Sail Pandora

Well, after spending last winter home Brenda and I are back aboard Pandora in “warmer climes” for our 7th winter season afloat.  We arrived here in Antigua on the afternoon of New Year’s eve and I have to say that it is nice to be back.  We enjoyed a wonderful if crazy expensive New Year’s eve dinner at the Admiral’s Inn, which proved to be a very nice way to settle back into our time aboard Pandora.  This was the view from Pandora’s cockpit this morning.  Unlike up north, the length of the days in the winter aren’t much different than the summer, perhaps only one hour shorter so at 06:30 the sun is already up. The normally strong trade winds have been light which has made sleeping a bit tough as it’s pretty warm down below in the evenings, without a cooling breeze.  But, what a beautiful view of the still waters in the early morning light. And a view of the Admiral’s Inn and the beautiful classic schooner, Mary Rose, to our stern, glowing.  The pillars to the left once formed the base for the Georgian era sail loft that served Lord Nelson’s navy when this harbor was England’s base of operations for the Caribbean or West Indies.   The British fought hard to keep control of what is still perhaps the best harbor in the Caribbean. And,  here’s Pandora behind Mary Rose out in front of the Inn.   What a spot. Brenda and I have been taking advantage of the light winds to enjoy a “cocktail cruise” in the harbor each evening.   Daily cruises like these have been a part of our boating life for 40 years now.  It’s a wonderful way to end the day.  Once the trades kick back in, probably next week, our tradition will be put on hold until things settle down again.  But for now, seeing a sunset like this, at the mouth of the harbor, with Montserrat in the distance, and the waves breaking on the shore, is the perfect accompaniment to a gin and tonic. Of course, what better way to ring in the new year after a wonderful dinner at the Inn than with fireworks in a tropical setting, viewed from a comfortable chair on Pandora’s bow?  To see the “rocket’s red glare” over the iconic Nelson’s Dockyard is something to behold. Even without the light show, the nightly view of the yachts from Pandora’s deck is beautiful.  This photo, a bit blurry in the dark, doesn’t do the view justice. In spite of the impressive array of yachts, the harbor is actually fairly empty as most of the really big yachts left town to celebrate the New Year in nearby St Barths, the most exclusive island in the Caribbean and the winter playground of billionaires, all jockeying to show off their wealth.  I am told that many boats will return to Antigua in the next week as the holidays wind down.

St Barths revelers or not, there’s still plenty of impressive hardware here in Antigua.   How about this yacht, small by local standards at 100′, but clearly one that fits in the “go fast” category. I’d say that she’s sort of a speedboat crossed with a chrome and glass man-pad.  It’s hard to see in this photo but she, “he?” sports two huge 5-6′ diameter, many bladed props that look like they mean business.  No swimming off the stern while the engine is running.  Or, if the owner is thinking about turning in the “little woman” for a newer model, “Honey, how about a dip off the stern before we head out.  You go ahead, I’ll be down in a moment.  I just need to check out something up in the cockpit.”

Go fast or not, I prefer the sailing yachts and there are plenty to choose from if you have the coin and most are so big that even the 1% crowd need not apply.  How about this beautiful schooner?I had to get special permission from the guard on the dock to get close to her.  Fortunately, I knew the guard, Shirley so she just waived me by.   Guarding aboard this one was a “yacht yard guard dog” following my every move, sitting on one of her huge winches, perhaps a favorite perch.  Or was it a guard dog bed?  Only he knows. While Antigua is clearly the playgroup of the uber-wealthy, there are also some beautiful, if less exotic boats to enjoy like this lovely Carriacou sloop heading out for a day sail. Today I walked over to nearby Falmouth to see what sort of huge yachts were there.  While the marina isn’t even close to full, it has an amazing array of hardware.  This dink, a bit fancier than our own “Hope” suggests something about the “mother ship”.  And, speaking of Mother ships, how about this one?And she’s complete with plenty of “toys” including this 800hp tender.  I wonder how fast she goes?  Too fast for me in any sort of seaway, I expect, where she would surely launch herself from wave top to wave top.  And of course there’s always the iconic Maltese Falcon, with her unique Dyna Rig square sails.  She was built for a Venture Capital guy, Tom Perkins, now deceased and is now in full time charter.   She can be yours and yours alone for a cool half million per week.  Check out some amazing photos here. Not cool enough for you?  Perhaps one of these.  And, ask yourself, what does someone who has enough money to afford a boat like Here Comes The Sun, do to “keep up the Joneses”?   You can charter her for about $1.5 million per week.  Of course, that’s plus expenses, fuel tips and the like.  Get details here about her and all y0u get.  And, don’t forget that the tips will be for the 25 crew and you wouldn’t want any of them to feel left out. And with “Sun” you can also opt to charter a “shadow yacht”.  The aptly named Pink Shadow will be there to carry all the toys you’ll need.  The concept, as I understand it, is that by using a shadow yacht, you can go with a Mother ship that is smaller than you might otherwise require.  Of course, shadow or not, Here Comes The Sun is still a bit girl at 300′.  Going this route allows you to save room aboard and put all those bulky toys on a separate boat, ship, yacht, or whatever you want to call it that can follow you around like a little pink puppy.  Catch a gander at the crane that Lil Pink sports?Getting back into the “mere mortals” category, here’s Maiden, the racing yacht that carried the first all woman crew around the world in a Whitbread race in the late 80s.  We saw a movie about that voyage at the Antigua Yacht Club last night and met the current crew, ladies again, of course, who are sailing Maiden around the world to raise awareness for women and sailing.  I’ve seen the movie “Maiden” once already and was even more moved this time than last.  You should check it out.  It’s a remarkable story about her skipper Tracy Edwards from England who, against all odds, finally was able to find financial support for the yacht, did remarkably well and ultimately was named Yachtsman of the Year, the first such recognition ever for a woman.   Maiden will be open for tours here in Antigua  in a few days and I look forward to writing more about this remarkable boat and her story.
And, of course where there is one race boat, there’s bound to be others.  Right next to Maiden, is a state of the art sled.  Big difference in the look of speeders now. And now, for a bit about the reality of “yachting for the regular folks”, that’s us.  They say that cruising is nothing much more than boat repair in exotic places and our personal experience would confirm that statement.

