11:50N 64:38W

 

It was never meant to be a race – but once he sees another yacht on the horizon David’s eyes immediately light up.  Charter boats aren’t much fun – their sails are usually flapping like crazy and they’re too busy drinking gins to concentrate.  But another cruiser and it’s all on. 

We left Prickly Bay yesterday morning a little ahead of Kiwi friends Amanda and Mark on Balvenie, their 47ft sloop, originally from Picton.  Their anchor had been down so long it took them a while to lift it, but we’d moved at least 12 times around the bay (to get better internet, to escape the roll, to escape the wind, to be closer to the bar, to pick up Sam....get the picture?) so ours came up pretty damn fast meaning we got a head start on them.  At first we were only a mile or so apart but as the day wore on we slowly inched ahead. 

We’d opted for a reefed main and genoa poled out to starboard while Balvenie settled for twin headsails.  Their configuration is easier for them to manage downwind, but we find Bandit rolls a little less with the main up.  And with the wind at a steady 15knots, we felt nicely powered up.   As night approached we were all for slowing Bandit down to try to keep a visual on Balvenie through the night....for safety’s sake, but Bandit wasn’t having a bar of it and even with three reefs in the main and a partly furled headsail, she kept rocketing along.  It really was a case of Catch Me If You Can.  We watched as Balvenie’s navigation lights slowly disappeared to the point we needed binoculars to see them.

During my midnight to 3am watch a few threatening black clouds appeared and the wind got up so when David came up on deck at 3am we furled the headsail and gybed the main – which slowed us down considerably and made things a bit uncomfortable for sleeping with Bandit wallowing in the sloppy swell.

Once the sun came up we looked behind and couldn’t see Balvenie.  Imagine our surprise when Mark came on the VHF to say “is that you on my starboard beam”.  We looked out with binoculars and sure enough – they’d crept up on us and were now directly abeam.  So....out came the reefs from the main, out went the headsail and Bandit started to pull away.  Not that we were racing of course!

We arrived in the anchorage half an hour ahead of them and concluded that our boats are probably a very similar speed so great for travelling together.

The anchorage is stunning.....white, white sandy beach stretching along a flattish island with the clearest water we’ve seen for a while.  We’re off snorkelling