We left Spanish Town after a reasonable night’s sleep even with 30kts of wind howling through the rigging, headed south through Round Rock Passage gently downwind and then got beaten up as we got the full wind, waves and swell in the shallow water off the BVI shelf. We hoped to be able to head direct to Antigua but got pushed further south towards Saba and onto Saba bank, had to tack back and finally arrived there at 0200 to anchor.

 

The following morning was worse 35kts of wind on the nose, monstrous seas and by mid morning we decided to tuck into the lee of the other islands and stop halfway for the night. So we nipped below St Eustatius who seems to be the patron saint of oil tankers and storage tanks, behind St Christopher, part of St Kitts & Nevis, and anchored in Basseterre Bay. Would have like to get some piccies, as all 3  islands are very different, but the air is full of sea spray, everything you touch is covered in sticky salt from the spume off the waves.

 

Anyway it is our fault, we are trying to make a land schedule AGAIN, flights out of Antigua on March 7 - which with a week to do 175M should have been OK, but it just can’t be done not into 30kts of wind. So if you ask us next season, “Where will you be” the answer will be “On the yacht, wherever she may be”, cos we are only sailing when the wind blows fair.

 

50M to Antigua – That’s gonna be 3 days then !! – Ridiculous, we normally do that in 21 hours – The wind alarm is now set for 40kts TWS - But the yacht is not for sale – it’s not her fault – it’s the stupid bloody crew for booking flights