In past years, when we left Pandora for a few weeks, we’ve left the freezer running to avoid tossing the food left over from the passage south.  As I have never totally trusted our compressor, I have always arranged for someone to watch her and especially her fridge while we are away.

That has worked well for us until now as I got a call from our “guy” a few days before we returned to Antigua to let me know that he had found the fridge turned off and the content of the freezer quite warm.

I have been concerned about the unit for some time now as it seems to be making more noise than it had in the past and has also been drawing more power, a sure sign that there is something wrong.

So, we returned to Pandora on New Year’s Eve and opened the fridge to find a whole mess of re-frozen but completely rotted food.  It had clearly been off and on for some time before the problem was discovered and the breaker switched back on.  YUCK!  What a mess.

I emptied all of the food and filled two plastic trash bags with a revolting mix of semi-frozen pork, chicken and ground beef.    I then flushed out the freezer with hot water and bleach, removing, as best as I could, the slime if not the remaining smell.  I have dealt with this sort of problem in the past and believe that what’s left of the smell with finally go away in time.

What won’t “go away” is the fact that the compressor isn’t happy and will now have to be replaced.  I wasn’t sure about that fact until I was visited by a tech today who inspected the unit.  I’m not surprised but had hoped to forestall a replacement until I was home next summer when I could do my homework and pick the unit that was best.   Anyway, I’ll not bore you with the details except to say that the fridge and freezer are currently working if not very efficiently and I’ll be keeping a careful eye on things to be sure that the batteries are kept up to snuff while we wait for a verdict on what’s involved in replacing the unit with a new compressor or worse.  I am hopeful that we will find something that is a bit more efficient than what’s on there now.   Fingers crossed.

We have a parade of tradesmen coming by Pandora this week, first to re-install the mainsail that had been damaged on the way south this fall.  It turns out that in addition to some repairs, I needed a few relatively minor adjustments to how the sail was attached to the goose-neck to get the sail to set in a way that wasn’t going to put a strain on any of the fittings.   One problem in particular, is that I had not attached the clew of the sail to the goose-neck properly in the past, with it pulled to tightly to the mast.  It’s now offset somewhat and looks much better  when the sail is up, a minor but important change that should help things hold together better. The guys were aboard for way longer than expected and I can’t wait to get the bill. So there you have it, boat repair for the “little people” in exotic places and plenty of the “other half” on hand to remind us just how little we, or at least our bank accounts, are.

Having said that, I was talking to a member of the crew from one of the huge yachts yesterday who told me that he thought that us cruiser types probably have more fun than the crew on mega-yachts have any day.

All and all, I am happy to be back aboard Pandora and look forward to getting everything repaired before something else breaks.  Hopefully not to soon.

Yes, it’s nice to be back, rotten food and all, but I really want to go sailing and soon.

Brenda and I have visited St Lucia and Martinique a number of times, two of our favorite islands.  While we are home in the US right now, we will soon be returning to Pandora in Antigua to begin our winter season of cruising the SE Caribbean.

As I write this we are about done with our time at home as we are traveling here and there to enjoy time with our family. We always make sure we get more information about the places we visit, through professional websites online.  So far, it’s been hectic, to say the least and cold, well at least cold compared to Antigua, and I certainly prefer warm.  It’s already snowed twice and I’ll begrudgingly admit that it was pretty to wake up to a bright white world.  Well, at least that somewhat makes up for the persistent grey that is a New England winter.

It’s been crazy during our time at home with both wrapped and unwrapped presents strewn everywhere, as we scramble to get everything done.

Timing is a challenge as we make time to spend with Rob and his family in MD where we are now, celebrating the third birthday of our oldest grandaughter Tori, who turns three this week as well as an early Christmas.  It has been a whirlwind visit as we make time to spend with them before a quick dash home on Monday to head back to CT.

The very next day (Whew!) we fly to San Francisco to see our other son Christopher and his partner Melody for Christmas.  With less than 24 hours home (way less) before we fly out on Tuesday it’s going to be quite a rush, and we won’t be back home until three days before we head back to Antigua.   That’s going to be a crazy busy few days as we put our home in “winter mode” to keep it safe from freezing while we are away.

And, when I say “everything in place” is because we have to blow out all the water pipes and put antifreeze in the toilets and appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine.  We have already delivered our house plants to a greenhouse in New Haven along with some pond fish that they will keep for the winter.   Our little pond will soon freeze solid, already has, and the plants won’t survive the cold temps in the winterized house while we are away.   As we headed here to MD a few days ago, we packed Brenda’s Mini Cooper with all the plants, fish along with birthday and Christmas presents.

On another subject, on proverbial Black Friday, I succumbed to all of the hype about good deals and the drumbeat of “shop now!” and ordered a huge, well huge for us, 65″ TV to replace our  more than a decade old TV.  WOW!, what a difference in the picture quality a decade of innovation has made.

