tiny lights like these are nearly impossible to see in any sort of seas other than dead-flat-calm.

Even if you spot the lights, it is very difficult to tell which way to steer to for clear water.

Deep cut by polypro line and net

Turns out Kurt sv Imagine was 7 miles off the north coast of Trinidad in the middle of the night.  He was headed to Grenada which is usually done as an overnight passage.  The wind and seas were building a bit when suddenly the boat stopped.  He was caught in a big fishing net.  The drag of it spun the boat around part way until he was stern to the wind with breaking waves crashing over the back of boat and into the cockpit.  His head sail got twisted/tangled, flailed about and eventually tore.  Oh yeah, Kurt is a solo sailor!  The fishing pirogue finally came along side, banging and scratching his hull up and denting the toe rail in a couple of places as they did.  They cut most of net free and then just left.  They didn't offer to assist Kurt at all.  He checked the bilge for leaks, thinking the net might have pulled on the shaft.  Luckily, he didn't have any water in the bilge.  Much later, he made it back into Chaguaramas but still in the dark of night and took the mooring ball behind us.  Again, SOLO.

Deep cut

In the morning light he could see remnants of the floating polyprop line and the net.  Tom grabbed his snorkel gear and dove under his boat to have a look for him.  The prop/shaft was clear.  Whew!  However, the polypro line (no bigger than 3/8" diameter) had cut into the rudder pretty deep.  No wire, polypro line and net only!  I know - crazy!  Being stern to the waves, bashing up and down, the line just sawed through it.  The only thing that stopped it from going deeper ....(read) all the way through...was the actual rudder post.  OMG, right?!

He was able to haul the next morning to start repairs.  The good news in all of this is that he is okay.  This is now the third boat we have known to get caught in these types of nets.         

Distances Around the Lower Grenadines

Looking north to Petit St Vincent

I thought you might like to SEE some of the distances between islands as we see them.   

Looking west at the NE corner of Carriacou - Village of Windward

If you want exact figures, use Google Map or Earth or some other web site or chart software.

Looking southwest to the SE corner of Carriacou with Grenada in the distance of the far left

These are all views from Petite Martinique.

Looking NE at the south and east part of Union with Mayreau on the east end near the telephone pole

And no, we are not setting any sailing distance records.

Ready to go

That is not the point of our wanderings.

Sailing In The Lee

In the lee of Dominica

Monday June 1st

Sounds lovely doesn't it?  A casual sail in the protected lee of an island.  Yep, and it can be.  But we have found sailing in the lee of these islands can be a mixed bag of winds, currents and of course fish traps (French islands) 

Take yesterday's sail.  The winds were up in the Portsmith anchorage around 15 knots straight out of the east so we had high hopes for a good sail down to Roseau on the south end of Dominica.  We set off with full main and slightly reefed headsail - we've learned to be prepared.  If you get greedy and put up too much sail, strong gusts can hit and at the very least round you up and occasionally lay a yacht over.  With an outgoing tide, we surfed out of Prince Rupert Bay on a broad reach at 7.5 knots.  Woo hoo!  Our Garmin chart plotter showed we would arrive in record time.  We turned south to head down the coast and the wind died.  D-I-E-D!  We were doing less than two knots..  Ugh.  But we could see wind ahead of us.  Wait.....is that sailboat coming towards us (thus going north) also on port tack (meaning the wind is coming over the port side)  But we are on a port tack as well and we are headed south.  *OK readers.......who has right of way on that one?!  Yes, the wind was out of the west for a period of time.  During the dry season (Dec to June) the land heats up quickly and draws the cool air towards it and off the ocean and thus west winds can occur at times. So after luffing around a bit, we settled into a sail with west winds but on the light side.    

Dormant island volcano making it's own weather

A little while later we reached an area where an ancient volcano, lush and green with it's rainforest towered above the dry hills along the coast. Here the wet of the rainforest, even in the dry months, is enough to keep the land cool and allow the normal easterly trade winds to flow from east to west.  However, the height of the various volcanoes on these islands accelerates the tradewinds - greatly accelerate at times. Like screaming down into anchorages like Deshaies in Guadeloupe or Saint Pierre in Martinique and in certain spots along different coastlines. This is where winds can go  from 10 knots to 25+ or more in a matter of seconds. The buzz word (I despise "buzz" words because they are abused in the corp world to ad-nauseam ugh) for these ferocious winds is katabatic.  Any yacht with too much sail up could find a leisurely sail in the lee becoming very exciting in a flash.  There was a rumor this season of a charter cat actually flipping over. 

But it is so tempting.....you are having a great sail with winds at 10 knots but the boat is reefed so you you could go faster. You think...."Couldn't we put up more sail and get more speed?"  There are several of you readers out there that wouldn't be able to stand it -speed freaks that you are, you would be putting up more sail.  I've sailed with several of you.....you with little patience, more is better.....admit it!  You know who you are.  Anyway, the other day the wind finally settled down into a south wind.  South!  The direction we were going.  Ugh!  The forecast was not for a direct south wind but east southest.  However, in the lee of an island, it can often curve around the island and east southest can become south.  So we motor sailed the Rhum line tacking back and forth to Roseau.

In the lee of St Lucia

Additional note - I may have mentioned before but it's worth mentioning again. We have found winds between these islands can be strong at times, stronger than forecast.  We sail very conservatively - aka - we like comfortable and we don't like breaking stuff (gear, rigging, us).  We usually reef prior to sailing out from behind the lee of an island. We can always shake out a reef easier than putting one in - this is true regardless of the reefing system!  And....we have found it takes a little bit of sailing to truly get to the "clear" winds.   But that is just our experience to date and our strategy.  Everyone is different.
Final note -We have not yet sailed on the windward of any of these islands.