17:00.80N 61:46.40W Double Handed to Nonsuch Bay

Oboe D'Amore's Web Diary
Nigel Backwith
Thu 26 Feb 2009 22:38

Why no blog entries you ask?  The simple answer is that we haven’t really done much sailing this week.  A ridge of high pressure north of us stubbornly refuses to move away and the result is high choppy seas, high winds and the occasional rain storm.  Guadeloupe was everyone’s choice this week but with its general strike now in the 8th week and gendarmes from France flown in to keep the peace, there seemed little point in visiting.

 

We did venture out from Jolly Harbour after Trevor declared himself bored and headed for English Harbour.  The sea gave us a beating for a couple of hours and English Harbour was packed, so we took a mooring buoy in delightful Falmouth Harbour, which provided us with a great viewing point for the spectacular race boats participating in the RORC Caribbean 600 Ocean Race.  The highlight of this being Leopard 3 slipping past us in the early hours to take second place behind a French multi-hull.

 

Trevor, always with an eye for the girls,  decided that the attractions of Falmouth were outweighed by the skimpy bikinis of Blue Waters Resort.  James and he decamped 4 days early for a life of lounging around the pool.  James, by the way, is to be congratulated on achieving RYA Competent Crew level and will be receiving his certificate and signed log book soon.  Well done James – you are a natural – Day Skipper next OK?

 

Thursday already and we have just returned from Nonsuch Bay, a beautiful and calm bay protected by a dangerous reef.  Yesterday afternoon, as the weather and waves abated, Marcus piloted us, as a training exercise, through the narrow channel in the reef to anchor for the night.  Dinner of left-overs was memorable (not) but we chilled out, crashed early and took advantage of the bright sunlight to work our way out of the bay and back to our reserved buoy in Falmouth in time for hot cinnamon rolls and fresh coffee mid morning.

 

The countdown to our leaving for a break back in the UK has begun as has the big cleanup:  Laundry to be collected, cupboards to be cleaned out, fridges and freezer to be scrubbed.  Who said sailing was glamorous?

 

No more blogs for a while OK?  I’ll be back on the air around 23 May when I’ll report on the build up to Antigua Sailing Week in which we are competing (help!)

 

Good fortune to all.

 

 

Nigel