English Harbour, Antigua …
The 1,730 nautical mile passage from the east coast of the U.S. to the Caribbean this time of year can be difficult. The tropical hurricane season theoretically ended on November 1 but there are numerous examples of late season storms, including five in the last three years, that didn’t get the memo. Then there is the ever-increasing frequency of rapidly developing cold fronts rolling off the continent often with gale force winds at the frontal boundary. Even a relatively mild cold front colliding with a weak low migrating north out of the tropics can make the trip agonizingly slow and miserable with lumpy seas and contrary winds.
All of which is why when the last crew member arrived and crossed the gunwale on that unseasonably warm Friday two weeks ago in Edgewater, he barely had time to stow his sea bag before the dock lines were cast off and Kailani began motoring steadily south through Chesapeake Bay to catch what looked like a nearly ideal weather window that was forecast to slam shut after only a few days. As a nominal participant in the Salty Dawg Caribbean Rally, we chose to skip the festivities scheduled in Hampton in favor of getting out while we could, the alternative being to wait for a sketchy window five days later. Many people view that motoring a perfectly good sailboat for the better part of three full days through calm seas is, in some visceral way, cheating. Our view is simply that we are clawing back some of the chips we have lost over the last 20 years to the sudden unanticipated arrival of bad weather.
The Gulf Stream passed under our keel in calm winds almost without notice and on the third day we shut down the engine and were able to sail off southeast. Unfortunately, a couple of days further on the strong gusts of a passing squall worked loose the repair we had made to the main sail before leaving, forcing us to shorten sail to the heretofore never used third reef. Kailani now with still more than a thousand miles of empty ocean left to cross had a little less than 25% of her normal main sail available.
I’m not going to bore our very few and valued readers with the details of how we got through those next six days zigging and zagging south and east through mostly contrary winds, but yesterday, 7 November, after nearly eleven days at sea we sidled up to the fuel dock here in English Harbor on Antigua at 0730, replenished our greatly diminished diesel stocks and tied up at the Nelson Dockyard Marina. As one of the first boats to arrive in Antigua from the northern latitudes this season and definitively the first boat of the 95 boats in the Salty Dawg Rally to arrive, we received a very warm and focused welcome. The local commissioner even stopped by and presented us with a bottle of the local rum (excellent by the way) for line honors.
Kailani’s crew on this passage was exemplary. If I were to liken each member to their counterpart on a British frigate in the early 1800s, Tom would have been a blend of the first lieutenant and the sailing master always attentive to the needs of the boat and her captain. Jack, although certainly officer material and soon to be promoted out of the foc’sle, was the bosun familiar with the intricacies of the boat and the rigging and willing to jump on the helm at a moment’s notice. And Charley, well Charley could best be characterized as a supernumerary on passage to a faraway land where he will no doubt assume diplomatic responsibilities. He was not required nor expected to fulfill any role in getting the boat safely to its destination but proved a catalyst for erudite conversation utilizing big words.
Jack and Charley are back in the real world now and I hope that these past two weeks will be fodder for tales told and retold to their friends and family. Tom and I will continue to sort out the boat so she is ready to go far foreign come early January. In the meantime, she will get a well deserved rest here in Antigua.
17 00 N 061 45 W
Nelson’s Dockyard Marina
English Harbour
Antigua and Barbuda
Hazzah! So pleased to catch up and can’t wait to read the ongoing sagas.