Well, I mention all this as the TV is Internet-ready and we have enjoyed watching YouTube travel videos including some about places we have been and hope to travel to.   I happened upon the two short pieces that follow about Martinique and St Lucia that includes footage of some of the great places we have visited.  It gives a pretty good feel for what it’s like to visit some of our favorite islands.

We enjoy Martinique because it offers everything from cosmopolitan cities like Fort de France, along with rural back roads and beautiful rain forests.  Both islands are also home to wonderful botanical gardens and nature preserves along with some great rum distilleries such as Depaz and Clement, that are both featured in the piece about Martinique.

Clement, unlike most rums you are likely to encounter in the Caribbean, is distributed in the US.  Their website, for the US, is quite interesting, with ample information about the estate itself, a wonderful place to visit on the island.  Visiting these distilleries is a great thing to do when touring the island.  During our last visit to Martinique, two years ago, we visited a number of distilleries.  I wrote about that very enjoyable day in this post.  

So, check out this short video.  It will surely make you want to visit Martinique. Another of our favorite islands is St Lucia and although Rodney Bay gets a bad rap due to some petty crime, it’s a nice spot to visit too.   As with many places in the Caribbean, it’s always a good idea to lock your dink at night and pull it out of the water.   And, always lock it up when ashore, even during the day.

We particularly enjoy Marigot Bay, a spot that we will surely return to this season.  It is home to a wonderful resort, one of our favorite places to spend time and one of the few spots where we rent a mooring instead of dropping the hook.   I wrote about our visit there.  You will recognize some of the spots sin my post when you look at this short video. Another spot in St Lucia, and one of the most photographed places in the Caribbean is the Pitons, two cones of extinct volcanoes.   For the more adventurous, you can hire a guide to hike and climb up to the top.   You can’t anchor there as the bottom drops off sharply, even close to shore.   The mooring we took was in over 100′ of water.  Check out this post about our visit there as well as more about what we enjoyed about Marigot Bay.

There are actually a lot more posts about our visits to St Lucia and Martinique but it is sufficient to say that these islands are worth spending time exploring and I am looking forward to going to both this season.

For now, all we have to do is get through the holidays.  For sure, once we return to Antigua and Pandora we will be ready to chill out for a few weeks before we get underway again.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Brenda and I have found ourselves in the midst of a crazy, way over-scheduled, holiday season.

We arrived home in the wee hours on Monday morning, Thanksgiving week, and within a few hours we were back in the car headed to see our Son and his family including our three grandchildren in MD.  A short few days later, back to CT and another Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

We will now be home for about a week when we head back to MD for our oldest grandchild, Tori’s birthday, who turns three.  After that quick trip, we jump on a plane to spend Christmas with our other son and his girlfriend in CA.   A week there and then back to CT for a three day whirlwind to winterize the house and head back to Antigua.   Oh boy, we will need a vacation after all that but it’s going to be great to see everyone.

Yes, we will have been home for nearly 5 weeks but we will put on a lot of miles and had little time to relax.  After the life of “nothing happens before noon on Pandora”, the holidays seem nearly out-of-control hectic.

Of course, that isn’t made any easier by the pile-up of “deferred maintenance” at home for the nearly 6 weeks I was away, for the “migration to Antigua”.  Can you say “wow, that’s a lot of leaves on the yard Bob”?   Yikes, I need a vacation.

And speaking of Pandora, even if I wasn’t, a friend sent this great drone shot of her on her mooring in English Harbor where she’ll be while we are jetting around.  Awesome perspective.  Hint, she’s in the middle of the photo.In my last post I showed this photo of a “long tail” boat from Thailand owned by a friend, Paul, one of the owners of the Admiral’s Inn and promised to tell more about the boat and how it got to Antigua.    So, here goes…

So, this type of boat, known as “long tails” because of their distinctive long propeller shaft, are a common sight in Thailand.  The type is known for their simple engine and prop configurations, utilizing cheap and easy to work on, re-purposed automobile engines.  These boats come in all shapes and sizes but the common theme is that they sport an engine on a gimbal with a long straight prop shaft and no transmission, just direct drive to the prop.    Paul, visited Thailand and had this boat shipped to Antigua where he grew up and still lives.  The boat is certainly a standout, compared to the others in the harbor. Paul had offered to take me out for a spin so we met at the dock at the Admiral’s Inn.  As he approached the dock he picked the prop out of the water to put it in “neutral”, coasting up to the dock. It was very tight maneuvering to clear the dock so he had to dip the prop in and out of the water several times to get us underway.So, off we went.  A great contrast between Paul’s boat and this one in the background, “Home”.  More about that in a bit.

To pilot one of these open boats, you have to stand the entire time while underway. Note the hand crank on the seat behind Paul.  No electric start, you just put the lever into the front of the engine and hope that it doesn’t rev up and take your hand off.  These boats are very simple and the water cooling is drawn from a tube stuck in the water.   No thru-hulls to complicate things.
When at speed, you get a feel for just how dangerous this sort of “outboard” would be with a spinning prop, a boat length behind spinning just below the surface.   No going close to swimmers with this boat. I have always associated this sort of boat with James Bond, who’s Long Tail was a bit more sporty than Paul’s.Anyway, Paul’s boat is more my speed.  And, at a stately un-Bond pace, we headed  out of the entrance of beautiful English Harbor, home to the British Navy during the age of sail.   Just outside are an interesting rock formation called the Pillars of Hercules.  I am told that it is a great spot to dive or snorkel.  In the bow is Astrid, Paul’s sister and partner in the Admiral’s Inn. Paul shut off the engine for a bit and we sat for a while enjoying the view.  We drifted a bit to close to the rocks so Paul “backed” us out by turning the engine perpendicular to the boat and gave us a shove with the engine.  We headed back into the harbor and past “Home” again.   Home is a private yacht launched in 2017.  She’s really impressive, particularly given her 80′ long expanse of windows on both sides and her distinctive plumb bow.

