First of all, forgive me for having such a gap in my posting as it’s been crazy busy since I returned home on April 1st to get the house open for the summer and to visit family. What a whirlwind. A short two weeks later, on Tax Day to be specific, I returned to Antigua and remarkable week of sailing on some amazing beautiful yachts for the Classic Yacht Regatta.

As luck would have it, I was able to get aboard Eros with two other Salty Dawg members, my crew Steve and friend Mark, for the full series, four days sailing on this amazing schooner. I wrote about her in my last post so I won’t repeat it here.

The series, with more boats than any year since 2017 saw more than 60 boats competing. Their size ranged from lengths in the teens up to those well over 100′, with Eros one of the largest.

This short regatta summary video gives a feel for the range of boats in the regatta. It was a wonderful experience to be aboard such a magnificent yacht.

Eros has huge sails and fortunately, we had light wind for the first two days so we were able to learn more about sailing her when the loads were less. The most challenging part of sailing Eros is setting the “fish”, or what the fisherman sail is referred to, a large sail that is hoisted between the two masts. It is quite a handful and to get it hoisted smartly, takes 6-10 crew all working together. To watch Colin, the skipper, call out orders along with waving arms, reminded me of a conductor in an orchestra. I had sailed with him two years ago aboard Columbia when he was #2 on that boat.

What a beautiful yacht. This photo, taken a few years ago by Beverly Factor, a professional photographer, is, I am told, owner Cameron’s favorite shot and the graphics on crew shirts are based on this photo.

She is a remarkable boat with a caring owner. Cameron, told me that he has a partner in the boat and that it actively chartered. I was struck by how warmly he welcomed those who had volunteered to race her. Colin, the skipper interviewed most if not all to be sure that they would perform well and be fun to have on board.

Colin greeted the crew each day to be sure that everyone knew what was expected and the importance of staying safe. It was clearly a caring family environment. This photo of the briefing doesn’t show how many were on board, upwards of 30+ each day. Busy boat but the loads were tremendous and timing for adjusting lines had to be done in a carefully orchestrated way to keep from breaking stuff, including body parts. And, speaking of “body damage” on that first day I didn’t manage a line quite properly and it slipped through my fingers, taking some skin along with it. It could have been a lot worse and I never made that same mistake again. Of course, as always, my “guardian angel” kept watch over me. All better now…

The crew…

Some of the younger crew for Eros came from Alvei, an old steel ship. Their only way to get aboard was to walk up one of the dock lines. Looks precarious, and it was, with at least one member ending up in the water. They were amazingly hard working and great to have aboard.

The “boss” of Eros, Cameron, on the left, took turns with Colin for time at the helm but most of the time Colin was more than occupied keeping the crew in line. Photo by Anna Boulton.

When it came time to back into the dock, it was always Colin at the helm and to watch him call out commands to the crew and “boat wranglers”, dinks that volunteered to push the bow as needed to line things up, was a sight to behold. And, if Colin was freaking out inside, it never showed.

With the exception of a small permanent crew, all of us were new to the boat and it was a big boat with huge loads. A lot could have gone wrong in a moment so careful oversight was vital. By the fourth day we pretty well knew our jobs or at least tried hard to do things right.

There were a number of photographers aboard for the trip and at least one chartered a chopper to take aerial photos.

This young lady was a lot of fun. Her socks “for (fox) sake” brought a smile to us all. She was relentlessly cheerful and a lot of fun to have on board. My jib partner and marine artist, Anna Boulton took this great photo.

The youngest crew during a quiet moment. Her dad is a regular on the big boat racing circuit.

Cameron is clearly passionate about Eros and the community of sailors that she fosters. At the end of the series he called out a number of crew for their dedication and hard work in a way that made it clear that he really cares about the boat and the experiences that it offers those who sail on her.

Read about Cameron’s family history and what lead to his choosing Eros nearly a decade ago. Eros has a busy charter season coming up summer in New England. Check out her site for some great background.

