Last leg to Antigua

Kingfisher 2013
Peter Smith
Sat 21 Feb 2015 18:16
We got an early start from Rodney Bay on Thursday morning and were sailing around Pigeon Island at 0700. Strong winds had us sailing with 3 reefs in the main and a reduced jib at 9-10 knots all the way across to Martinique. Beautiful conditions for hand steering practice for the crew. We maintained our progress through the slight wind shadow behind Martinique. Did one unannounced man overboard drill which went pretty well (4 mins) and caught 2 batches of heavy weed amongst great excitement using Holland’s “foolproof” new lure!. This cost us about an hour which meant that we crept into Prince Rupert Bay on the NW coast of Dominica after dark. A good day’s run of c.100nm. Anchored and decided to stay on board for dinner (magnificently prepared by Holland) and, once again, took advantage of an early night.

Up this morning at 0600 and away on the last run North to Antigua. Another 100nm today so we should arrive at around 1800 tonight. Not sure we have a berth yet but we will see what happens when we get there. KF is in good shape but we have done no downwind sailing at all yet. Will have to go out for practice on Sat and Sun to fix this. Otherwise, all is on track and looking good so far.