Fast and furious at the end.
Oriole
Thu 12 Apr 2012 23:21
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Crews Inn, Chaguaramas, Trinidad.
10:40.74N
61:37.93W
From the tranquility of the weekend
in Chaham Bay we sailed up to Admiralty Bay, Bequia on the Tuesday before Easter
for the social whirl of Easter and the Bequia Easter Regatta. Every
evening was occupied with either drinks on another yacht or dinner ashore after
the daily prize giving and pre-race briefings and not forgetting the Writers
Brunch to which we are invited on the back of John's contributions to the
Caribbean Compass newspaper. Chris and I crewed in the three races on
Friday, Saturday and Monday on Breezing Up the J46 owned by Brad and
Ann Willauer, as we had two years ago. Breezing Up is a mean
racing machine but in cruising mode more geared to ocean racing than close
quarters combat with the stripped out light weight competition. We had
great hopes of winning our class but at the last minute Brad was persuaded to
pit our wits against the fierce competition of the "calculated" handicap
class. Although we had line honours in one race and a second over the line
in the other two, the CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) handicap put us last
overall!! Brad is too much of a New England gentleman to complain but his
crew did the moaning for him.
Fun Day on Sunday in Friendship
Bay.
  The local "Fishing Boat" class is
hotly contested and sadly only come out when money is involved. The beach
start is traditional and the rules are shrouded in mystery but they race in
three classes from the smallest to the biggest. The newest of the
large class raced the same day as she was first launched!
 It's all very PC on most Caribbean
Beaches (French Islands excluded) This notice in the Swedish owned
hotel keeps everything in check, otherwise ............!
With the festivities over and with
time running out before we are due to haul out Oriole for the Hurricane
Season we sailed on Wednesday morning straight for Trinidad. This is 145
miles of good exposed Atlantic Ocean sailing down the windward side of all the
islands and for the first time since we have been in the Caribbean
we by-passed Grenada going north and south. For most
of the trip we had solid 18-22 knots and a big sea and large ocean swells
to go with it on a close reach making it rather like a washing machine at
times. One squall with wind up to 30 knots was followed by a crystal clear
night with bright stars before the moon emerged. As dawn broke the
mountains of Trinidad were on the horizon the wind eased and the sea smoothed
and turned green from the Orinoco outflow to make this one of the most
magnificent landfalls in the Caribbean. A gap opens at the west end of the
mountain chain and Oriole was sucked into the Boca one of the three mouths at
the north end of the Gulf of Paria and the front door to
Trinidad. 23 hours after leaving Bequia we were welcomed by the dockmaster
at Crews Inn Marina and tied up to begin the task of putting Oriole to
bed. This is now the end of our sailing for this winter season which has
been one of the best inspite of some fierce although always warm
weather. If you have been following our blog and little adventures thank you for
being with us.
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