After the last day or racing, there was an awards ceremony in Nelson’s Dockyard, a spectacular venue. Big crowds.

It was fun to be up on the stage with the crew. Thanks to Tony, fellow crew member, for taking this shot.

The prize to Eros, second in her class, was a “keg” of rum. Colin was quick to share it with the crew. Me too… As you can imagine, it got a bit rowdy but in a good way. Rum tends to do that to people. My apologies as I don’t know who took this photo. Perhaps it was the rum…

It was an amazing few days and perhaps down the road I’ll be able to crew again. You never know. She is home-based in Newport this summer. Hmm…

Before I break, this shot of Bolero. What a gem. I did sail on her for a very memorable practice day before the Classics began but that’s a post for another day.

So, here I sit in Bequia, near St Vincent, for a few days before doing an overnight to Trinidad with Steve. We expect to arrive there on May 1st and then I will be crazy busy getting Pandora ready to haul for the summer. Lots of work needed before I head north to Antigua in early November. I have to say that after more than a decade of north and south each season, it will be nice to avoid the 3,000 mile round trip run.

After an overnight run from Guadeloupe, we arrived here yesterday. We had some really good fish tacos before a much needed good night sleep. The view of the sunset from dinner. What a spot.

It has indeed been a remarkable few weeks. Next stop, Trinidad.

Today we are getting Pandora ready for leaving her in Trinidad, taking all of Brenda’s stuff home and most of her clothing. Thinking about what we should leave or take is a bit daunting as we won’t be back aboard, once I leave her in Trinidad until next winter, probably not till mid January.

We fly out in a few days, April 1st, back home from Antigua. In some ways the season has been a flash in the pan and yet there were times, with all those rolling anchorages, that it seemed like a long time.

While rolly anchorages are not uncommon in the Caribbean, this season seemed to be particularly active with winds from weird directions. For the last few days the wind has, once again, been out of the west, the opposite of the normal easterly trades. Very weird, for sure.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a “rare” west wind but here we are again, with the same thing happening again. While the winds have been variable for the last few days, they have come from a generally westerly direction, making the harbor a bit choppy and slowly filling with Sargasso weed that ultimately ends up on the beaches and slowly rots.

The “Classics” as the event is known here, brings together a remarkable number of beautiful yachts of all ages but the ones that really stand out are the vintage wooden ones, some of the most beautiful yachts ever built.

One in particular is Bolero, an iconic yacht that is one of the most successful ocean racers ever. She was designed by Sparkman and Stephens for the Brown family and launched in 1949, winning the Bermuda race multiple times and setting a course record that stood for nearly two decades.

As is the case for so many classic yachts, she eventually fell into disrepair, but ultimately rescued by owners with the means to bring her back to life. Today she is actively raced and will be participating in the Classic regatta here in Antigua.

I mention this as I have been invited to sail on her for a “practice” day before the Regatta begins. I am more than thrilled.

She is impressive.

In 2019 I was invited to be a “support boat” on the New York Yacht Club cruise and had an opportunity to meet her owner, Ed Kane. He agreed to let me aboard for a look but before I was able to go over, they had to leave.

The week was pretty amazing including an event at Harbor Court, now the Newport clubhouse for the NYYC and once home of the Brown family, who commissioned Bolero. I wrote a post about this amazing experience.

However, all was not lost as I later saw Bolero in her slip at the Newport Shipyard and the skipper was generous enough to let me tour her and take photos.

She has beautiful lines.

On deck, amazing attention to detail.

Stainless gleaming like new and it should with a full time captain and underwent a no-expense-spared restoration in Maine some years back.

Down below she looks the part of a proper yacht.

As you can imagine, I am pretty excited about being aboard her for a day of sailing. I might even be lucky enough to get an “official” shirt. Of course, the crew has to look the part, if only for a day.

