Loads a wind.
Oriole
Sun 26 Feb 2012 13:57
St Anne,
Martinique.
14:26.08N
60:53.13W
On Sunday we sailed round to Grande
Anse d'Arlet (a small, typically French seaside village) in very
benign conditions. Exercise day on Monday over the hills to the next bay
where we managed to find a lobster each for lunch at a beach-side
restaurant. The walk back was not aided by the gastronomic
excess.
Tuesday saw us beating round the
infamous Diamond Rock at the SW corner of Martinique along the south coast to St
Anne. The conditions were perfect as we beat in 20 knots in relatively
smooth water with a friend's boat ahead of us. At one stage we thought we
were gaining on them and then we lost them, but all was explained later as they
had broken a genoa halyard and had to take the sail down. Some minor
damage was caused at the top of the mast but this is probably one of the best
places to get quick and expert attention and their problem is now fixed.
This is an enormous bay with good depths everywhere for anchoring and attracts
lots of boats. We are in company with six other yachts, mostly Ocean
Cruising Club members, so it has been very social. On Thursday we
organised a lunch party ashore for twelve fellow yachties. The SSB long
range radio net, which John runs every morning, now includes a weather forecast
by popular request and seven or eight boats contribute every day from the
Ocean Cruising Club, Royal Cruising Club and Cruising Club of America.
So everyone knows where everyone else is and parties just
happen.
Non-Brits all from the former
colonies: two from US, two from Canada, one from NZ!
The doom and gloom weather
forecasters have been proved correct for once and we are experiencing sustained
winds of 20-25 knots and the afternoon winds have been in excess of 30-35
knots with big 10-12 foot seas in the passages between the islands.
Meteo-France have just put out a warning of 40-45 knots. There will
be no let-up for a few days. Dinghy work is a little wet but this is a good
sheltered anchorage where we will probably stay till the end of the
coming week when we hope the conditions will calm down a
bit. But this is a windy, ruffty-tuffty winter.
Yesterday eight keen rugby fans -
Welsh and English supporters - managed to persuade a local café owner to reserve his TV and internet room for us
to watch the match. So midst a growing pile of empty Guiness
bottles (brewed and bottled in Dublin) and consuming burgers and chips we
attracted a few curious locals with the loud banter and cheering. Sadly he
is closed for the France-Scotland match today.
(Apologies: no wi-fi so reduced
pictorial content.)