Day 3 Caracaou

The morning of Day 3 before we have our first decent length sail to Carriacou, Grenada we have TWO birds on our rigging.  It should be another great day. 

May I explain why I have a paper bag in my hand while I’m sitting in the head?  Even though our 48’ boat is only 2 years old, apparently it isn’t very good at chewing up the TP before it goes into our holding tank. Therefore, if we insist on wiping after our business is done we have to save our toilet paper in little brown bags until we are +3 miles off shore to deposit them to the mulching gods of the West Indies. I hope I can break this habit when I get home!

Our morning lesson started with more detailed charting, this time laying out a course and noting things like True North, variation to Magnetic North plus magnetic deviation.  Also things like latitude, longitude, degrees and minutes, spring and neeb tides and current set and speed.  I write these things down not to impress but in hopes of remembering them for our test in the morning!

Jenni, not unlike my wife Angela, is learning I’m not always a good listener.  It may appear I’m not listening but I’m just really, really focused on holding my course. Really!! 

Bill does some spotting to the shore of Grenada as we follow the coast line heading northerly before some open ocean sailing to Carriacou. His  real job is to let us know when we’re +3 miles from shore so we can throw our little brown bags overboard. 😬

Dave got me a nice photo of our pirate flag flying while I was driving the boat.  Since were spending our time heading to a more distant point and not tacking and jibbing for practice all the time he did a little sun bathing while he was up there. 

Bill is taking his turn at the helm while we tack in open waters heading mostly northeast now. He and Jenni are watching the “tell tails” (little streamers) on the jib. Since we’re heading as far into the wind as we can effectively do we’re steering the boat based on the sail’s performance for best speed. Therefore we watch the sails, not so much the compass or GPS. 

Thumser gets his chance to keep eyes on the sail too while he steers. We took 30 minute watches at the helm most of the day, practicing our sailing and motor-sailing. 

About 4 hours into our sail we pass the landmark rocks known as The Sisters on the course to Carriacou.  

Each day of school Jenni leaves more and more of the sailing decisions and actions to us, each of us taking turns as “captain” as well as grinding the winches, trimming the sails or fetching food and beverages from the galley.  She had a reasonable amount of time to rest today and get over her cold. Poor woman. Maybe there is hope for us?

Approaching Tyrell Bay on Carriacou we had some real-time practice of boating right-of-way with another sail boat’s captain who might have missed that part of the course. 

Bill took his turn driving around the harbor and anchoring our boat which led to our first beers of the day around 3 o’clock. Not a bad sailing day and an early anchor too!

Steve and Jenni took the dinghy ashore for more provisions while Bill, Dave and I studied for our written test tomorrow. Jenni then treated us to one of her favorite drinks to savor sunset by, Dark and Stormies (Dark Rum & Ginger Beer). After sunset we rendezvoused with two other LTD sailing school boats for dinner at the Slipknot. 

Sailing Day 2 St. George’s

Just after sunrise Jenni noticed a song bird on the boat rigging, something she had never seen. This one sang for us for about 10 minutes before it flew away. Maybe a good omen?  We’ll have to see. 

After coffee, breakfast and a little chit chat Jenni fires up our review session for the ASA 101 written exam. It was a great review and very helpful!

After our written exam (we all passed!) we began training on sailing more downwind headings on broad reaches and practicing our jibes (making turns to the left and right of a following wind and controlling the swing of the mainsail so nothing breaks and nobody gets knocked off of the boats!)  We all took turns at the helm, the jib sheets and the all important main sheet. 

Mr. Bill Wiltsch takes his turn at the helm while Jenni practices her “horse whispering” on jibbing. . 

Our experienced old friend and captain, Mr. Steve Richards enjoys the leeward view for awhile on a close reach (sailing aboiut 60 degrees to the wind) which makes the boat heel over and the water rise closer to the cockpit.  We all enjoy this kind of sailing. 

Another first for Mr. Dave Thumser, driving a boat under engine power. And another broad smile on his face. 

After we all practiced motoring the boat in a simulated close quarters (like docking in a marina or hooking a mooring ball) we actually hooked a mooring ball in Flamingo Bay for the night. With Jenni’s excellent coaching we caught one the first time easily thanks to some new tips she offered. 