Bolero is truly a one-of-a-kind yacht under the care of a thoughtful owner. See this article in Yachting Magazine from shortly after her refit.

So, another goal of mine will be to find a crew spot on one of the big classics for the Classic racing series. I have a number of feelers out including Nordwind. I had met the captain, Alex in Dominica when I invited him and his crew to join in on the fun at the Salty Dawg rendezvous. It turns out that he is also a member of the Tot club and when I saw him last night he seemed to think that he could likely take me. However, not sure about Steve, my crew, so we will have to wait and see. The captain told me that the Tot Club will be meeting aboard her during classics. I can’t wait.

Norwind was launched in Germany in 1939 as a naval training vessel and has had a long and colorful past. Read about her history in this brief piece.

So, will I sail on her for Classics? We’ll have to see.

Another boat that I may possibly sail on is Eros. I have no particular connection to this boat except that I know the person who interacts with the captains of all the boats that will participate in the regatta. She tells me that I have been recommended as a possible crew and it takes a lot of people to race her, upwards of 30 I am told.

This short video makes me want to get out my checkbook and charter her. Perhaps not, but there is a chance that I will be aboard when she is racing. We’ll see.

All and all, whatever yacht I find myself aboard, it’s going to be a wonderful experience. This video was commissioned for Eros during the 2017 Classics and gives a good feel for the scale of what this regatta is all about, one of the premier gatherings of remarkable classics anywhere.

Imagine the thrill of racing these majestic yachts. With some luck, perhaps I will be part of the action.

Tomorrow morning at daybreak we will slip Pandora’s lines and drop the mooring that we have been on for the last few days here in Les Saintes, to make the 75 mile run north past Guadeloupe and on to Antigua.

From Antigua I will fly home with Brenda to get the house open for the summer. Mid April, tax day actually, I will fly back to participate, I hope, in the Classic Yacht Regatta and then run Pandora south to Trinidad with a friend, the last cruise of 2024.

Les Saintes are a small group of islands located just south of the main island of Guadeloupe, one of our favorite places to visit. The view of shore is very charming, with red metal roofs on all the buildings, looking oh-so-French.

The view to the north of the “big island” of Guadeloupe, is impressive, especially when the light glows near sunset. Or wait, was it sunrise? Whatever, it’s always lovely.

These islands are accessible from the main island via ferry and there is a constant parade of boats coming and going all day and into the evening, disgorging hundreds of tourists, mostly French.

“Mainstreet” is very charming, complete with a number of patisseries, so there is always a good selection of baked products to choose from.

Our run from Martinique here a few days ago was uneventful, with very nice winds. I took this short video as we approached Dominica.

We stopped for the night in Portsmouth, Dominica but didn’t clear in, “yellow flagging” it, and leaving early the next morning. Sadly, as has been the case in many places this season, it was terribly rolly so we didn’t get a good night sleep. Brenda and I have had just about enough rolling for one season. There is something unnatural about being anchored and yet having enough boat movement to make it impossible to keep anything upright on the counter.

Fortunately, Les Saintes have proven to be mostly calm and enjoyable. We’ve eaten out a bit and tonight we will be meeting a number of fellow cruisers a bar overlooking the water for cocktails. It will be a nice mix including two couples that we already know and three that we don’t.

One of the couples are on a mooring near us, flying an Ocean Cruising Club burgee, another French couple that we anchored near in St Pierre and a third that we met today on the dock. The chance meeting on the dock was when they asked us where they could get rid of trash. We told them and then I invited them to join us. Random? Yes, but that’s a great way to meet folks.

Imagine seeing someone downtown where you live, perhaps at the post office, and inviting them for drinks? No, not a chance but in the world of cruising, not weird at all. Well, not for someone as shy and retiring as I am.

