St Barthelemy --St Barts 27th-30th March N17:54.26 W62:51.46
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Sat 10 Apr 2010 14:52
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St Barthelemy ( St Barts ) French West Indies.
27th - 30th March.
Well the saying, no pain, no gain seems to come into
play. Our time in the BVI's was wonderful but we always knew that we would
probably have to face the force of the trade wind easterlies on our return
south. The Caribbean seems to be magically positioned for the sailor. Start at
the south end of the Caribbean and sail from island to island with some great
beam reaches, (wind 90 degree to boat) , or aft quarter down wind ( wind just
off centre line and behind the boat ). However, the turn back from the
BVI's puts you into an near easterly head wind.
We had been watching the weather for a few days and
spotted a north easterly 12 to 16 knots, so we decided to set sail at 6pm on
26th March for an overnight sail to St Maarten, St Barts or even St Kitts
dependent upon best wind angle.
We managed to sail for half of the journey until the wind
veered to an easterly and started to push our angle south. The
apparent wind built together with the sea although it was comfortable.
We didn't want to motor as the motion is often worse than sailing, but our
course was taking us too far adrift and we didn't want to approach any land
fall the following night in darkness.
So we motored for most of the remaining journey and
headed for St Maartens. The wind backed later and we decided to go for St
Barts.
We arrived in St Barts twenty two and quarter hours
later---- shaken but not stirred---- tired but fine---- and I remarked to Tony
that it would have been about the same time to fly from the UK to Australia
!!
We sailed into St Barts around 3pm, 27th and both felt
that despite the tiredness we would both be happy to face the return trip again
without a thought to be able to spend time in the BVI's.
We anchored in Gustavia again, St Barts and within an hour
were rewarded with the spectacle of the last days racing of the St Barts Bucket.
Its a race for 150ft plus, plus, super sailing yacht s, gentlemanly racing---
hopefully prang free!!!!
We will let the photos of these graceful, elegant giants
of the sailing world speak for themselves........................... plus one
motoryacht owned by Mr. Bromavitch---not sure of spelling--of Chelsea football
club-----who brushed passed us with his friends and minders as we slowly sipped
our too expensive euro drinks--------------------------------
Love to all
Tina and Tony x x x
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