Martinique to Guadaloupe A Proper Sail
Gaviota
Wed 16 Apr 2008 16:41
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15.59N 61.42W
Sat 5 April
So eventually we leave Martinique ... Well fed up of the rain
and wet squalls .. so decided to miss the next island .. Dominica .. It's even
higher and all the blurb talks about are 350 waterfalls and rain forest .. no we
NEED some proper sun! so onto Guadeloupe .. (French again!) .. and
its offshore islands which we have been told are exceptional ... we will see
.. But 90 some miles from Fort de France ... So ..
Set sail from F d F for an afternoon sail up to St
Pierre .. about 12 miles up the coast ... Guess what .. we run out of wind
because of the mountains AND its raining when we get there!! Have dinner at
anchor and a couple of hours sleep before setting off at 2 in the morning.
.. and it's still raining and only a light breeze ... oilskin trousers on and
into a very dark night ..... then the wind dropped altogether ...
(forecast was for force 5 ie20 ish knots!!!) .. engine on and 30 minutes later
it just dies .... So switch fuel tanks reprime and off we go .. NOT .. shit ...
all a bit hot in there .. maybe the water pump impellor (I've been meaning
to put a new one for a few weeks now ... So no time like the present ...
hour and a half later .. job done .. engine cooled off so try again ... nothing
... scratch head ... (not too brainy at silly o'clock in the morning) ...
Then it slowly filtered though the old brain ... If we had drained the fuel tank
... there would now be air in the fuel line .. logical yes.. Unscrew the
highest connection . prime again (ie manually pump the fuel) and Bingo we are
off ... Guess what ... just as the wind reappears! .. So engine off again
after all of 5 minutes running! ... Dawn came and we had only gone about 8 miles
ugh..
But now the wind was beginning to get up properly ... 15knots
... 20 knots ... and we had not even cleared Martinique yet... and suddenly the
lack of sleep got me ... but where .. the way the wind was increasing
I wanted to be on deck quick if Annabel got worried ... Then I discovered THE
place ... straight, narrow, flat, near the middle of the boat .... No fear of
getting thrown about ... The galley floor, with lifejacket pulled up a bit to
make a soft pillow ... fantastic .. Hour later up and off again.. As we clear
Martinique wind increase again then steadies between 28 and 32 knots
true, sun shining at full strength (force 7, gale starts at 34
knots) .... us on a broad reach and flying with 2 reefs and half the Genny
unrolled ... spray everywhere and the occasional dunking as we undertook a
breaking wave! 3 hours later it drops a bit whist we are in lee of Dominica
(well 6 miles to the lee so still bumpy but D is 4000 foot high!) ..Breakfast ,
full sail up and we keep going at 6 to 7 knots .. Then as we come to the
northern end of Dominica the wind heads and starts increasing again.. reefs back
in ,take some genny in and start bashing to windward (well 5 degrees off close
hauled) whilst we still have a bit of shelter from the land.. Then back out to
the ocean rollers.. but wind has dropped to 25 to 30 knots... good... but now we
are sailing at 10 degrees off close hauled to get straight to Basse Terre
,Guadeloupe.. Speed goes up and we are flying again ... but this time we are
screaming along the wave trains ... doing what surfers do , but off the back not
the front of the wave.. and keeping the ride going alas long as possible .. then
drop into the trough .. wait for the next breaker to come crashing down on top
of us ... just about the wettest spot was standing at the helm!!! ... Then
Gaviota would kick all 20 tons upwards and we are screaming along the back of
the next one!!! Whoopee ... All 26 miles of the way to Guadeloupe
... Anchored at 3.30 pm ... Given the lousy start about 2 hours earlier than
expected ... Exhilarated, aching shoulders and arms from steering just about the
whole way, tired legs just trying to stay upright whilst the
boated bucked and buried the lee rail (but not tired despite only 3 hours sleep
in the last 24 hours!!!)... What a fantastic sail ... will definitely go into
the memoirs! |