Sue and Peter's arrival
Around the world with the Aqualunies
Jonathan & Gabrielle Lyne
Thu 9 Mar 2017 23:34
| 6th - 9th March, 2017 We sailed up to Jolly Harbour on Monday from English Harbour to pick up Sue and Peter Owen-Pawson. On the way we saw ‘Euphraxia’ a 55’ Discovery owned by John and Sandra Pickles, tucked in a lovely bay, she looked very pretty. We called them up on the VHF just to say ‘Hello’ as we had to continue on our way. We managed to get a berth in the marina. After Sue and Peter arrived, with our new Paddle Boards replaced for free by 'Red Paddle' having lost some fins due to bad glue, we all headed for the Marina Bar where we met up with Caroline and Andrew Bellamy. They were in the marina for a haul out of their beautiful Oyster, which had dragged on a reef in Mustigue even though it was on a Mustique mooring. They had chipped the rudder but fortunately not too badly damaged, just a lot of fright in the dark in strong SW winds (unusual for the Caribbean at this time of year) the reason they dragged was because a chain on the mooring buoy had not been soldered properly and parted. Consequently they missed the closing party at ‘Basil’s Bar’ before it is renovated and not opened again until next December. We all caught up on news and the fact that a big weather system was coming in from the NE on Wednesday night. We also talked about flag etiquette as one British yacht was flying their club burgee over the Antiguan courtesy flag, which is considered insulting to the country you are visiting. Many yacht owners appear to get their flag etiquette wrong which is a shame as there should be a certain way and rules to fly your flags. I have even seen a yacht flying an undefaced Blue ensign with no club burgee for this you need a royal warrant. The ensign should be furled at Sunset or 18.00 hours and flown again at 8.00 hours. Apparently if you get your flag etiquette wrong you can be fined up to £5,000 by the Admiralty judge in the UK. We know this as we had him on board for a week last week!! We had a discussion about what to do about this weather system as we have booked a restaurant in Les Saintes for Sue’s 70th Birthday. Jonathan decided we should leave the marina and head down that way arriving in Guadeloupe to anchor behind Pigeon Island for Wednesday night. We had a pretty bouncy but fast sail down and as usual well looked after by the yacht which cuts through the water beautifully. Although not so impressed with the guys who made our dodger and biminy, as the water comes through all the stitching, it has been badly made with no overlap over the zips so water comes through the gaps, When it was first made we did say it leaks through the stitching (it never happened on our last boat) but a certain person in charge of our build said ‘Oh the stitching will swell and block the holes so you will not get leeks’……. Why the hell did we listen to him. We will never use that company ‘Advanced Canvas Ltd’a again to make our canvas products and we suggest nobody else does. One should also use ‘Reticulated foam’ for the cockpit cushions as it drains well and does not retain water as with our old Discovery yacht we had cushions made in the States with this and Sunbrella awning material, they stayed dry in all weathers and continued to look amazing even after sailing half way around the world. The foam used this time, which again we were persuaded to use, flattens like a pancake and stays soggy. Consequently I am going to have to pay for new ones in the States. The night in the bay near Pigeon Island was interesting. We, fortunately, decided not to go ashore for dinner but had dinner on board. The wind started gusting and then retaining its strength as it built up to winds of 25 - 35 knots with gusts of 40 knots. Our very good anchor and loads of chain out held us well. Jonathan is very relaxed about these things but I could not sleep so kept an eye on things and set the anchor alarm in case we started dragging. The zip on the bag that holds our sail on the boom (we hate in-furling mains) started to slide undone, so I woke Jonathan up to deal with it, as I was unable to reach, he managed to tie it shut with more knots. Everything else held well although with the veering winds we were swinging quite a bit. Fortunately none of the Cats in front of us dragged their anchors so we were fine. Today we are underway again, the sky are very grey, the wind has dropped to almost nothing but we are having lots of rain squalls, at a least it is warm. We are now heading to the Les Saintes. Just arrived in Les Saintes after an ‘interesting’ sail with just the solent jib up. The wind was 25 - 30 knots with 4 meter waves coming on our port side as we crossed the gap between Guadeloupe and Les Saintes. We couldn’t find a free mooring buoy so are at anchor in a rather rolley area. We will attempt to go ashore tomorrow but hopefully will be able to grab a mooring buoy as soon as somebody decides to leave. This is not quite the Caribbean weather we envisaged for Sue’s 70th….. with luck it will improve over the weekend. Both of us are desperate to ‘escape’ and go for a good hike and maybe a spa if we can find one. |