Leaving Tyrell Bay and Passage to Martinique – 28^th to 29^th  November 2023

We were keen to start heading north as soon as possible as rumour has it that you can get something called Christmas Winds. These winds are basically strong NE trade winds which get to a strength where northbound progress can be hampered, particularly in the Windward Islands. If you ever look at a chart of the Lesser Antilles, you’ll see that they are shaped a bit like a banana. If you are in the lower (southern) part of that banana i.e. the Windward Islands, then you can see that NE trades will mean a passage can be pretty close hauled. This is not the most comfortable point of sail and most people prefer to have the wind somewhere on or abaft the beam – ourselves included. Once you get up to Martinique you are in the northern part of the banana and have the Leeward Islands ahead of you, so the same NE trades mean that you can sail with the wind on the beam, or abaft the beam – much more comfortable. So we set our sights on Martinique and Le Marin (where we had been before and know the area and know that the food is excellent and within budget - the mate delights at such news – at all times). Our only issue was ENE winds across the St Vincent channel. St Vincent is a very high island and winds can disappear as you sail up the leeward coast, only to re-appear in some force at the northern tip of the island. These winds accelerate around the high ground and funnel in a NE direction at the same time as you are faced with the open Atlantic swell being channelled between the contours, the deepest (thus the ‘worst’) being at the northern end of St Vincent. Timings are such that we planned to arrive in Martinique around 1100 to 1200 the following day, meaning that we’d get to the St Vincent channel about 1700. As it was, Stargazer, with her newly cleaned hull was so fast (8.6 knots SOG at times) that we arrived earlier at the channel. This caused some concern as we’d decided to sail overnight and we didn’t want to be too early in Le Marin. As it now looked like Stargazer would have us in Le Marin as early as 0630, we decided that once past the St Vincent channel and up the coast of St Lucia that we’d anchor in Rodney Bay (one of our favourite anchorages) and get a few hours sleep before leaving for Le Marin and arriving pretty much at the original time planned.

But first, as we approached the St Vincent channel, the cloud on the high ground signified rain and it wouldn’t be too long until sunset so it would be dark too. It was a full moon that night so we knew we’d have some moonlight from about 1900 so off we went into the channel. Right on cue the wind came round to the NE and seas built, with a very short chop – aided and abetted by the full moon which was pulling the tides into the ocean swell. The result of this was the mate looking pretty miserable and saying things like ‘I hate this ******* channel’. However, we were well set up, Stargazer ploughed on through the waves as darkness fell and in a way, I was enjoying watching her bound through the water as well as she was doing. We’d previously reefed right down and as the channel gets better halfway across it, approaching St Lucia we knew that things would improve. When sailing, this is always the preferred option! I, myself, was surprised how much water Stargazer was taking over the bow with torrents of water rushing down the side-deck (I later saw, in Le Marin, that the force of it had knocked the spinnaker pole attachment outboard – and that takes some force!) however she felt settled on the helm, the sails were trimmed to perfection and she never slowed down.  After a couple of hours things were improving with sea and wind and another hour or so after that we starting to be in the lee of St Lucia, so everything was becoming much better and the mate was able to eat some of her previously prepared veggie chilli. Throughout all this, Stargazer had averaged near 7.3 knots and had seriously impressed us both.

Coming into the lee of St Lucia our speed slowed as the island shadowed the wind and we ended up motorsailing into Rodney Bay, dropping the hook around 0200. Thankfully it wasn’t very busy and we got a spot away from anyone else although I was surprised at the number of boats with no anchor or riding light on so we were very pleased that it was a moonlit night.

We were up again at 0730 and ready to leave at 0830. The morning brought sun, decent wind and a softer ocean swell. Leaving Rodney Bay, we rounded Pigeon Island and pointed our bows directly at Le Marin on Martinique. This gave a relatively close hauled course with the AWA around 45 to 55 degrees. We were able to take great delight in watching catamarans slide away to leeward; although obviously bound for the same destination they were unable to lay the course that close to the wind. Stargazer, on the other hand, relished it. In fact halfway across the St Lucia channel I let out a sort of victorious laugh without realising I had. The mate asked me what I was laughing at and I told her. Let me explain – there is enough work to do with boat ownership and many (I won’t quite say most) days are hard graft and others are full of problem solving. This day, however, I’d leaned over and seen the tell tales on the sails in perfect formation, I’d felt the perfectly balanced helm. I’d looked over at Martinique and I’d felt the sheer power of Stargazer as she moved effortlessly across the open Caribbean Sea. Sailing such a yacht at a time like that against the backdrop of Martinique which was getting ever closer was one of the days that made all the effort of boat work worthwhile. It was, as perfect a day as it gets and that particular day, 29^th November 2023, won’t come again…

As we neared Martinique an American flagged motor vessel headed out aiming straight for us. I won’t go into the ‘rules of the road’ here but we were a sailing vessel close hauled on starboard tack and I won’t reveal the gesture the mate showed the motor vessel as I luffed up so it could pass us.

After motoring into the Le Marin channel, we were shown onto a mooring. We’ve a few personal and domestic things to sort out whilst here and then weather permitting we will head north, via Dominica and Guadeloupe to Antigua where the plan is to spend Christmas - although plans can change…