Interestingly, she is the first displacement yacht with full hybrid propulsion, meaning that she has big generators that put power to electric motors to drive the yacht instead of separate diesel engines to drive the boat.  That approach makes sense as it isn’t efficient to drive a boat with diesel engines unless they are running at optimal speed.   Besides, a yacht of this scale has generators running 24/7 so why not run all systems, including propulsion systems from the same power supply?  Yachts like this have multiple generators that are put on line based on the amount of current needed, less at anchor and more underway. Most large yachts have some sort of special feature that makes them particularly unique and fun for their guests.  How about this spot on the bow to enjoy the view when you are underway?  The seats move up and down hydraulically I guess.  “I can fly, I can fly!”.  I guess it’s supposed to be like that scene in the movie Titanic.Makes sense if you are paying $275,000 a week to charter her in high season.  Sorry but that doesn’t include expenses and tips for the crew.   “Wow, honey, I thought that was a lot for a week long charter but this seat makes it totally a deal!”  Want to learn more so you can decide if you want to go for a ride in the seat yourself?  Check her out.

According to the luxury magazine “Hello Monaco“, that ran an article about mega-yacht ownership two years ago, there are some 10,000 mega-yachts in service world-wide and a bit less than 100 new yachts delivered each year, so there are lots of charter options to choose from.  As a point of reference, in 1979 there were only about 1,500 mega-yachts worldwide.  Tells you something about the rise of the .001% crowd.

As it costs about 10% of the build cost of the boat to staff and use a yacht each year, you’d have to charter a yacht like Home for many weeks a year to justify owning one of your own.

Decided that chartering is for you but can’t decide which boat to go for?  Not to worry, at the peak of the season last year there were around 80 of these behemoths in residence between Falmouth and English Harbors, so there’s plenty to choose from.

And, the time is right to check them out.  Starting today, December 4th, the charter yacht show opens in Antigua where you can go aboard and decide which is the perfect yacht for you.   And, as it’s so much more affordable to rent than own, you can hardly afford to wait.   And, as if that’s not enough, Home will be open for viewing.    Perhaps they will give you a ride in that cool chair.

Anyway, Home is a bit more complex than Paul’s long-tail.  And it does have a totally cool seat on the bow.  Which boat to choose?  Hmm… tough to choose.

So, there you have it, there are lots of options to enjoy your time on the water, especially in Antigua.

And, it seems, you can even get some Thai, if that’s your taste. I did and it was great.

When the Salty Dawg Rally departed Hampton Virginia in early November, the majority of the fleet pointed their bows to the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua, the “Sailing Capital of the Caribbean”, where, for the third year, the island rolled out the red carpet to celebrate our arrival.

As Port Officer in Antigua for the rally, my “job” was to organize a week of events to celebrate the arrival of the fleet.  Fortunately, everyone that I was working with on the island was thrilled to have us visit so lining up a full venue of events was pretty easy, actually.

Part of the appeal of having our group come to Antigua as we arrive several weeks before the season really gets going so our presence is really appreciated.  I was talking recently with Angie, who runs the Antigua Yacht Club restaurant, “The Clubhouse” in Falmouth and she told me that there was quite a buzz from other businesses in the area that were thrilled with how busy they were so early in the season, thanks to our rally.

We packed the docks at Nelson’s Dockyard, perhaps the most beautiful harbor in the Caribbean.  Before we arrived in mid November, the docks were pretty much empty. One of our first events, and one of our most popular with over 120 skippers and crew attending was an authentic Caribbean barbecue, compliments of Nelson’s Dockyard.  Ann-Marie Martin, the Director of the National Parks, and the Dockyard really went out of their way to make us feel welcome.  The event included a rum punch cocktails followed by a full dinner, complete with poured at the table during dinner.  The event was totally over the top.  They even had a DJ and a professional photographer, Ted, who’s photos of the event follow.  Thanks Ted!

Ann-Marie was welcoming to us, as always.  I have enjoyed working with her over the last few years and the enthusiasm that she showed for us is emblematic of the reception that the Dawgs have received in Antigua. The Chairman of the National Parks joined us and delivered a heartfelt welcome to us all.  It turned out to be a capacity crowd, double what I had estimated which caused a bit of last minute scrambling for Ann-Marie but her staff pulled it off in great style.

The evening got off to a great start with liberal amounts of rum punch all around,.No event is complete without awards and we recognized the crew of Hector, home port Germany.  They had a medical emergency while 0n passage and was visited by a USCG C130 Hercules, that dropped vital medications by parachute.  Their determination in completing the trip to Antigua was an inspiration to us all.  That orange canister was one of two that the USCG dropped to them.  All and all, a really wonderful evening. And that was just one of the week long calendar of events that the fleet enjoyed.

As in past years, we had our “Safe Arrival” dinner and cocktail parties at the Admiral’s Inn.  Inn owners, brother and sister, Paul and Astrid, went out of their way to make us feel at home.  Of course, who doesn’t want a rally flag? Poolside, the perfect spot to hold our dinner.The Inn is a spectacular venue in the heart of Nelson’s Dockyard, the only operating Georgian Dockyard in the world, once home to the British Navy during the age of sail.  Of course, we needed a “class photo”.  The Navy fought hard to retain control of English Harbor and nearby Falmouth Harbor, as the island is perfectly located as the eastern most in the Caribbean.  It is quite simply the perfect place to “cruise” to anywhere else in the Caribbean. For that reason, it remains an ideal spot to begin and end a season of cruising.

