The long and the short and the tall
Oriole
Tue 14 Mar 2006 16:25
After a relaxing weekend in Anguilla
we set off on Monday morning for the 35 miles to St Barts, but the conditions
were so good with a free wind and very little sea that we continued another 60
miles to Antigua to meet up with Andrew before he leaves for the
Mediterranean. We negotiated the reefs and shallows on the west side on
Antigua at 0200 on Tuesday morning not helped by the absence of the light we
were looking for, unlit yachts in the anchorage and the moon which had just
set! Fortunately we were able to identify the outline of the offshore
islands against the lights of Antigua to confirm our GPS position. Having
slept briefly, cleared customs and restocked the larder we motored in a
semi-comatose state to Falmouth where we were acutely sharpened up by the sight
of Mirabella V's mast towering over the hills around the harbour.
While we did a couple of circuits of Mirabella V, Andrew took Chris off in their
tender for a photo shoot of little Oriole and giant Mirabella
together.
Oriole meets Mirabella V
First Mate on the bridge
Looking aft from the
foredeck.
On Wednesday Andrew gave us a
guided tour and we were mightily impressed by the scale and power of the largest
sloop afloat. They have been day-sailing with guests while we have been getting
on with the maintenance jobs that have accumulated over the last two months and
Andrew has passed by occasionally in their very smart 30 foot Hinkley jet boat
tender which fits in a garage in the stern of Mirabella V. They have two
other tenders as well a couple of Lasers, wind surfers, jet skis and three scale
models of Mirabella for match racing etc etc.
Guess who gets the blame if this falls
down!
We plan to hang around here for a few
more days while Mirabella is preparing to leave before we
head south. Antiqua is a great place to be with all the comings and
goings of vast superyachts and for people watching it has no equal. So
with the rubgy international on TV and an international Lazer championship going
on around us we will not be bored! PS We have just returned to Oriole
after an invitation to meet Mirabella V's owners, so the rugby went by the
board.