Next Day

Next Day
Well, although I didn't get back to this last night, at least I didn't forget. Last time I talked about sailing with the Perry family and what a great time it was. We had been scheduled to leave the next day for Bonaire, with a stop to drop off a part of another boat in Los Roques. I am not going to describe locations - the internet is a great source of information - but I will say the route would take us past Los Tostigos, La Blanquilla, Los Roques and the Ave's before we got to Bonaire, which
is part of the Netherland Antilles (whoops - forgot). Due to some stores being closed for stocktaking on the Tuesday and also due to the fact we had not done enough things in advance, we decided to leave on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Part of this was also due to the fact we had not intended to leave until after lunch on Wednesday and thought we could do our catch-up in the morning but since we wanted to arrive in Los Roques in daylight we needed to leave earlier. Whatever the reasons, we
spent Wednesday preparing for our Thursday voyage.
Thursday morning we cleared customs, topped up the diesel and water tanks and by 10:30 were on our way. It was a bright sunny day with good winds, at least when we started out and aside from wind shifts and the swells changing direction a couple of times, we made fairly good progress. We had never sailed wing-on-wing before but had practiced putting up the lines and the whisker pole so we decided to try it later in the day. We discovered that in theory it can work well. In practice, certain conditions
have to be in place. For instance the wind needs to be of sufficient strength to fill the sails and even more important, the wind is much better when it comes from a slight angle, one side or the other. This is particularly true if the wind is not strong. The choice of which side to put the main sail and which side to put the foresail is also made easier by the slight angle. Of course you put the main sail on the side towards which the wind is blowing. Even allowing for the slight angle, if the wind
is not strong enough, the sails have a tendency to back fill and then "slap". I won't explain that but sufficient to say it is not good and very annoying. This also happens if you make the wrong choice about which side to put which sail.
So, we learned and we practiced and we got pretty good at moving the whisker pole to one side or the other. Oh, did I mention that the God's of wind just love newbies to try new things so that, for example, as soon as they get the sails on the right side and the lines strung and everything looks good, The Gods will change the wind direction.
We managed to fill the day with busyness and learning and yes Julie we did eat. By nightfall we were ready to rest. We had decided to try watch-standing as our friends on Southern Cross do it. Dee stands the first watch to midnight and Don does the next 6 until dawn. Since I am usually in bed and asleep first, we decided I would sleep early and work late and Cheryl would do the opposite of course. This would likely have worked well if I had been able to sleep in the early evening and if Cheryl had
been able to sleep when her watch was done. I ended up bobbing up and down the companionway all evening either trying to find a place where I would fall asleep or else worrying about what the boat or the weather was doing. By 11:00 PM I gave up and told Cheryl she might as well try to sleep. Of course that didn't happen either but we both made it to the morning and I will leave it there for now.
Don't forget, this is by SSB radio so shorter is better. Next blog I will talk more about the beauty and joy of what we are doing on this trip rather than the problems we experienced.

Catching Up

A Catch-Up at Sea
I'm writing this as we sail to Bonaire (with an Angel of Mercy stop in Los Roques to deliver a part to a boat. It is a Cataraman - Mustang Sally - but we can excuse that because they are Canadian!!) from Grenada. We thought it was time to catch up with the last few days because Bonaire will start a new page in our adventure book.
After Cheryl's delightful birthday party at the Perry's apartment we all went back to Mystic Journey the next day for a sail. We got there around 10 if my memory serves me (time IS different here!!) and after squaring everything away, we sailed out of Prickly Bay for parts unknown. Actually we knew where we were and we knew where we were going but it sounds adventurous to say it that way. Graham took the wheel as we left the bay and in fact sailed for the whole trip. When I helped Graham take Artemo
to St Davids he gave me the same privilege and I remember how nice it felt to sail once again behind the wheel. At that time we hadn't sailed for about 5 weeks and it rejuvenated me so since Graham hadn't sailed since being back in Canada I thought I would return the favour.
For those of you who have checked the Position Report link on the blog you may have noted 2 points south of Grenada - that was where we sailed on Tuesday. Julie, Alex and Amelia spent some time sitting on the side with their feet dangling (see Casting Off's blog) and then Alex and I moved further up the boat and sat with feet dangling while we discussed a wide variety of topics. It is really great to talk to Alex and Millie like that because they are so wise and so knowledgeable - not just for their
age but in all aspects.
Cheryl kind of hung out doing her thing - talking about the boat and the upcoming trip and as soon as we got back she was busy making lunch for all. Not to say that making lunch is her thing but that day it was!!
We got back to Prickly about 2:30 and the kids (and I) were immediately in the water, soon joined by Julie and Graham. Too soon, however, they had to head back and we said our farewells. It was really somewhat sad - but in a good way. We had so enjoyed having them around and now we were leaving but we also know that we will see them as soon as they possibly can after they get Artemo back in the water.
Well, since I am sending this through our SSB link and it is better to keep things short, I will close this blog and later tonight or early tomorrow while I am standing watch I will see if I can bring you all up to the present date and time