Moored up and with the boat set up and cleaned up for the night we cracked open some beers, wine or scotch, depending on your tastes, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and talked about the success and lessons of the day. 

Jenni treated us to some great Island Burgers while we did the cleaning up. Later in the week we’ll reciprocate with our own special meal.  It looks like the song bird this morning was in fact a good omen!

Sailing Day 1 St. George’s

Sunday, Day 1, we march down the dock to our 48’ Beneteau with all of our gear around 10AM along with our instructor for the next week. It’s a beautiful morning, warm and sunny with a nice easterly trade winds. 

Jenni, our instructor, gives us a chart talk as one of our first lessons after stowing our gear and going through our boat check list. We were missing a fender, 3 cable gates, and flares. Good thing we did the pre-sail check list!

See how happy Jenni is when we tell her how much experience we have sailing and what good listeners we are? 

See how quickly Jennni realizes what liars we are?  Bad men!!  Bad, bad men!

In spite of her misgivings about our seaworthiness we get Jenni to reconsider  and have hope for us. We quickly gather for a departure team photo with our pirate flag from four previous bareboat cruises before she changes her mind. 

Dave, who is actually building a 32’ 1920 vintage motor-sailer from scratch at his house in Wilmington, NC, gets his FIRST CHANCE to actually sail a boat!  He’s been all smiles all day long!  You couldn’t have rubbed the grin off of his face if you had to. 

This will be the last picture of Dave with this hat on.  Remember we had nice easterly winds?  His hat is now drifting someplace towards Venezuela. 😮

We were away from the dock by 2PM and spent 3 hours taking turns manning the helm and winches while tacking back and forth just west of St. George’s finally going through anchoring training just southwest of  St George’s for the night. 

We dinghied to Coconut Beach and joined another LTD Sailing group of Gui and his wife  Fabiana from São Paulo and their instructor Grace.  There were a few Rum Punches consumed as well as lobster, Lambi (conch), and spicy chicken. Tomorrow we’ll practice and learn more starting with our ASA 101 exam at 8AM. I’m hoping we all pass but a bit worried about our man Thumser.  Maybe I should be studying right now myself!😬

The Gathering in Grenada

After my overnight flight to Miami we were all supposed to gather for our last flight to St. George’s Grenada.  Unfortunately Dave’s flight  from Charlotte to Miami had mechanical delays and Steve and Bill from St. Louis and I had to enter Grenada all by ourselves Friday afternoon. 

We had Saturday as a buffer day before our sailing and instruction started on Sunday so we spent it cramming for our written exam on Sunday morning. I’m studying the 2nd book here, delving deeper into buoys and beacons. 

Dave Thumser, likely here after refered to as Thumser, finally made it Saturday morning but only after he first visited Trinidad on a 5AM flight.  We’re we’re all supposed to read three different books to prepare for our training but somehow Thumser only got the 3rd book and never re-ordered the first two. Since they’re somewhat sequential and our pre-sail exam is based on the first book I loaned him mine.  You’ll notice here he’s in serious poolside study mode. 

Steve Richards, our captain on previous cruising mancations, does a little boning up as well. 

Bill Wiltsch likes to study while keeping his body temperature liquid cooled by the pool side.  I should also mention the poolside bar also offered internal hydration. 

The Coyuba Resort offered a free Hobi Cat rental that Steve and I thought would be a good use as a study break. It turns out Hobi’s are pretty different to sail than 50’ monohulls but we had fun anyway.  

We walked down the beach for our last St. George’s dinner at a very nice little place called The Umbrella.  Then we walked back to the hotel so Thumser could study more (not). 

Off to Grenada

I’m heading to Grenada for a week of sailing with friends as well as training for my Captain’s certificate. Unfortunately it’s hard to get to the Caribbean from Denver without a red-eye fight. Mine is scheduled to depart at 1:52AM with a 7:31AM arrival in Miami. ☹️ Angela dropped me off at the airport at 7PM so I had lots of time to study my 3 sailing books. There’s a one hour written exam before we start sailing and I don’t want to be left behind!!

I’ll miss Angela’s birthday this Saturday so we had a little celebration before she took me to the airport, including Rum Punch to help get me oriented towards Island Life. She’s a very good sport to support me on my occasional “mancations” and solitary adventures.  I’m a very fortunate man!