LEAVING FOR ST. CROIX (Part 2)

 Fortunately, the mainsail was repaired in record time and we were able to top up our provisions with plenty of French cheeses and delicacies while delayed in Martinique. We had about 300 more miles to go to get to St. Croix.
BUT for the first 40 hours of the passage from Martinique to St. Croix, if we hadn’t had apparent wind, we’d have had no wind at all.

The Caribbean sea looked eerily calm as our motor and autopilot glided us  northwesterly toward our destination. The air was so slight that the flights of the small flying fish we often observe skittering along the rippling waves to avoid the vessel were greatly curtailed.  This went on for the first 40 hours or so of our voyage.



           
Then light sailing winds finally arrived as night fell on our second day out. These winds filled the sails, but we kept the motor powering to keep them filled and reduce our travel time. I went below to take my first break of the night and surfaced three hours later to find great winds. Dan went below to get some shut eye and I killed the motor –which in turn startled him awake. But I assured him that everything was good and he soon drifted back to sleep.

What a difference a few hours made in the blackness of night with about 6 hours to go to our destination. 

Just as I was about to hand over the helm to Captain Dan for his second watch of the night,  the winds freshened with even more vigor and the waves became relentless!  Intermittent rain pelted us in the cockpit and Dan fired up the motor again for insurance.  He told me to go below to get some rest and get out of the rain, but there was no way I was leaving the cockpit with conditions as they were.  I had every confidence in Dan at the helm and I preferred being near him and the action if I could assist in some way.  Exit Strategy pitched and rocked and her bow repeatedly banged down the waves. The force of the banging rattled the navigational lights on the bow loose.  We turned on the steaming light so other vessels might see us, as there were two cruise ships visible in the distance. We studied the radar and discovered that the storm blanketed a huge area and there was no way around it. We found ourselves in the trough of the waves, so Dan changed course to cut across them diagonally. The beating went on for the next 4 hours.

Finally, the winds lessened a tad, the seas became more manageable, and we could clearly see St. Croix.  Around 6 AM, the captain eased ES into the peaceful anchorage of Buck Island’s west end and we both took a much needed nap.

LEAVING FOR ST. CROIX… (Part 1)

As beautiful as Barbados was, we were excited to be on our way once again to rendezvous with our children and grandchildren in St. Croix-USVI. The trip would be around 400 nautical miles and take an estimated 3 days if we sailed there non-stop. We had never made a passage that long before and, although the thought of it was challenging, we decided to give it a go. Before we left Tobago, our good friend Tom, s/v Tiger Lilly, briefed us on possible acceptable hurricane “holes” up the island chain in the event that a late season storm materialized, but thankfully none did.  With plenty of wind to fill our reefed sails, we were making EXCELLENT time from Barbados toward the cut between St. Lucia and Martinique. Around midnight just after I had begun my first watch of the night, the wind got really erratic…NO- downright scary for me! I woke the Captain and we quickly took down the headsail. The boat settled a bit, although it still rocked and rolled through the wind and rain. Shortly afterward the sailing conditions were again manageable as before the blow. However, upon inspecting the mainsail, Dan discovered that it had ripped just below the second reef.  We discussed our options and searched our island service directories for the best place to have a repair done. Fortunately we were near Le Marin- Martinique that is a sort of Mecca for yacht services. So under the cover of darkness, we slowly made our way into the outer area of the harbor and dropped anchor off of St. Anne- Martinique. In the morning after a few hours of sound sleep erased some of the stress, we made our way into Le Marin and sought repair estimates. We selected Voilerie de Incidence to do the job and were extremely pleased with the results and that my almost tearful plea (complete with hands clasped and held to my heart) ensured that the repair was finished 3 days earlier than promised!  You may recall that our genoa (headsail) needed multiple repairs in past months and that we ultimately bought a new sail through our friend Tom. He advised us then that our main sail was looking pretty tired, too. So it was no surprise when the sail shop men said that the rip could be fixed, but plans to have a new main made should be in our near future. The captain is on it!