This evening should be fun with a nice mix including that couple the we “met”, sort of in St Pierre, and they don’t even speak English well at all. When I went to see them this morning and invited them to join us for “sun downers”, well, they had no idea what I was trying to say. We finally settled on “drinks” and they got that along with me putting up five fingers to designate the time.

That’s me, shy and retiring Bob. We will see how that goes. I’m sure that it will be fine.

So, tomorrow, off to Antigua for the, sort of, final chapter as we pack up all our stuff, mostly Brenda’s and decide what we can live without until Pandora goes to Trinidad and sometime later in the year, back in the water to head north again.

Trinidad is a long way from home and with all the work that has to be done to get her ready for the “possible, likely, hopefully” run to the Azores next spring, plenty to think about.

For the moment, not a lot to think about at all except perhaps which bathing suit to wear for my afternoon swim.

We have spent quite a bit of time in Martinique this season. Some weeks ago we cleared into St Pierre at the northern end of the island, moved down to Ft de France and then onto to St Lucia for nearly two weeks. After that we moved back to Martinique and spent time in St Anne, a lovely little village with a huge anchorage.

The anchorage is very well protected, open to the west but in the lee of the island. A beautiful sunrise nearly every morning.

We enjoy one restaurant in particular, right on the water. Our view.

My view and dinner date, Brenda.

We were not alone but it was a very relaxed vibe. To sip a drink with your toes in the gently lapping water…

On the way back to Pandora it was a beautiful night. Thanks to my amazing Google Pixel phone, a pretty good shot of her at anchor with a rising moon with blue LED lights bathing her mainsail with a glow.

A few days ago we headed north to St Pierre again where we expected to spend a few days before clearing out and continuing our trip north to return to Antigua.

Along the way we passed an “island” if you can call it that. It is the cone of a long extinct volcano. Over the millions of years, the soft parts had washed away, leaving only the hard rock of the interior lava cone remaining. It is huge and quite intimidating to see the waves crashing up on it

It’s hard to get a feel for the scale of this rock. It’s enormous.

Big yes until you see the dive boats at the base. It’s massive.

I took a short video about this formation as we sailed past.

When we reached the northern part of the island, we picked up a mooring in St Pierre, long a very challenging place to anchor because the shoreline drops off quickly. In this case our mooring, newly installed, not far from shore, in 100′ of water.

The Saturday market was bustling.

Hard to believe that a single vendor could have such variety.

The first day in St Pierre was lovely with calm waters and a beautiful sunset. I do love sunsets and this one is perhaps in the top ten. I plan to submit it to the “Cloud Appreciation Society”. They post a cloud photo a day and I have had a few of them selected over the years. I wrote a post about this quirky group some time back and decided to join.

The run north to Dominica is fairly long and requires an early start so our plan was to head out on Sunday morning, today, but as we returned to Pandora in the afternoon of the second day on the mooring, it had become terribly rolly. While we were on shore for only a few hours, quite a surge had developed and dishes had crashed out of the cabinets onto the counters, due to the violent rolling. So we quickly decided to up anchor and head back to Ft de France, a retreat of about ten miles in the wrong direction.

A setback to be sure but being in St Pierre is always a lesson in “what might be” and to get more than a day or two of calm conditions is not common in our experience. Happily, it was calm when we arrived but a swell came up on the second night and it got nasty. It seems to be settling down again. For sure, it was calmer than in St Pierre.

So, here we are again in Fort de France for a few days. I say “few” as that speedo that I had “fixed” wasn’t fixed after all so I had to go back to La Marin to see what can be done about it. The repair guy now says that he can “fix it” and even agreed to bring it back to Fort de France tomorrow. The $50 “fix” didn’t last long and by the second day, I will reserve judgement

While we didn’t want to head north only to head back south again but sometimes life is unpredictable, “two steps forward, one step back”. At least it is, sort of, calm now although last night was more than a bit challenging, to be sure.

The good news is that we had brunch yesterday at a restaurant that we really overlooking the harbor and that didn’t roll a bit.

