Returning to Trinidad - Part 1
Returning to Trinidad – Part 1 Friday Now it is time to head back down to Trinidad, so 6.30am I
set off. Now I noticed that the sacrificial strip on the genoa was coming off,
I knew it was bad on the trim, but this was the main part where it joined the
sail, I had not noticed because I cannot see this on port tack. I cannot reach
it and it will have to take its chances. If Bluewater Cat were here I am sure we would have gone to
Buck Island yesterday afternoon and snorkeled the underwater trail and been a
few hours nearer to the end of the island. There are lots of reefs and
shallows here and it took 4 hours hard motoring into wind to get past the end of
St Croix, then I could sail. I would have to sail as close to the wind as I
could all the way and see what island I came to. The wind is strong and keeps
going SE, the waves are big and the current is against me; feels like a fun few
days ahead of me. I put out the fishing reel, have to start sometime. I tried
and gave up on getting a sunsight with the sextant, it is not as easy as it
says in the book and the one thing I am missing is an almanac with the sun
meridian times, which I think is a bit critical. It is rough and I have got
out a lifejacket, I only want the harness, and have put out 4 tethers. This is
just to keep me in the boat, I was trying to stay attached by at least one
tether at all times, but after a few hours I gave that up. It might be easier
to give it all up and fall overboard, but I am not that depressed yet, not
quite. There was one yacht came up behind me and overtook,
seemingly on the same heading, could be going to any of the islands in the
chain. 1.30 I noticed my starboard inner shroud was loose, did that happen
when I fell off the big wave, or is it that I am just so close to the wind it
does that. I cannot remember seeing this before and it was worrying, I was 25
miles out, but did not think of turning round. I took the split pins out and
tightened it up a fair bit and hope it holds. There are other stays keeping
the mast up and I am just going to have to stay on port tack all the way; now
it was even more important to stay upwind of my route. I have a Plan A, tie a
rope round the other side of the spreader round the front of the mast, round
this spreader and bring it down to the fitting and tighten that off. The only
problem is that means going up the mast and that will not happen in this
weather. I settled for Plan B, which was to tie my spare mast rope to the deck
fitting. Did I mention that I was not enjoying this trip. The weather has been bad all this winter, everybody is
complaining about it, so now I am joining in. There seems to have been a Small
Craft Warning or Advisory out most of the time, the wind is strong, the waves
are big. The Caribbean is losing its appeal. The clear water and sandy
beaches are great, but the mass water is not that friendly. At dusk I put the trilight on and took the fishing reel in,
the last thing I need to deal with in the dark is a fish. I am running on
basic electronics only to conserve battery power. The water generator keeps
the batteries at 100% until I put the lights on, so I should be ok for a week
and I hope I am not out here that long. I turn the chart plotter on a few
times a day, just to see where I am. I have a paper chart, but it is
comforting to see the little boat icon getting closer to somewhere, anywhere. There are no rocks, reefs or shallows for hundreds of miles,
which makes a nice change. Also there is virtually no traffic or lobster pots
to watch out for; who would want to be out here? There is one rock Aves Is
which has been confusing me, there is also Isla Aves. Both belong to
Venezuela, one being just off the coast of Venezuela and the other 150 miles
South of St Croix and West of Dominica. The rock is so small that I had to
know where it was to be able to zoom low enough on the plotter to put a warning
marker on it. If I go too far West it is in my way, I shall have to keep
ckecking for it in a hundred miles or so. The sun has set and I have a 360 degree horizon which is
totally empty. 9pm there is a light behind me on my left and one on my
right. Over time these grow into cruise ships, which cross each other and then
come past me one on either side. Saturday The night was as comfortable as living at a 45 degree angle
in big waves can be. It was time to tidy up, the deck, the cockpit and the
insides looked as though it had been a great party from the mess left behind. I tried and failed on the sun sight again, I will have to
get the relevant tables to get me started and day 2 and I did not catch a
fish. The only boats I saw were one during the day that was heading straight
for me. The freighter had to give way to me, so I held my course. I was
passing ahead of him and it was so much more comforting when I saw him bear off
a few degrees, the size of his bow wave was disconcerting. Overseas Sophie; we
were 80 miles West of Montserrat, or maybe he was going to the oil terminal on
Statia. Just before sunset I saw another ship on the horizon, but I
was way in front of him. All night and I only saw one green light over to the
West. Sunday Day 3 and I am much less active that the previous two days.
