Sunrise
I got up with the first hints of sunrise and used some of the ground coffee to fill my Stanley thermos with coffee for the trip. Then I used some of the reaming Antigua coffee beans for a quickie coffee before departing.
The weather was not good. Low stratus clouds and what looked like strong wind. I hadn’t connected to the internet to check weather, and my NavTex receiver didn’t get a signal in the anchorage so I was just guessing about the conditions out there. But as I’m on a schedule it makes little difference.
Morning Sail
The first stretch to Dominica was relatively short, but constant showers and strong winds along with a nasty chop made for a spirited sail. I got some good speed, but took on a lot of green water over the decks. And some icky sargassum which I hope to wash away before it starts to go off and smell.
Afternoon
It was rainy around both Dominica and Martinique with squalls and showers. But I was far enough offshore to get some good winds and made good time until Martinique. At the northernmost tip the autopilot beeped loudly, turned off, and flashed a message “Missing compass data” and “No heading”. At that time I was busy keeping the boat from doing nasty things in the 25knots of wind and waves!
I tried the standard “turning it off and on again” a couple of times, to no avail. So I hand-steered the rest of the way. When the two sails are adjusted correctly and balanced the forces on the wheel are minimal, but it still takes concentration and when leaving the wheel for a kitchen/drink/bathroom run I’m always worried that something untoward will happen.
So it was 8 hours of concentration in difficult conditions. That means that the waves were significant (2m or more) and I had gusts of wind topping 45 knots and it almost never went below 25knots. The two reefs in both sail kept the boat stable and still gave me over 8 knots most of the time.
I was happy to arrive in St. Lucia and Rodney Bay at 22:30 in the evening and that first beer tasted perfect.
Night