Caribbean Anchoring Styles

20/7/2010

Mary and I reckon we are quite slick on Sheer Tenacity ! First we check out the anchorage, select an anchoring position, check the depths, the swing radius, head to wind, drop the hook on a tickey, lay out a good 4-5 times depth scope, in a straight line, set the hook, attach the bridle, let it take up the slack , motor astern to re-check the anchor setting on the bridle …….all accomplished using well rehearsed hand signals. We then sit down smugly, open the anchoring beer, and wait for the applause!! Sadly, there’s always a deafening silence!

We have meantime, become admirers of the techniques of others! We have consolidated some of them into the following types:

1 ) The Dog Turd Droppers ( DTD’s)
2 )The French way
3 )The Ice breakers
4 )The German buoys
5 ) Bareboat Cat Clowns

The DTD’s sail under many National flags. They approach their final chosen spot, drop the anchor, with the entire chain right on top of the anchor ! That’s it. Job done! Invariably they have no idea of depths, swing radius, or whether rocks, reefs or neighbouring yachts could be a problem. The first time the wind pipes up, straightening out their chain, is usually marked by the signs of panic.

The French are very laid back , and their approach is often evidenced by sneaky jinking in and out, between closely anchored boats. Using this stealth approach, they creep right up behind some unsuspecting souls transom, drop the hook using a minimum of scope, pulling up a few metres from someone else’s bow. Setting the anchor is regarded as a waste of time, so its hardly surprising that we have seen more French boats drag than any other flag! Any suggestion from another cruiser that they might be a bit close, could earn one a single digit salute! The saving grace for the French, is that they CAN sail, and that they are often accompanied by lovely topless crewmembers, at far closer range than normal!

The Icebreakers come from Cape Horn , or the Baltic, arriving in big steel yachts, sprouting anchors all round. Disconcertingly, they tend to approach the anchorage downwind, dropping the hook on the run, sailing over it in a slight curve, before locking up the windlass at the required scope, allowing the forward momentum to straighten the chain, set the hook, and swing the boat around 180 degrees, to settle in with all the other boats. To their credit, we haven’t seen them make a mistake yet!

The Germans often seem to prefer buoys ( that’s as in mooring ! ) They will frequently commandeer a buoy, even if it is way too close to an anchored yacht. The principle of “he who anchors first has prior claim” does not apply. Their approach is that the buoy was there first, so “Youz mus Mooff!”, even if you have been anchored there for two weeks. This is an interesting debate! Does an unused buoy put down by a diver, or marina, in a designated public anchorage, have a prior claim to space in maritime law? I doubt it, unless that buoy is marked as “occupied " by a certain named boat. We had one such German yacht arrive , and pick up a buoy about 20mts off our beam. We had been anchored there for two weeks, and had let out an additional 10mts of chain during the previous days big blow.

Once he had picked up the buoy, he was uncomfortably close given the wind direction., and I wished to discuss this with the skipper. He however, rubberducked away as soon as he was tied up, leaving his attractive young wife on board . She chose this time to strip naked on the sugar scoop, and start neatening up her “bikini” line. Being a sensitive and discrete gentleman, I decided to leave her be until she had completed her bush clearing exercise This took a while, and kept delaying my approach. In fact, it took most of the day, by which time she had an extremely neat and well groomed bikini line. She was obviously so proud of it, that she started prancing around the deck, displaying her lovely body and clean new lines to the rest of the anchorage. Clearly, as Mary told me, she would not have minded in the least if I paddled over to discuss our proximity. Just as I was about to do so, the wind swung back, and the gap increased to 50 mts and safety. Damn!
The big mystery to me remains! Why would she spend so much time perfecting her bikini lines, and then not wear the bikini?