I am putting the timer on for every 30 minutes to check for shipping and that
is beginning to tell on me. In the Atlantic, away from shipping routes, I gave
myself an hour, but here I am less than 100 miles out from the islands and
freighters can cross from anywhere, so I am stuck with 30 minutes or risk the
alternative. 1.38 pm the wind had dropped and I was going 2 knots or
less, I have the diesel, so I put the engine on. I had to get the autopilot
on, the wind vane and rudder locked off and the water generator pole out of the
sea. I should have taken the pole out while I was going slowly, it is hard
enough to do anyway and now I had the engine on and the fishing line. The
chances of getting the line caught in the prop of the generator were somewhere
between 110% and infinity. I carefully brought the line up and now I had the
fishing line 6’ up in the air round the prop. I got the line down with
the boathook and had to hold on to that and untie the other end and pull it
through the prop. One moment of inattentiveness and I was in danger of letting
go of the wrong bit of line and losing my lure. It took over 30 minutes, but I
was now motorsailing with everybody in their rightful place. The wind has
dropped and clocked round to SE and I think it was the right decision, only
time will tell. By the evening I was 90 miles West of Guadeloupe. I did not see anything today, not one ship, just a few small
flying fish and the odd seabird. If I had known that then I could have
snoozed. A whale pod is unlikely, but I don’t think a small school of
dolphins would be unreasonable to expect to keep me company for a while, maybe
tomorrow. Monday 06.30, 72 hours in and I have covered 265 miles, I am about
80 miles West of the bottom of Martinique. I turned the engine off at 7.45 pm
last night and spent considerable time balancing the sails and the windvane.
3.00 am and there was the first of the big squalls, guess who had too much sail
out, I must speak to the crew about that. Morning seemed to take a very long
time arriving. The squalls continued and I alternated between sailing through
the squalls and motoring in the lulls. There is something decadent about
sitting wrapped up in the duvet in the cockpit, but it does not feel so great
in a raincoat and socks and soaking wet. I started counting down the hours, 73, 73 ¼, 73 ½. Even
counting down the miles to go is very slow. I have about 120 miles to go and
want to get in to Union as early as I can in the morning to give me a day to
recover before continuing. The more of a hurry you are in the more everything
conspires against you. When the squalls finally ceased there was no wind, what
there was was coming from where I was trying to get to and the current was
taking me ever westward of my course. I was rapidly losing speed and by
lunchtime that meant that if I motored all the rest of the way I would be lucky
to get in before dark, so I would have to stop at one of the other higher
Grenadine islands. This afternoon it is so hot that I am using the duvet cover
and socks to stop me from burning, ironic. I am too tired today to do anything
much other than keep the boat going. At 2.30 I checked the engine and there was coolant in the
bilge and I noticed a stalagmite, or is it stalagtite?, of salt hanging down
from my impeller housing I turned the engine off, but there was no alarm and I
cannot see a leak in the coolant pipe, I am hoping it was just overfilled. So
now what do I do? I know the engine needs a service before I leave it, I just
want it to hold out a little longer for its new oil. I had acquired some flying fish on the deck and collected
them up; three small ones and one a chunky 6 inches. I got a knife and started
to fillet the small fish, the way Jimmy showed me, but it is a bit difficult with
a fish 2 inches by ½ inch. I threw the bits in the water. Then I realized
that I should be using these as bait. I reeled in my line and put the big fish
on the end, well at least there has been a fish on the hook now. This seemed
wonderful until later in the afternoon I checked the line and the knot keeping
it on the reel came undone and I lost the lot. Now I truly give up, fishing
will have to wait for a time when I can give it some concentration and when I
have learned to tie a knot in a nylon line. Sailing, fishing both need knots,
and engines; the more I do this the more I think it is for guys. I was passing west of St Lucia, gritting my teeth and
hanging on. The wind picked up to 20 knots plus, but because of the direction
and the fact that the Windward Islands curve the opposite way to the Leewards I
could now still sail there. I took in most of both sails and was going over 5
knots. It was most uncomfortable, but it gave me a chance to get in to Union
tomorrow which I had not thought was possible. The only ship I saw was at 3 am. It was a cruise ship and
had probably stopped at all the islands that I have been passing in the last 4
days. Tuesday 6.30, 96 hours on the go. It is still windy and rough and I
have not had to turn the engine back on. I can see St Vincent that I have just
passed and Bequia and Mustique in the background. I found some last reserve to
have a shower and tidy up the boat, with the exception of the back cabin which
is a dumping ground. I have decided that the aft cabin will have to be
dedicated to storage if I am to maintain any form of sanity. Too late again. Going between the islands there is a 5 masted cruiser. I
can now see Canouan, Mayreau and Union islands coming up. 11.18 anchored in the bay by Frigate Island, next to
Loreley. 100 hours and 400 miles. A quick stop to rest and then it is off to
Trinidad. |