(For the non-sailor: 1nm = 1 nautical mile = 1.852km)
What wouldn’t we do for our friends ? First we put Guenther on board our friends ship the SY Tamora because we couldn’t make it to Martinique in time and Guenther had to take a plane to St. Vincent. It also was very hard to leave our friends in Carriacou. And then there was the weather – or rather the wind. It came from NNE and that was exactly the direction we would have to sail !
We departed from Carriacou at sunset and already knew that this trip wouldn’t be exactly a nice one. Despite being very short – only 45nm it would take long – that was sure.
And it was exactly as we expected it: it took us 26 hours to do the 45 miles distance (sailed distance: 99 miles !!) And we had to fight for every single mile against a wind with 6 Beaufort and a nasty sea. And to make it not too easy, the current also was against us.
Sometime during the night a wave tore the Genoa and we had a nice hole at the foot. No wonder as we sailed with a heel of 35 to 40 degrees. Ouch !
But we’ve made it and it was worth it. Because now we’ve got Guenther on board. And he’s a really old friend of mine and the one who introduced me to sailing about 13 years ago !
Of course he came with bags full of presents including cookies from great-grandma and grandma, letters, spare parts for the ship. Everybody got something. Right now the capitana together with Viola will go to the immigration in Kingstown and Guenther, Bruno and me will replace the broken Genoa. Yay.