17:08.1N 62:39.2W

Lynne and Ian are friends of ours from Yorkshire. They’ve been on the boat once before for a week in Greece but then there was hardly any wind and we managed very little sailing on that trip. They were looking forward to two weeks of real sailing with real wind. I think they got more than they bargained for when they joined us in Antigua.

They were very keen so I started explaining some of the finer points of sailing on the first night.

The next morning we soon discovered who had paid attention in the “how to tie a bowline” class and who was winging it !

After that we headed out in a force 6 around Sandy Island and its notorious reefs. We only had a bit of sail up so it wasn’t too scary and they soon learned to appreciate how the boat felt very different depending on where the wind was coming from. Lynne soon realised that downwind sailing meant the boat stayed nice and upright!

We touched on some navigation theory such as how you can tell where you are by looking at the coast line. Prominent features such as Hawksbill Rock were unmistakeable.

After two or three days of practice around Antigua we pulled up the anchor at 0600 and set sail for the island of Nevis – about 40 miles away. Downwind all the way so Lynne started off very happy.

We even managed to get out the whisker pole (reminiscent of the Atlantic crossing)

But eventually the swell got bigger and bigger and Lynne wasn’t quite so happy until we got the anchor down in Charlestown Bay.

Anchor down but still work to do – we had to change flags – new country = new flag The Antiguan flag had tied itself in a knot so Ian had to winch Paul up the mast to sort it out. Lucky for Paul that Ian had paid attention during the winching lesson!

Now we were legal again we invaded Nevis. I’m not sure Nevis was ready for this sort of invasion!

To our frustration we soon discovered we had arrived on a half day holiday. Everywhere was shut - brilliant The reason – Nevis National Primary School Athletics Championships. So with nothing else to do we hiked down to the National stadium along with the rest of the Nevis locals. To our amazement we simply had the best day ever – this is a massive event in the Nevis calendar and everybody was there. The crowd was huge.

And then the fun really started. The athletes gave everything during the races.

But the best action of all was watching the crowd. They were going wild as only true West Indians know how.

Notice how it’s the women who are the unruly bunch.

We left with our ears assaulted by the noise but staggered by the support everybody was giving to these youngsters. It was truly a special day for them

And then it was a special day for Skipper when he found a little old lady selling bread pudding. He promptly went back 50 years – it was just like Mum used to make.

Next day we went ashore again to see Fort Charles and the Nelson museum. It was very hot but we set off early and found the ruins of Fort Charles.

By the time we had found the Nelson museum it was mid-day. Guess what – it was shut – reason – half day holiday – Nevis National Agriculture day. So with nothing else to do we had a look round that instead – but a few sweet potatoes and a couple of goats couldn’t live up to the excitement of the day before and we went back to the boat.

We secured the boat just before sunset. As we watched the sun go down we actually saw the infamous green flash. At 18.22 on 25^th March 2010 – West coast of Nevis. You can get a green flash in the tropics but the atmospheric conditions have to be absolutely correct. Just as the sun sets below the horizon the bright yellow/orange ball turns a vivid green colour for an instant. I’ve been in the tropics countless times but this was the first time I had ever seen a green flash. So did Pat. Skipper went to bed very happy.

We all fell in love with Nevis because every day seems to be a half day holiday and all of

the people were so friendly and helpful.

We couldn’t face another half day holiday so next day we all sailed across to St Kitts.