Max Fernandez, the Minister of Tourism, addressed us at a complimentary cocktail reception courtesy of The Antigua Yacht Cub.  AYC also hosted a special member/guest Thanksgiving feast to make us feel welcome.  Owner and artist Nancy Nicholson invited us to her gallery, Rhythm of Blue, for a free rum and reggae party to kick off the season. North Sails Antigua hosted what was probably the most original event, Hermit Crab Racing, to the delight of the Dawgs, complete with plenty of Carib beer and snacks.The week of events, many free, were capped off by a special toast from the Royal Navy Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda.    As a card carrying member, I was thrilled to introduce the Dawgs to this wonderful tradition once again. Plans are well underway for the arrival of the fleet next November and it promises to be even better so stay tuned for more info.  Better yet, follow this link to the Salty Dawg site and sign up for the free newsletter so you will “in the loop” on what’s planned.

Yes indeed, Antigua just loves the Dawgs and the Dawgs love Antigua.

We’ll be back!

That’s it, today Brenda and I head home to CT and some holiday time with friends and family.  We can’t wait to see our grandchildren, in particular.  I’ll bet that we won’t recognize them after a month away.  Excited.

Pandora is on a mooring in English Harbor for the next month.  It’s a beautiful spot.  Very serene this morning with a view of the Dockyard.  It was unusually still and calm, compliments of the late season hurricane in the north Atlantic that has suppressed the trade winds.  They should kick in again in a few days. The Admiral’s Inn off our stern.  And some beautiful boats off of our bow.   Notice the Long Tail boat from Thailand, owned by Paul from the Inn.  Hold that thought as I was able to get a ride on the his really unique boat a few days ago.  Details to come on that outing. It’s been a crazy week with events every evening and sometimes during the day as well.  In addition, I’ve been really busy with meetings including a lunch with the Minister of Tourism that has taken an interest in the rally given the number of boats and crew that we have brought to the island.  He feels that cruisers are the highest value visitors to the island as they stay for a long time and spend money with a large variety of businesses, something that isn’t the case with cruise ship visitors or those who visit all-inclusive resorts.

Anyway, it’s an exciting time to be here and I am really looking forward to next steps when I return to the island at the end of December.  In the mean time, I have some homework to do to prepare our thoughts on how to partner more fully with the Government of Antigua.

After so many events here since the first boats arrived more than a week ago,  it’s hard to say which event was the “best”.   I loved them all but the one event that is particularly special to me is the Tot Club.  You know, the group that Toasts the Queen each evening, carrying on a long tradition in the British Navy?

So, it was fitting that our last “official” even was on Friday in the Dockyard, in spectacular venue, in one of the old historic buildings.   It was a beautiful space and wonderfully photographed by Brenda who preferred being a spectator to gulping an alarming amount of rum. The group gathered under the stars. Mike and particularly Ann, my sponsor when I joined the group two years ago, were there preparing the Tot.  Of course, there were readings from British Naval history.Introductions of our guests by me. Bottoms up.  Of course, the “tot” must be swallowed in a “single go”.  I’ll admit that it burns. One of our events was an evening BYOB on Shirley Heights, a historic lookout for the British Navy.  We went up to watch the sunset, normally spectacular.  However, a huge squall came through and brought very limited visibility an many wet Dawgs.  I just love this photo of some of the kids from the rally enjoying the view.  What a great group.  Brenda and I have noticed, over the years,  that “boat kids” are universally wonderful and seem to have social skills that are far above the norm.  Perhaps I’ll leave it at that for now as I have to pack to head home to see our own grandchillen.

All and all, a wonderful week and with so many “atta boys” about the events from skippers and crew from the rally.  With all that positive energy, I’m raring to go to plan for some spring events and next fall’s arrival of the 2020 rally to Antigua.

So, there you have it.  The arrival of the 2019 Salty Dawg Rally to Antigua.  It’s a wrap!

Well, it’s Wednesday and we are about half through the week of events to welcome the Salty Dawg Fleet to Antigua.  I’ll admit that I am a bit tuckered out with all the festivities but I will still put on my dancing shoes for the arrival dinner at Boom this evening and there are still three more days of fun on the horizon for our fleet.

While all of our events have been great fun, I have to admit that the Crab Races at Andrew Dove’s North Sails loft last night was a standout.

Crab Races, you say?

Yes and I for one, have never seen or heard of such a thing.  Crab Races?  Hmm…

So, here’s how it goes.

As you’d expect from any sport.  The rules, as described by our host, Andrew, were soberly reviewed for all. And, we learned that there would be a number of “heats” of increasing difficulty.

Of course, as with any serious sport, we had our cheerleaders, one of the Dawgs brought along a mascot to egg on the contestants. First, the contestants were placed in the center of the “course” under a dome to keep them from running off before the starting gun was sounded.  We just could not condone any unfair behavior. Off they went.  If it doesn’t look exciting, you just had to be there.  The spectators went WILD!As the races progressed, heat after heat, Andrew dreamt up schemes, each more diabolical than the last, adding obstacles to slow down the leader.
Then he really got mean and forced the contestants to race blindfolded.
Not to be deterred…More obstructions were added to the course but none discouraged our racers, blindfolds or not. Who won?  I have no idea but it was a ton of fun.

And, now a word from our sponsor…So there, dear reader, is how the Dawgs got crabs in Antigua.

Thanks Andrew.  You, and your crabs were awesome!

