Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Back at it! Tuesday 6th December 2011
I am writing this at 38,000 feet over the Atlantic or however high a Virgin Atlantic 747 flies, on my way to St Lucia.
I flew back from Greece on Saturday 3rd December and I am in the air again 3 days later.I had a very good time with Sailing Holidays in Greece and was gainfully employed right up to the end.Since my last blog entry in September (sorry) I have been very busy working.The season finished at the end of October with a sail race where there was no wind, but plenty of laughs instead drifting with other staff members.We then put the boats to bed for the winter, but the main reason I stayed in through November was that I ran a yachtmaster theory and prep course for the exam, for 5 staff members and a Greek man.It was my first prep course that I have run and we were all exhausted after the end.We were very lucky with the wind, having up to 25 knots of wind in the middle of the week.The guys doing the course then did their yachtmaster exam afterwards and all passed.Congratulations Tana, Tristan, Sam, Jay, Craig and Diego.The examiner has to be flown in - he/she cannot be involved with the training of the candidates, and he commented that he was very impressed with the prep work that the school had done.Cheers!
About a month ago a man called Simon contacted me looking for crew in December.He is doing the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), and has been racing across the Atlantic to St Lucia with about 220 other yachts since 20th November.He owns a Discovery 55 foot yacht called Casamara and all his crew are 'abandoning' him in St Lucia but he is sailing down to Trinidad and then winterizing the boat there, so needs more crew.I have never been there and Simon has offered to pay for all expenses while onboard so here I am.I hope to make some contacts and maybe open some doors for the future as well.
Wednesday 7th
Nine hours after taking off we landed in St. Lucia, then stood around for another hour and a half to go through immigration, then another two hours in a taxi up to Rodney Bay marina, find a hotel and I was out for the count.
The taxi driver welcomed me to paradise and in the two hour journey we talked a lot about the island, about the drive-in volcano in St. Lucia, the cruise ships that really look like a block of flats close up, about her politics and of course what the local beer is!The airport is on the south of the island but the capital, Castries, and the Rodney Bay marina were on the north of the island.We drove through the rainforest and saw the giant ferns.I saw giant rats in the town as well!Bananas are the island's main export, and to the UK, and the island was well covered in banana trees.They only take six months to grow and they grow all year round here because the annual temperature change is only about 6°C.
I am writing this in a café in the marina waiting for the crew to wake up as the arc fleet viewer online says they arrived at 12.30 am local time - that's 4.30 am UK time.I was asleep!
I slept until about 8am local - 12 midday UK time, had a lovely shower, checked out the hotel and went to the marina for some breakfast and emailing.Afterwards, I walked on down the docks and there she was - Casamara, a Discovery 55 foot yacht, and my home for the next 2 and a half weeks.The first man I met was Iain, who is an ex-student of mine.We greeted warmly and I met the rest of the crew - Jeremy, Charlie, Paul and Tim.The last person I met was Simon, the owner and skipper of Casamara.We 'knew' each other from my time at Chatham, but I could not put a face to the name until I met him.He had a previous boat in Chatham.During the day we sat around getting to know each other and the skipper let everyone have a day off.In the evening there was an ARC party at a nearby hotel with five free small drinks and an excellent steel band.They played absolutely everything from Rhianna and Michael Jackson to the inevitable Bob Marley and even waltz music.Sadly the party died when the band stopped so we went back to the marina to carry on drinking.That evening I caught up with George, who worked for Sailing Holidays in the summer and who had completed the ARC, and with a young man called Sam, who was interested in jumping onboard with us on the trip down to Trinidad.It turns out that he grew up in Whitstable, went to Simon Langton Grammar School and was there at the same time as I was.I still did not recognize him.Then he said he played the trumpet and he asked if I went on a music tour to Florida with the school, which I did.Then it hit me - I did know him.He was a short, scrawny kid with longish blond hair at school.Now he's got a bit of stubble and darker, shorter hair so that's why I did not recognize him.So even across the world I am bumping into people I knew previously.
Thursday 8th December:Today was tidy up and maintenance day.We'd already discussed what was needed to be done.There were two small rips in the genoa which I helped to drop and tape up and re-hoist.We also investigated an oil leak into the bilges and pumped the bilges out into a container which I then emptied in a separate tank at the marina.That took all of five round trips and all the afternoon.I did get to have very brief conversations with the people on route, who thought I was running a business changing engine oil very quickly.
At 5.30pm local time Simon and his crew were all invited to the Discovery founder's catamaran for drinks in congratulations for completing the ARC, and so I went along as well.Discovery Yachts are built near Southampton and are at the high-end of the market, much like Oyster.The 50 foot catamaran was Discovery's first attempt at a luxury cat, and the forcabin spanned the width of the cat.It was like sleeping in an attic because it was quite long but low.The presence of the hot tub in the bow also added evidence that this cat was worth the £3 million price tag.
Up to now I have not mentioned that the weather was very British - overcast with rain showers.Only the temperature and humidity were Caribbean-like.On Friday 9th the weather turned for the better and the sun cam fully out.Therefore, it was tourist day for the crew of Casamara.We went to the very north west corner of the island, to an old British lookout post, overlooking the French island of Martinique.Great views from the top and I took some photos to boot.Afterwards, we walked back to the sea and had a swim in the 35°C warm, clear turquoise water.We then walked all the way back to the marina, observing the extremely rich people holidaying in a Sandals resort, and then walked through a local town.All the locals are very friendly and they genuinely want to have a chat and have no hard feelings toward you.St. Lucia's two main sources of income are from tourism and from exporting bananas to the UK.It was a huge contrast as everyone in the Sandals resort completely ignored us.
On Saturday we finished the running repairs to the boat by sending me up to the top of the 75 foot high mast to fix a light up there.Fortunately there was an electric winch so I did not have to climb.Then in the late morning we motored out to the bay and had a proper swim.It was great to get the boat out of the marina, if just for half a day.In the evening I helped moor a boat up opposite us and they invited me on for a drink.Later I went with them to a concert for people from Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia.They had come from Martinique for the weekend.I had no idea what the artists were singing about, but the music had a good beat I could swing my arms to.It was a great experience of local culture and all the locals were going wild towards the island singers.
Sunday was a day of customs clearance, passage planning and victualing - making sure we have got enough supplies as we set sail, finally, tomorrow.
- comments