Ile Forchue and a prime spectator spot for the St Barth's Bucket!

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Sat 30 Mar 2013 18:45
We had to do a bit of planning around where we were going to be between Grand Case and St Kitts, due to the Easter weekend getting in the way with all the Bank Holidays etc.  We didn't want to leave too many gaps in our customs clearances as that may cause problems later.  We decided to head to Ile Forchue, a small island off St Barth's, and spend a night there.  It is a good spot for swimming and snorkelling and nice and quiet, after that we planned a night in the main port in St Barth's, Gustavia, then a night in Statia, then on to St Kitts.  
The wind was perfect for a great sail down to Ile Forchue.  As we got closer, John noticed a group of boats off to our port side, all flying spinnakers, who seemed to be racing.  They were going to pass very close in front of us, so we would get a good view.  It turned out that we had the prime spot for the J Class yachts in the St Barth's Bucket Regatta!  Here are some of the photos - we took loads!








Throughout the afternoon while we were lounging on our boat in Ile Forchue, several other classes came past as well - all in all a good choice of anchorage!

On Saturday we woke up to the most horrible weather!!  It was raining, blowing like mad, and the visibility was very poor.  The mooring we were on, although heavy enough for us, was pulling and snatching like crazy, as we were in a small bay the wind was swirling, sending the boat round in circles - not good!  Although we had planned to go Gustavia, there seemed little point in such awful weather, and also as the Regatta was on it was going to be packed!  So we decided that the only thing to do on such a horrid day was to put on our oilies, hoist the sails and head for Statia a day early.  We saw some more of the racing on the way - it was a bit eerie seeing these huge boats with spinnakers flying, looming out of the mist!

That night we went into Statia for Chinese food and plan to leave either early the next day or Monday.