I can’t wait to see what sort of crazy ideas he comes up with next year.

It’s Tuesday morning and we are well into our arrival events with nearly all of the Dawgs accounted for.

We have been really busy with events every night including a very special kickoff cocktail and dinner party put on by the National Park’s Authority on Saturday evening.   It was a lovely evening, totally over the top.  I have photos coming from their “official” photographer.

Earlier that evening we also were treated to a Dawg Jam session on the docks.  It was a nice way to kick off a very memorable evening. I mentioned in my last post that one of our boats, Cayuga, had lost the use of their engine when their engine water pump went bad and with the light winds that slowed down the entire fleet, they found themselves drifting slowly southward at a painfully slow pace for way longer than they wanted to.  Finally, they were within a reasonable distance of Antigua and Paul, who operates the Admiral’s Inn with his sister Astrid, offered to run the new water pump out, along with some antifreeze.

I had been texting the skipper for several days and then, with them finally only about 30 miles out, off we went, powering 30kts into seas, bouncing from wavetop to wavetop as we closed the distance.  Finally, we spotted them on the horizon and closed in.  Oh boy, did they look happy to see us.   After they confirmed that the pump was in fact the right one for their engine, we sped of for shore and left them to put on the new pump.  On our way back to English Harbor Paul gave us a bit of a tour of the island.  How about this yacht?  Anna, owned by a Russian, who else?  She is rumored to have cost $250,000,000.  Yikes!  It’s amazing what you can get for a 1/4 billion these days.  Anna is over 300′ long.  Huge.  Her owner is Dmitry Evgenevitch Rybolovlev.  Yes, that sounds about right.  I doubt that you will see Anna in US waters any time soon.   Want to learn a bit about this guy?  Click here for all the details.  He purchased a home in FL for $95,000,000 from none other than Donald Trump.  That totally fits…

Nice garage for his toys. And, I expect that this isn’t his only chopper. Along the way we passed Eric Clapton’s home, perched high on a ridge.  The good news is that Eric doesn’t use the place much and it’s for rent.   Check out some pix here to see if it’s up to your standards. Back to English Harbor and the fleet on the dock.   There’s Pandofra in the middle. Perhaps easier to see close up.   Looking good in her new colors. Ok, back to our parts delivery to Cayuga.

Later that afternoon Cayuga arrived and tied up in Nelson’s Dockyard looking really happy to be near dry land again after about two weeks on the high seas.  Not surprisingly, they were thrilled to accept a few cold beers from me. It was very gratifying to be there when they arrived knowing that there were many behind the scenes of the Rally that kept track of them and did everything possible to help them make their way safely to Antigua.

When I began organizing arrival events for the rally a few years ago, I realized that with most boats sailing so many miles to Antigua, their arrivals would be spread out over many days and to have an “arrival” dinner, a single event meant that some boats would be in port days or a week before some of the slower boats  arrived.  Somehow I didn’t think that it was fair to have the faster boats wait days and days for a single event.  And, at the same time, I didn’t want the slower boats to miss all the fun.

As a result, we decided to put on a full week of events to be sure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy at least some of the arrival festivities.

One of my favorite events is the “Arrival Cocktail Party” at the Admiral’s Inn, located right in the dockyard.  It’s a beautiful place and authentic in every way, as part of the original dockyard that served the British Navy during the age of sail.  Of course, we always need a “class picture”, right?   This was our biggest group yet and what a fun event.   As most of the crew had already left to head back home, this group is nearly all skippers and family, still a large group by any measure. The first year that we decided to send the fleet to Antigua, following the devastation in the Virgin Islands, the destination for the rally for so many years, I only had a few weeks to organize events here in Antigua.  And, it was Astrid and her brother Paul, who run the Inn, that really stepped up to help me pull together a proper welcome to the fleet and now, several years later, they are still helping skippers and crew settle in after a long voyage.

We took a moment to recognize them for all their support.  Of course, I also wanted to thank Paul publicly for taking the lead in getting the parts out to Cayuga.  Another tradition for the Dawgs is to present the “tail of the Dawg” award for the last boat to arrive prior to the welcome cocktail party, this year to the skipper and crew of Aleta, a bottle of wine donated by the local grocery Covent Gardens. A few days ago we were also hosted at the Antigua Yacht Club, another group that has been really supportive of the Rally.  As in past years, we were lucky to have the Minister Hernandez, the head of tourism on the island, address the group and he described how important the cruising community is to Antigua.

His goal, 200 boats.  I’ll have to get cracking as while we doubled that number from last year to 40 this year, we still have long way to go to reach his goal.   A success by any measure but also short of my 100 boat goal.  I presented a rally flag to the Minister with the help of the Commodore of the Yacht Club, Franklyn Braithwait, also very supportive of our efforts. So, that’s about it for now and we are only half way through our week of events with “crab racing” on tap this evening at the North Sails loft.  I’ll admit that I did check on the field of competitors when I visited the loft yesterday to see which might be the winning crab.  Hmm… 

My careful evaluation of the would-be competitors was inconclusive as they all appeared to be sleeping deeply, perhaps to save their strength for the competition.

All and all, we have been having a great time and I for one, am so pleased to see that the gang is all here.  Well, mostly all here as there are still a few boats making their way, perhaps arriving today.

I can’t wait to welcome them to Antigua.

Well, we did it, we made it to Antigua, only a little bit worse for wear.

We arrived in Falmouth Harbor Thursday morning at 04:00 only to discover that my anchor windlass would not deploy so we picked up a mooring.  Fortunately, the problem was minor, a tripped circuit breaker so after throwing the switch it worked again.   After a swim, a beer and a bit of celebratory rum as the sun came up, we moved over to the dockyard, Pandora’s home for the next week.