We will just have to make the best of it I guess and hope to head north again in a day or so. I will admit that I am looking forward to being back in CT soon. I know Brenda is…

I can still remember when I was working and a vacation was a week or two where we rushed around trying to accomplish as much as possible before our time off was up. Now that I have been retired and “hanging around” for winters aboard Pandora, going on a decade now, my perspective of time has changed.

We often quip about life aboard Pandora is that “nothing happens aboard Pandora till noon” and that is in spite of the fact that I am a very early riser, generally around 05:00. Any way you look at it, there is a lot of “nothing happening time” each day.

The arrival last winter of Starlink has even made our “pursuit for leisure” way worse, with easy access to newspapers and all matters of stuff. We think nothing of watching highlights of late night TV or how-to videos on YouTube and that doesn’t even begin to include the movies that we enjoy watching after dinner. It can really put a dent in a day. Nowadays compared to my years working, I am not all that productive when I am aboard.

I’ll admit that in spite of my recent upgrades to solar, the addition of a wind generator and lithium batteries, Pandora’s power consumption has increased in direct proportion to our available power. The good news is that lithium batteries don’t have to be fully charged each day and are quite content to be kept “sort of charged” which is good as that’s where they generally are.

Of course, there’s plenty to do that doesn’t use power including a swim off of the back of Pandora. It’s hot here and as spring approaches will be a bit hotter so spending time cooling off is a near daily ritual.

Recently we added a new twist the “evening float” complete with a glass of wine. Not a bad way to wrap up a day on the water.

A common question cruisers get from folks that have no idea what this lifestyle is all about is “what do you do all day?” Sadly, in spite of feeling like I am fairly busy much of the time, the simple answer is “not a lot” as everything takes so much longer on a boat than on shore. The simple act of grocery shopping may involve stops at more than one place and even then, they may not have what we are looking for. And, stock can be spotty so it’s not uncommon for us to visit a grocery store, generally a small market, nearly every day. And, bringing a dink to a dock, putting out a stern anchor and getting ashore, only to reverse the whole process when we return is a lot more time consuming than parking a car and running into a grocery.

And there is the near constant work of keeping the boat in shape and keeping the hull clean below the waterline. In that case, I have to get out the air compressor, all the gear and then spend upwards of an hour underwater with a coarse scotchbright pad, rubbing off the slime and growth. To keep things from getting too bad, I have to do that about every two weeks and from start to finish, getting set up, the cleaning process itself and then cleaning up and putting things away can take two hours.

Simple repairs can often be a game of “cat and mouse”. Example: A few weeks ago my speedometer/distance log began to function erratically and finally just stopped working. Absent someone to come out the boat with instruments to test things, I started pulling things apart to see if there were any shorts. After a few hours I gave up and realized that the fix was bigger than me.

When I was in St Lucia last week I had a tech come out to test it and the verdict was that the instrument was bad and, no, they did not have a replacement available. So, a week later, when we arrived in La Marin, Martinique, a place with a lot more services, I made the rounds until I finally found someone who could diagnose the problem with the instrument itself. So, I pulled it out, took it to them and then waited the 4 days until they could take a look.

The good news is that they were able to fix it. That was a shock to me as I had been told in the past that repairs weren’t possible on obsolete units like mine. Over the years as individual instruments have failed, I resorted to purchasing old equipment that had been salvaged off of boats when their instruments were upgraded.

In the US, with labor rates so high, it generally doesn’t pay to repair and the answer is always, “Bob, this stuff is so old. Just buy new stuff” That’s not what I want to hear as a full electronics suite replacement is upwards of $35k. Here in the islands there is a much greater willingness to fix as it’s so hard to get new stuff delivered, labor rates are less and fixing is generally encouraged.

