The weather report for the long passage from Deep Bay in Antigua to Anse a Colombier in St. Barths was benign. Winds under 10 knots with gusts under 15 knots and 1.5m waves and less. For this time of year in the Caribbean that is almost equivalent to a dead calm.
Sunrise
It was a dead calm as I left Deep Bay and set sail directly for St. Barths. Once beyond the wind-shade of the island, what little wind came was from almost directly behind. In order to prevent excessive rolling, I had to go about 20 degrees to the east of my course line to prevent the mainsail and boom from flapping about. But within a couple of hours, the situation had changed quite a bit – and not for the better.
Noon
Rain set in. Not long after leaving Antigua for St. Barths. First came just a couple of low nimbostratus clouds that dumped rain on me, then things got more exciting. A seriously dark front approached and I turned on the radar, expecting to see a slight blip of rain behind me. But instead of a thin red line of echoes, it was a solid purple blob approaching. I put in 2-3 reefs in both sails and waited for the squall line to hit.
It did, with a vengeance. I had to put more reefs in both sails, and I was still doing 10 knots with almost no sailcloth out. As I was debating running under bare poles and while the boat was pitching in the big and confused seas, my dinghy line snapped.
I didn’t hear it go, but something must have alerted me as I looked behind me and saw my dinghy behind, but pointed sideways. I expected it to snap back to being towed directly astern, but it just got smaller and smaller.
The weather was terrible, I could only look forward because I’d donned my diving mask. The waves were big, and seas were confused. As my dinghy got lost in the rain I debated trying to retrieve it and quickly decided that risking my life for a dinghy and outboard was not worth it. So it faded away behind me, and I realized that I could go shopping in St. Martin for a newer, better, dinghy and outboard and should look at more as a “win” than a “total loss”. Since a new Highfield dinghy and Tohatsu outboard cost in excess of $8K this gaslighting wasn’t easy for me to pull off!
Afternoon
The strong winds didn’t last, and soon I had to motorsail in light winds and with a preventer rigged and limped towards Anse a Colombier in St. Barths. I wondered where my dinghy would wash up – if it missed St. Kitts and Nevis it might become Mexican…
Evening
Sunset was at sea and I arrived in the anchorage after dark. It was very crowded and a huge megayacht blocked the middle of the anchorage. Although they use the 4:1 scope (the ratio of chain to water depth), they need the equivalent of the boat length in swinging room; so there needs to be an empty circle around them with a radius somewhat longer than their 200 feet of length. So while I need 907 sq. meters area, they need around 140x more!
But after circling around in the dark for while I located a position, very far outside and behind the megayacht. The anchor held and I used the BBQ to cook a burger dinner.