So, 1,750 miles and 11 days later we arrived, a long way from Hampton.  This is us, in Hampton the evening before our departure, raring to go, me, Cliff and George, both veterans of past runs aboard Pandora.   Note the jackets.  It was chilly.  Cold didn’t last long aboard Pandora and after day one of the trip it was positively hot and sticky. The 11 day run was several days longer than anticipated and the miles a lot farther as well.  As the crow flies, the run to Antigua is about 1,450 miles, we ended up sailing over 1,750 miles due to the adverse Equatorial Current that runs north along most of the area we sailed through.  And, in addition, we spent a lot of time sailing east without actually getting closer to our destination, waiting for the southerly winds to shift to the east.   It was a real world example of “you can’t get there from here”, in the extreme.   But we eventually did get there…

Things ended out working well but early forecasts suggested that we might run out of fuel before we made it to Antigua due to light and adverse winds.  We spent a lot of time trying to calculate fuel consumption, how much we actually had on board and when it would run out.  The only way that I can know for certain how much “usable” fuel we have aboard is to run on a tank until the engine dies when it’s all gone and note how much it takes to fill it up again.    I have a pretty good feel for this but haven’t systematically run the fuel out as I did this time.

We ended up running two of our three tanks completely out and there were many anxious hours spent wondering what would happen when we were down to the final tank.  However, in the end  we had better wind than anticipated and arrived in Antigua with fuel to spare.  While some estimates suggested that we’d be running the engine as much as 150 hours we only ran it about 110 hours which I was comfortable as on my last run south I ran for 130 hours and still had fuel left which suggests that we actually had a cushion of at least 2o hours.

We had moments of frustration, like when the main halyard parted and the sail came crashing down on the deck, but there were moments of serene beauty like the stunning sunrises every morning. I found that I could watch the receding wake as our vane steered along tirelessly.George spent hours listening to music, sometimes loosing himself in the moment during night watches and singing WAY LOUDER than he realized.  Love those cool shades?  Totally hip?  You be the judge.Cliff just enjoying the view a few days after he recovered from early-on mal de mer.  With Pandora in cruising mode, it was pretty much a wreck down below, at least it seemed that way to me, the anal skipper with all the cushions covered with canvas sheets.   These covers really proved their worth as we discovered leaks we didn’t know we had.  Isn’t that always the way?While we had our share of squalls, we had many many hours of wonderful sailing, ably assisted by our newest crew member, our windvane steering unit, Lisa.  I understand that most crews so attached to their vanes that they give them names, unlike electronic pilots that often end up with names that are not altogether complimentary.  After years of sudden changes in course, Pandora’s electric pilot is “Crazy Ivan”.

So, what to name our new pilot?  The leading contender, suggested by George is “Lisa” as in Lisa Simpson, of “The Simpsons”.  The idea behind this, George’s idea, seconded by Brenda, is that Lisa is widely regarded as the smartest member of the Simpson family, or should I say “crew”.  I’ll admit that I am not totally on board with this so I won’t be having Lisa tattoo’ed on my arm quite yet.

So, here we are and after only two days in port, the hardships of passage are becoming a distant memory with Pandora safely tied up here in Nelson’s Dockyard along with many others in the fleet, all proudly flying their Dawg Colors.Is there any spot on earth prettier than this to tie up your yacht?And, while Pandora was the first to actually tie up in what was an empty dockyard, prior to our arrival.  She’s clearly not alone any more.  It is tremendously gratifying to me personally to have so many of the boats tie up here in the Dockyard with the rest of the fleet after so many months of planning.And…the parties have begun, the week of events that we have planned for the fleet.   There’s a lot on tap including, and you won’t believe this one, an evening of Crab Racing.  Yes, Crab Racing!  Stay tuned for news about that one.

Meanwhile, some boats are still working their way south, way short on fuel, working through their on-board gremlins, waiting for favorable winds or dealing with critical breakdowns.  For an area that normally has too much wind, we are not seeing that now with nearly flat calm conditions expected for the next few days.

While I didn’t feel lucky at certain points on the trip, Pandora actually had it easy compared to the trials of some who ran into all sorts of mayhem.  In hindsight, Pandora and her crew made it here with a minimum of fuss.

Some had real issues to contend with.  This story, scary in the extreme, shows what can happen when you are far from land.  Aboard one boat was a crew member who had a liver transplant years ago and accidentally lost his vital medication, only a few days into their voyage.  This harrowing story, fortunately with a happy ending, was described to me by Hank, Salty Dawg president.

Hank wrote: (with a tiny bit of editing by me, I’ll admit)

“One boat, just arriving now, had a serious issue offshore.  A member of the crew accidentally dropped his supply of anti-rejection pills down the head (boat lurched, lid left up and the pills flew out of the vial, of course, landing right in the head.  The pills were gone that had to be taken on schedule for life after a liver transplant in 2013.  Without his medication he would only survive for a few days, not enough time to get to Antigua.  After lots of phone calls at our end to an immunologist (my brother) and the crewman’s doctors in NY, we learned that Prednisone would work fine as alternative to his prescribed medication to suppress immune system and get him to Antigua.  In checking around the fleet, we found two boats 90 miles away that had Prednisone aboard.  And then a miracle, the skipper found they had a supply in their first aid kit.  Disaster averted!

Several days later, when contacted by United States Coast Guard about how things were going, the crewman said he preferred to have his regular medications.  The USCG said no problem, and would send a supply out to him.  So last Sunday the USCG did an airdrop from C-130 flying 3-1/2 hours out of Elizabeth City NC.   

