We have been in Falmouth Antigua for nearly a month and the winds have been pretty relentless.
Just about every day, and overnight too, we have short but intense rain showers. They arrive all of a sudden and depart just as fast, leaving a lovely rainbow, or two.
At daybreak the view is pretty nice too.
And at night.
Even the clouds look wonderful at night thanks to my “Night Site” photo capability on my phone.
Even though we have been sitting here, unmoved, for weeks now, the scenery changes with the hours. Huge yachts coming and going and a constant parade of tiny boats from the Yacht Club buzzing around the harbor
We have been enjoying an occasional Tot Club event and one that really stood out was aboard a megayacht. The yacht was out on the pier in Nelson’s Dockyard. Huge sailing yachts lined up like “mega sardines”.
The captain and first mate had joined the Tot Club the prior evening and invited all of us to visit for a cocktail party and Tot ceremony. Everyone huddled inside due to the, you guessed it, a brief rain shower.
The boat was huge, nearly 200′ long. Long expanse of teak up to the bow. We were told that forward, set into the deck, were compartments that open up to reveal a crane that launches 30′ tenders, his and hers. The level of sophistication of these yachts is amazing.
At the end of the night, everyone “walked the plank”, back to the dock.
Nice neighborhood. A massive open expanse of decking aft on this yacht.
Not all the yachts in the harbor are huge. With the strong wind there are foil sail boards. They zip along the surface at an alarming pace. Pretty amazing.
And some really tiny yachts showed up over the last few days. These boats, and two have come in already, are finishing up a qualifying passage from Logos Portugal to Antigua. Those that “qualify” can compete in The Mini Globe, 2025, round-the-world race beginning here.
The race, as crazy as it may seem, is for tiny, 19′ tiny,, single handed boats, doing a series of legs that takes them around the world, beginning and ending in Antigua. Well, at least they are going thru the Panama Canal, instead of around Cape Horn.
For the moment, I will just say that compared to the “world’s toughest row” that race with rowing boats from the Canaries to Antigua, seems like a “walk in the park”. Those rowboats are longer than these boats. Crazy. More to come as I learn more.
Imagine sailing a tiny homemade plywood boat, matching a design from 1955, around the world?
And it’s a very long way…
● Leg One, Antigua to Panama, 1300 miles. Truck across Panama, keels on, rigs
o. (organizers will pre-book Trucking, but entrants are responsible for
loading and transport costs).
● Leg Two, Panama to a ‘mystery island’ of entrant’s choice (8 day stop) then to
Tahiti, total 5200 miles, 7 day pit stop, then to Tonga , 1500 miles, 8 day pit
stop, then to Fiji, 500 miles.
● Leg Three, Fiji to Darwin 3000 miles, 8 day pit stop, then to Mauritius 4200,
10 day pit stop, then to Durban, 1500 miles, 14 days pit stop, then to Cape
Town, 1000 miles, ( this can be anywhere or nowhere depending on the
weather, but if a sailor sails direct to Cape Town and makes NO pit stops , no
advantage is gained. )
● Leg Four, Cape Town to St. Helena, 1800 miles, 8 days pit stop, then to
Recife, 1800 miles.
● Leg Five, Recife to Antigua, 2500 miles.
● Total 23500 miles
And here we sit, with the wind howling while these intrepid sailors slog their way here, just to prove that they can.
With regards to going somewhere, with Brenda flying out on March 1st, we have to take a short term view of the weather and with no end in sight for the moment regarding the unusually strong “Christmas Winds”, late this year, we really can’t head south to Guadeloupe, where I had hoped to spend a week or two before coming back to Antigua later this month. As the winds are likely to be strong thru the end of the month, I couldn’t take the risk of heading south only to learn that getting back to Antigua would be a slog. I really don’t want Brenda’s last time aboard in the Caribbean this year to be unpleasant.
Several friends who ventured south over the last week reported that it was indeed, “salty” so our plan to stick close to home was a good one.
So, here we sit on our mooring.
The weather has been lovely with days in the mid 80s and nights in the 70s. Except for the passing shower, it’s been relentlessly sunny so between the wind and sun, the batteries have been up to snuff every day.
What will we do next? Who knows but it’s good to know that it’s not snowing here, unlike at home where there is the expectation of upwards of 6-8″ of snow.
Yup, all dressed up and nowhere to go. At least there is a happy hour to look forward to.
And, while we wait I can focus on finding a leak in our dink, fixing a leaky pump on the watermaker, cleaning the bottom for the second time, even if it didn’t need it, along with cutting off the engine lock that I lost the key for, picking up stuff for dinner, getting laundry done…
Oh yeah, and the occasional trip to the beach to languish in the gentle surf.
“Oh Bob, shut up, just shut up! It’s frigging snowing up here…”