Getting north round Guadaloupe
Gaviota
Wed 23 Apr 2008 01:08
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16.05N 61.46W
Anse la Baroque, Guadaloupe
Leaving the marina at Pointe a Pietre, wind still from astern
.. so tried to drift out of the berth, very slowly so we did not mess up
the rather posh and definately brand new 80 foot Swiss yacht next to us!
Didn't quite work as planned! once the normal 50 footer released us on the other
side the friction just dragged us into the big bugger: urgent fender job ...
missed our mooring buoy by all of 2 inches...but still couldnt break free from
the big un ... and now on a collision course with his anchor chain (out taught
at a very shallow angle!) .. bit of urgent reverse thrust to slow down the
inevitable crunch ... and pray .... over the chain we glided ... we weren't the
only ones who couldn't believe .. the skipper of the swiss yacht was
beside himself .. leaping up and down on his foredeck ... seconds later
and we gave him our best French Au revoir a big wave and a huge grin (relief ..
but he didn't know that!) So now retrace our steps round the south end of
Guadaloupe to get up the west side to head north.
20 knots of wind and close reaching to the turning point then
out with the pole and goose-wing down the channel ... wind increasing with the
land effect. Gybe the pole and broad reach back to the west coast .. now wind up
at 25 knots and going like a train through the short steep seas of the channel
... bow under water as much as over ... but little getting as far back as the
cockpit ..... collected a shoal of very baby flying fish on deck ... and pushed
on ... As we went up the west coast again land effect and the wind slowly
dropped but we managed to keep moving ... when we noticed a yacht about a mile
in front leaning ... the other way ... 30 minutes later we found out why ... as
we tacked without changing course .. Annabel onto the mainsheet for constant
trimming as we tacked .. then gybed .. broad reached close reached tacked gybed
again ... and we hadn't changed course!!! ..
In the end we motored the last 30 minutes into the nice quiet
bay; found Rob & Anne there on 'Crucial Coast' who had
been on the Ocean Safety course with Syd almost exactly a year ago, so went over
for drinks and a nice chat and some info on Columbia, where they'd lived for a
few years. Watched large group of road cyclists on the road round the bay
(they even stopped the traffic!)- still typically french, as it was
Sunday. Had a reasonably interesting snorkel before setting off next day
to Deshaies, (all of 13 miles up the coast) where we hoped to check out of
Guadaloupe customs. And a repeat of the previous day .. by this time A getting
quite good at trimming the main ...but we made it under wind power ....
just .. came into Deshaies bay at 18.20 to be met with a 25 knot wind
blowing straight out of it! ... Torrential rain .. and as we motored around
looking for a safe spot to drop the hook without fouling other anchored
yachts, we thought we also recognised a face
peeping out of turned up oilskin collars, over his spray hood, to check his
anchor was still holding .. we thought it was someone we'd met on an ARC
course. ... what a waste of that piercing rain .. we just used it to wash
the salt (and sweat) out of our sailing shorts and tee and shoes ... definite
aroma improvement!
Mon 14 April - left early (still raining but only a little
wind) and sailed up to Antigua.
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