Well folks Im still alive after my first all night sail in a while. It was a bit of a shock to the system but I soon fell into old habits and arrived in Dominica. With the islands being pretty busy this time of year, I slept on the old faithful egg timer doing 20 minute sleeps between watches and while I was knackered on my arrival that was mainly due to not sleeping (or eating & drinking) when I should or could.
I checked out of Jolly harbour the day before leaving and was able to 'blag' not paying over a year of owed cruising permits, this must have saved me at least 200ec (50 quid).
The same day I also used my spare time wisely and rigged up my Sea Pikey A.I.S system as per the days of old in Doris.
It works to a range of about 2nm but I'll tinker with it to improve it. At least I have an alarm that should wake me up if any commercial shipping comes close.
I also re-fixed the old faithful dinghy...
I weighed anchor and left under sail around 0730. 2 reefs in the mainsail and my small jib, completely under canvassed I still romped along with the wind off the port quarter at around 5kn before adding the staysail making over 6kn+.
Making superb time I stupidly expected to arrive in Portsmouth harbour in Dominica around first light, that was until the wind machine stopped dead just after 2300. I was romping along, felt a slight gust and then nothing - dead calm.
Then it started, the boat started rocking and the sails started banging. As any sailor knows this is worse than any other known form of mental torture!
I had deliberately tried to stay out of the known wind shadow of Guadaloupe by staying at least 8nm offshore, without success.
The last time this happened in Doris I had an engine to turn on - not this time. Ok that's a bit of a lie. I could see the end of Guadaloupe in front of me and decided that if I sat on the back of the boat I might be able to keep my outboard in the water for most of the time despite the swell to get me moving.
Twenty minutes later and with an arm that felt like it had been dislocated the silence was deafening, all except my screaming at the useless piece of $£%^& that calls itself an outboard!!!! Sod it, I'll wait and go to sleep... ten minutes later I'm back on deck armed with various tools and a can of WD40. Despite the boat rocking from gunnel to gunnel I never lost anything (other than my temper) over the side. Finally the sweet sound of a 4HP outboard filled the air.
Needless to say I made the end of Guadaloupe just as it was getting light using both sails and engine. Then the wind filled in and got stronger ... and stronger. In went a reef, and stronger ... the waves grew and next thing I knew i was beating against 30kn+ winds in 2m+ steep messy waves with double reefed mainsail and staysail. I got soaked to the skin. Slowly layer after layer of salt dried on me in the hot sun and I felt knackered and shitty. I had committed the cardinal sin of spending too much time looking after the boat and not looking after myself with the three essentials - food, drink and sleep.
In the waves progress to windward was very slow and frustrating and I was worried that I wasn't going to make the anchorage in day light (I hate arriving at night).
As the waters got flatter my pointing improved and I soon came into Portsmouth around 1700. Such was the wind I sailed in the last approach under mainsail alone while I dropped the staysail and readied the anchor, dropping it at the north end of the bay almost right in front of the Purple Turtle bar.
I tidied the boat and pretty much passed out for the night. The next morning I ached like I'd just come out of a heavy gym session. Sleeping for most of the day before venturing ashore to clear in. I have actually cleared both in and out having 14 days stay. Cost 6ec (~£1.50), slightly cheaper than Antigua!
Anyways, Im alive and well. The 'others' (Ben, Rosa & Armanella) are heading this way.
