Sailing the WINDWARD Side

So, what is it about the WINDWARD side that rates capitals. I'm not sure. We have sailed down the islands and then down the islands again and hadn't sailed on the windward side and the thing is, no one else does either. At first glance it only makes sense to do it. One of the most frustrating things about sailing down the Leeward and Windward islands is, you start off from whichever anchorage you happen to be in and the first thing you have to do usually is get clear of the island. The prevailing winds down here are always from the east. They may be southeast or northeast or straight east, depending on the time of year, but they are always from the east. This means of course that if you sail down the leeward (west) side of the island, the wind from the east is blocked. On some islands that don't rise too high out of the sea there is less affect but most of the time there are mountains (not like the Rockies but still...)

So people leave their anchorage, try to sail but usually motor sail until they are clear of the island and then between islands there is a mad rush of wind and seas and whoopee - you're sailing. Of course even between islands the winds are affected so don't necessarily appear on the sails from the direction that the weather people say the wind should be coming from and that can be fun too. On the positive side, the seas are also affected by the islands so it is usually calmer and less rolly. Of course I am getting sidetracked - are you surprised? Where was I??

Okay, then why not always sail on the windward side where the islands don't get in the way. Truthfully I am not sure but I have some thoughts - as I usually do. When I think about where the winds and seas are coming from - Europe and Africa - it seems to me that this gives them a lot of time and space to build up power and strength and "peskiness". Of course while this is true, it doesn't necessarily mean that is a problem. That is what weather forecasting and weather information is about. But that is still a long distance to build up power etc etc.

The other thing is that of course there are very very few anchorages or safe havens on the windward side because there is usually no protection from all of the wind and seas. So - if something happens that you need to find shelter i.e. boat problems, unexpected weather etc, then you are SOL.

Whatever - I have rambled enough, on to our journey. We left Tyrell Bay about 7:00 am with winds about 18-20 knots almost directly from the east. Since we were heading pretty well south that put us on a beam reach - wind directly from the side and a great way to sail. The seas were about 3-5 ft, also from the east. Although that meant we were in the trough, this isn't usually a problem if the period (time between wave peaks) is long. For us it was about 12-14 seconds, which is great. The seas did increase later to about 7-9 feet but again because of the period it was not a big deal.

We had been experiencing quite a few squalls when we were in Tyrell Bay but the skies were clear and stayed that way. It was funny how one can get used to something and not even realize it. In this case, it was seeing the islands on our starboard side. If we had travelled up island before of course this would have not have been the case but since we had done the Curacao-Antigua trip last year to get back to the Leewards this was something new.

As you are likely aware, we have a mainsail, a foresail and a staysail (going down in order of size). We use the first two regularly and when wind conditions are a little low we bring up the staysail. Yesterday we didn't need our third sail as we were merrily beating along at 8-8.5 kts, almost upright and with little affect from the swell. WHAT A SAIL - it kind of guarantees that when we have another chance we will certainly do it. Grenada and St Vincent both come to mind as good islands to do that on. Of course going north, you have to be a little more cognizant of the wind and sea as there is more chance that you will be heading into them.

The only down side - if it could be called a down side - was that when we turned the corner on the southeast corner of Grenada the wind ended up directly behind us which meant we ended up putting our foresail completely out and taking in the foresail since when the main is all out it blocks the wind for the foresail. We could have done it the other way around and left the foresail up but truthfully I didn't think of it and although Cheryl did, she made the unfounded assumption that I knew what I was doing. It didn't really matter because we were still able to keep it over 6 kts until we reached the opening for Prickly Bay.

So, here we are once again in Grenada. We both really like it here and we have things to do so we will keep ourselves occupied for a while. I tend to get antsy when we are too long in one place so we may try other anchorages if that happens. Since we choose not to go north (hurricane season has started), if the travel itch become overpowering we can always head for Tobago or even for Los Tostigos but we will play this all by feel. We put Mystic Journey up for antifouling and some other minor work on 7 August and then fly out for Canada on the 13th so I am sure we will keep ourselves meaningfully occupied until then. We will keep you posted.

PS from Cheryl
Griff forgot to mention the fishing on the trip down. Having bought a new lure in Clifton, Union Island to replace one he lost, he decided to try fishing again. We were sailing along and he said 'I think I got a bite!' I looked out over the stern and sure enough he had got a bite except it was a brown booby that kept diving at the lure that must have been just below the surface. This kept happening for a while until Griff felt the line go slack. When he pulled it in sure enough the lure and leader were gone. You know Griff - so attach another lure and try again. Almost immediately he had a fish on the line. You could see it come to the surface, long and silvery. The brown booby also saw it and started diving on it. As he was bringing it in I saw the fish do a jump and a bit of a tail flip and it was gone. That was the end of fishing for the day.