The crew of the yacht were able to recover the medical pods that included the lifesaving drugs to keep his body from rejecting a transplanted liver.  The USCG C-130, after hours of flight arrived on the scene, flew overhead, tossed the package to them and flew back home.”

What an amazing and gratifying story of Dawgs helping other Dawgs along with an amazing feat by our own USCG.

Another boat was struck by lightening a few days into the trip and lost all of their electronics.  They diverted to Bermuda where the captain and crew are now working hard to finish the installation so that they can get underway.  They are doing the installation themselves as the local dealers in Bermuda are too busy to help.

How about a fouled prop in mid ocean?  While a crew member on that yacht was swimming to remove a piece of line that had tangled with their prop they were visited by a curious whale, just checking them out.

Another boat made the mistake of putting their dink in davits hanging out over the stern and when it got rough the dink broke loose and was swinging wildly.  While the skipper tried to subdue the bucking dink, his foot was badly hurt.  Ultimately, the dink was cut away and lost.

But wait, there’s more.  SV Cayuga, is still out there s-l-o-w-l-y sailing toward Antigua as they lost their engine water pump and, as a result, the use of their engine early into the trip.  Since then they have been a prisoner to really light winds for days as they slowly sail and drift along.  This trip has seen it’s share of really light winds and very tough timing indeed for them.

Their best guess is that they will be somewhere near Antigua on Sunday so I have arranged to have Paul, co-owner of the Admiral’s Inn, run out with his boat to tow them in.  The parts, currently on the other side of the island, will be sent here to the Dockyard so that repairs can be made.    So, for now, it’s up to the crew of Cayuga to make their way to Antigua.  Here’s to a speedy passage, if that’s not too much to ask.

Another boat lost all of their newly installed electronics and had to rely on their GPS transponder to figure out where they were and text information to others to keep them informed on progress.  Happily, they approached English Harbor during daylight hours on Thursday and had an easy run into the Dockyard.

Yes, Pandora had it easy and now we are here in Antigua enjoying the fun.  And, speaking of fun, the parties have begun and last evening a local art gallery, Rhythm and Blue, owned by artist Nancy Nicholson, had her season opener party, timed to allow the Dawgs to be a part of the fun.  With what seemed like an endless stream, or river, of rum punch and appetizers along with a terrific reggae band, the event was really a lot of fun. A great turnout.
And, the Dawgs were well represented.
This evening Ann-Marie Martin, the Commissioner of Parks, is throwing a free party for the Dawgs including food and drink, their way of saying thanks for us coming to Antigua.

And, there’s more, something each day to look forward to for those who joined in on this year’s Salty Dawg Rally to Antigua.

So there you have it, while it was Antigua or bust for Pandora, it seems we have a lot to be thankful for as we ended up being only a little bit busted and we had a much easier time than some.

However, everything is working out, late or not for all the Dawgs heading our way and there will still be parties in store for them when they arrive.

The mood of the fleet, as evidenced by this morning checkin SSB net, has lightened quite a bit now that conditions are just easy reaching toward Antigua.  As of late evening yesterday, at around 23N, we began to pick up steady trade winds, the very thing that everyone has been waiting for since leaving Hampton.

After days of hunting for favorable winds and a painful amount of time heading more east than south, toward Antigua, it is a huge relief to be pointing directly toward our destination with a minimum of fuss.

The wind is solidly from the east now which puts us on a point of sail with the wind just forward of the beam, a great sailing angle for Pandora.   Wind speeds are consistent, moderate and running between 13 and 15kts, making for easy sailing.

We are still bucking a slight northerly current but we are going fast enough to see over the bottom speeds in the 7-8kt range.  It wasn’t more than a few days ago when we were motoring directly into light winds and current that we had to settle for speeds of about half that to make things worse, we weren’t even heading directly toward Antigua.

I like this much better and to be able to see that the mileage to Antigua is now under 300 miles warms my heart.  Actually, “warm” is the word of the day as it’s pretty hot and stuffy down below.  We can’t open up any hatches as the odd wave hits Pandora without warning, splashes over the deck and would surely find it’s way down below.

I can recall a time on my last run south when I had the small hatch over the galley open only to be shocked when gallons, and I mean gallons, of water surged in,  soaking me and the galley with an inch or more of water in a single shocking moment.  What a mess with salt water sloshing around on the counter and seeping into the fridge and behind cabinets, an experience that I don’t want to repeat.

So, hot and steamy is the word until we get to Antigua.     And, the answer to “when will we get there” seems to be in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

While we plan on tying up at the Dockyard in English Harbor for the next week with most of the other rally boats, we will first run next door into Falmouth harbor as the entrance is easier at night and there is enough space to get into calmer waters before we take down the main.  Recall that I am using my toping lift as a main halyard and taking that down means going up on deck to release the line, something that I don’t want to do in the chop outside of English Harbor, where the waves can be pretty large.

After a celebratory bit of rum after we drop anchor the crew will settle down for a nap and then move Pandora over to English Harbor in time to tie up at the dockyard when they open at 08:00.

After tying up in the dockyard we will clear in to customs and immigration, take the main off of the boom to send it out to the sailmaker for repairs which it is badly in need of.  I am hopeful that the repairs will be good for at least another season or two but I guess I’ll know more after the “diagnosis”.

However, the big event for me will be seeing Brenda as it’s been more than three weeks since I left home to begin preparing for the run and now making my way to Antigua.

For now I am so pleased to be making good time on the final leg to Antigua.  Steady as she goes about sums it up.