Are you showing your balls in Paradise ?

22/08/2010

All yachties have them of course. They are necessary bits of our safety equipment without which we are deemed unfit to go to sea. But….. do you ever use them? Daytime anchor balls, that is.
In among the hundreds of designated anchorages, and the many thousands of yachts with whom we have found ourselves at anchor, we have only seen seven boats displaying Anchor Balls by day. One was by a very diligent Dutchman, in a well prepared ketch, (who ruined the whole image with gaudy bright blue cockpit lights at night !) Another was shown by a very serious old salt flying the red “duster”. All the other five were displayed by fearful Americans. I use the word fearful advisedly, as I was informed by one, that it was not that they thought they would be invisible in the anchorage by day without said balls, but in the litigious society from which they come, they know that no matter how guilty another party might be in case of a dragging or ramming incident, they would lose all rights to compensation, if the guilty party had an American lawyer, and they were not displaying their balls!
So, the further north we sail, and the more we encounter some of the alarmingly incompetent bareboat skippers, many who hail from the USA, the greater is my inclination to pull out my balls from the locker, and dust them off ready for display!

These past ten days have been really fantastic, as we have explored the bays, anchorages and islands which were only hearsay and romantic dreams before we left. From Tyrrel bay (Carriacou), we checked into St Vincent and the Grenadines, at Union Island. On our first approach to Clifton, we were forced to turn, run, and take refuge behind Frigate Island, by a huge black thunderstorm, accompanied by torrential rain, zero visibility, and big winds. The entrance into Clifton harbour is protected by reefs, and is tricky at the best of times… and downright foolish for first timers! An hour later, the sun came out, and we were able to find our way in to a good spot, without the help of the ever present boat boys, always wanting to “take a line” or sell you a mooring buoy. Checking in was a breeze, and we were able to watch the sun set from the unique “Happy’s Bar”, built on to the reef.

We then sailed up to Mayreau, where we anchored in Salt Whistle bay for a couple of days, before spending time in the amazing Tobago Cays. Although the water was not its normal turquoise blue (it had a green hue), it was still very clear, and snorkeling around Horseshoe reef, and amongst all the turtles was very special . It was for Mary a real highlight and sense of achievement. She had always been petrified of swallowing the ocean, and never believed she would be able to get back into the dinghy again! She is now a pro!

We are now in lovely Bequia, where we will spend about a week before heading south again. This is as far north as we wish to be in hurricane season. Even with all the excellent weather information available , we want to be able to run south for 24 hours, and be well out of its range at the first sign of a “nasty” being on track to ruin the dream!

Tales from Tyrrel Bay..............and waterbuck!

The first week of August saw a host of activities, on both land and sea, all packaged around the Carriacou Regatta. .These ranged from Karioki competitions, to Mexican dominoes, on land, and Round the Island keelboat races , as well as the all Island open workboat competition. Most of the land based activities were to raise funds for the Carriacou Childrens Education Fund, and all the yachties a do their bit to help the kids.
We had heard all about the local, no handicap, open workboat sailing races, and were on Paradise beach, ready and waiting for the 11.00am Le Mans style start.. By 11.45 there were still no boats on the beach!!. As the local beach pub barlady explained to me, “No problem mon, dis 11 ‘oclock Caribbean time.! All de boats dey sail frum Bequia, Union, Petit St Vincent, Windward to get here. Be here soon” They started arriving at about 12, some of them having sailed 30 odd miles down from Bequia, just for a morning race! With inter island pride at stake, and good prize money, they take the races very seriously. The boats are beautifully prepared , and are 22 to 30 ft, and crewed by 6 to 8 BIG guys. Each boat needs at least two huge men out on trapeze, as they carry big fully battened lateen mainsails, and genoas, with only a drop down centerboard. Human ballast is everything! The last crew in were given 15 minutes to rest, and time to buy another case of beer, before the race was called.

No count down, no race flags,…. Just a blast on the Vuvusela (yes,it really was taking the place of a conch shell) and a bellow, and they’re off… down the beach , to launch, drop the centre board and go! The race was around most of Carriacou, past Windward, across to PSV, back to Windward , and back to the finish at Hillsborough, a distance of about 20miles, which they cover in about 1hr 30min ! Great spectacle, and great skills!
In terms of our land activities, we were coerced into a Mexican train Double12s Domino’s game, with a bunch of Americans. The game proved to be a mixture of skill, luck, and shit stirring! It came, of course, quite naturally to Mary and I, and we did quite well! We also met a number of extremely interesting fellow cruisers. One fellow, who was nick named “Rocket Scientist “ all day, particularly when he screwed up or got sneaky, turned out to be just that! Gordon just happened to be the chief computer programmer in charge of Nasa, when John Glen did the moon walk!. US Presidential citations and all!!
Maintenance is an ongoing chore aboard, and Mary decided it was time for me to strip and repaint the toilet seat and lid. Having carefully taken it all apart, and painted the tops with my best International Brightside paint, I decided that the easiest way to paint the undersides, was to re assemble it and fit it back to the toilet, paint , and close it so that the wet paint was not exposed. We had been asked out for the afternoon, so it would be dry by the time we got back to the boat. Mary, at the last minute decided that a quick trip to the heads was required before we left, and having ascertained that the seat was dry, on top….. she assumed the position….only to find when she was done, that she now possessed a perfect white waterbuck –like bum ! I was of course abused and reprimanded, but also required to remedy matters. This required her to present her rear in a rather undignified manner, while I undertook a delicate and jointly hysterical paint removing challenge !!
The joys of a cruising life!