18 02 N 63 06 W
Hello from Simpson Bay
Lagoon - Dutch St Martaens. Sailed north-west 91 nm today from Jolly Harbour,
Antigua arriving here at about 1400….fast
trip!...averaged 8.8 knots!!
What a difference from our years in the Med;
we now find that in the Carib, there seems to always be far more than enough
wind to sail from one island to another. It is very rare to run the engine
except maneuvering in harbour…..and very rare to have full sails out…I
really can’t remember a day since we got here without reefing sails to
reduce sail area…reduce power…reduce heel angle…..and thereby
make Sea Mist and her crew much more happy and comfortable.
Today, over the 10 hour trip, we had about
6 hours with wind (steady on direction out of the east which meant 110 degrees
off the bow for our course) strength never below 27 knots…topping out at
34/35 knots. Seas ranged from 3-5 meters (up to 16-18 feet); the other four
hours saw the wind range from 15 – 26 knots, most of it above 24 knots. only
real difficulty was the variability of the wind strength…quite a
difference in the amount of sail out at 15 -20; 20-24; 25-28 knots vs 30-35
knots ….so lots of reefing followed by letting a bit of main and yankee
back out and then reefing again. And then the typical, for this winter, array
of Carib showers. After having 2 or 3 nice sunny days, today saw the weather
back to delivering a fair bit of rain and squalls with the trade winds otherwise
blowing constant out of the east.
Friends from Toronto fly in to meet us here in St Martaens
on Tuesday, Feb 24 for a week or so of life on Sea Mist. The connection point
is excellent as we are anchored almost right at the end of the runway….2
minutes from the dinghy dock that services the airport. In the meantime, I am
hoping to source 8 new batteries to replace my house battery bank that has
become tired from all the heavy use over the last 3.5 years. I have to modify
the battery box to accommodate batteries that are available here; the original
equipment ones from the UK/Europe are not available here and the dimensions are
sufficiently different that a rebuilding of the liner of the battery box is
required. That will keep me busy through much of the weekend.