Had my spedo not been repairable, I found that I could purchase a new unit that could be adapted to work with my old stuff. That option has never been offered to me in the US when I have been scrounging for used stuff. The bad news is that the new one was upwards of $600 but still a lot cheaper than a full suite replacement.

The good news is that they fixed it and for about $50 it was back on the boat and as good as new.

Another example was earlier in the season when I had to have some work done on the boom and instead of making me order new fittings, the holes that were elongated were just filled with new metal, bored out and returned to me in “like new” condition. No fuss, no muss. There was no way that someone in the US would “fix” it. Just order a new one. Easy peasy and besides, it’s not their money.

The oft repeated adage that cruising is nothing more than “boat repair in exotic places” is certainly the case.

So, what do we do all day? Well, in spite of being busy much of the time, it seems not a lot gets done.

We do spend a lot of time opening and closing hatches as short 5-10 minute rain squalls roll through. But the reward is a beautiful rainbow dropping out of the clouds over a palm covered beach.

Or sitting up on deck taking in the news of the day as the sun peeks over the horizon to begin a new day.

Another favorite pastime for me is “boat spotting” and there is plenty to keep me busy here in the Caribbean. While it’s the big superyachts that generally catch my attention, Grayhound was in the marina along with us in Rodney Bay last week.

She’s a reproduction of an 18th century lugger. Here’s what their site has to say about her. As luck would have it, when we departed for Martinique, she was underway as well. A beautiful site and was moving along at a good clip.

Their site says…“Grayhound was commissioned by Marcus and Freya Pomeroy-Rowden from the boatbuilder Chris Rees at Voyager Boatyard in Cornwall. She was launched on 4th August 2012. She is a 5/6th scale replica of a three-masted UK Customs Lugger called Grayhound that was built in 1776 in Cawsand, Cornwall. Our Grayhound carries a Category 0 licence for worldwide travel and is armed with two working cannon!”

This short video is worth watching.

My impression, when I walked by her at the dock was that she wasn’t quite a neat and tidy as this “walk through” would suggest. I expect, no am certain, that Brenda would not be comfortable aboard. In spite of my best efforts, Pandora is often below her standards and that’s not for a lack of trying.

I also spend a lot of time on Salty Dawg tasks and that consumes hours a day, whether it is talking to potential rally participants about their plan, offering advice, asked for or not, to those who are new to blue water sailing and helping them to understand that “don’t know what they don’t know”. Generally this advice is welcomed, occasionally not so much.

So, what do we do all day to keep busy aboard Pandora? I’ll admit that I am a bit unclear but I am busy.

Oh yeah, and I do spend a lot of time thinking about my next blog post and writing it. I know that I could probably spend a bit more time on proof-reading but I guess I am Ok with an occasional, or not so occasional typo or awkward sentence.

All of this has been about me. Brenda, on the other hand, always has a list of projects she is focused on. Today, as has been the case twice a month this season, she was teaching a class on tapestry to some of her more advanced students. She really enjoys it and has worked out the two camera system pretty well over zoom. This is a shot of her in “full battle gear”.

And, tapestry isn’t all that she does, how about Nantucket baskets, knitting, some sort of handwork I can’t remember and well, a lot more. One thing she NEVER does is quilting so don’t ask her about that. FOr sure, she is never idle and is very focused on being able to say “I accomplished this, and this and this today. And, sadly, that’s never enough for her. Her most recent post is a bit behind her work but check it out.

Well, I guess I have beaten this just about to death so I will sign off now. It’s a beautiful day here in St Anne Martinique where I expect we will spend a few more days before heading north toward Antigua and our flight back to home.

Besides, I have to go for a swim, sadly without Brenda as she has a zoom webinar coming up. Never idle…

In a few weeks, back home for what will surely be a whirlwind two week trip for family visits in MD and NYC, along with loads of yardwork, back to Antigua again to run Pandora down to Trinidad where she will be for the summer and likely the rest of 2024.

So, what do I do all day? Well, I guess that depends on what is broken…