The last , most entertaining, and potentially most dangerous group, is the Bareboat Cat Clowns. They are often crewed by successful yuppies, and approach the task of anchoring by forgetting everything they must have learned to become successful achievers! Planning, organizing, delegating and controlling …. The very essence of business success! Gone in a flash! There are often 6 skippers on these cats, one for each corner, one to drive, and one on the windlass. They all issue instructions, nobody listens, and the cat roars backwards and forwards at full power, often trailing the anchor like an oversized fishing lure. It usually starts off with windlass man lowering the anchor, and another skipper suggesting going astern. The anchor has probably only dropped 1 metre , and they are already doing 5 knots astern. The anchor finally touches the seabed 50 mts later, but hasn't got a snowballs chance of holding, as there is still only 8 or 9 mts of chain out, and they are now approaching other boats, jetty’s, rocks etc ,at 7 knots ! More skipper commands from all corners, accompanied by “Its Dragging”, Not Holding etc” Their solution? Full speed ahead, up anchor and start all over . After two or three more failed attempts, they decide to try elsewhere , because the holdings obviously no good here!! Funny, I was about to suggest just that , in the hope that they would move well away from us!

However, we have just had a nasty squall roar through the Tyrrel Bay anchorage, gusting 35 -40, and despite all the interesting anchoring methods , only one boat has dragged…Surprise,surprise....... A 50ft luxury motor launch. It is currently impaled on the bowsprit of a big traditional sailing schooner, with the owner nowhere to be seen ! The 50 odd yachts, of all types and sizes, from all corners of the earth, have shown that their various techniques were OK , this time!

Farewell to World Cup, Friends and Prickly Bay

19/7/2010

As soon as one settles into a routine of events, people and places…. Then it’s time to move on again ! The World Cup in RSA is done and dusted, and by all accounts both here and back home, it appears to have been a great success, not withstanding the Vuvuzelas, which we hear have now been banned in Europe! Can’t think why, with Europe winning the top three places !
Watching the matches on De Big Fish screen in Prickly Bay was great fun, with every match entitling one to a Happy Hour Bucket of 3 beers for 10 EC ! With all the Nationalities ( real and adopted) it created lots of fun and amusement! We were Dutch, wearing orange ( Mary was a Blomkamp after all!).We all agreed that Spain deserved to win, having played better all round football. Some of the Dutch players would appear to be frustrated Rugby players!

There was an almost a lemming like exodus from Prickly Bay after the World Cup, with boats hauling out, setting off for Trinidad , and Bonaire, to leave boats there for hurricane season. A few intrepid souls heading back north as far as the Grenadines. Its still close enough to run South in the event of a hurricane, and also gives a better point of sail.

Alan Cooke and his two nephews William and Tim flew back to Cape Town after a quick dash around the Cays, and a few good braai’s and meals together. Sad to see them go. We can fully understand why Alan has almost adopted Prickly Bay as his other home. However, he departed leaving us with a few very welcome tips and gifts ! Fishing spots, a bottle of Chilean wine, and “Schwopper”! “ Schwopper” was Alan’s Gemini rubber duck, named after a line in an Arnold Swartzenegger movie, in which he urges all his men “Lez ahll getz in ze Schwopper” ( Helicopter !) Alan subjected Schwopper to some serious abuse, wakeboarding behind it with a 15hp engine, (design spec 8hp) and literally tore the transom right out of it, for the second time! Hyperlon is relatively easy to repair, but it takes 72 hrs to cure each stage, and with the Handimans lifestyle, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t rip out again! Alan replaced it with a new RIB, with an aluminium hull and transom, which is light , tough, dry, and probably the way all RIB’s will go in future.
Our Tinker was behaving rather like a cross between a submarine and a mobile swimming pool, so Alans gift was accepted with alacrity. Schwopper is now repaired, and rides again…. This time with a 3hp motor!
On our trip round to St Georges via the southern point of Grenada, we detoured over the drop off reef that Alan had told us about, and bagged ourselves a nice sized Big Eye Tuna ! Sushi for dinner for days! Thanks for everything Al!!

A few days later we headed up to Carriacou again, where we planned to meet up with Mike and Lesley from Extasea, who were picking up a charter for 8 , around the Cays. On the way we landed a really nice Dorado ( Mahi Mahi, or Dolphinfish), so were able to invite them to take a break from their boat, and have a Dorado night with us.

Also on the trip up ,about 4miles before we turned into Tyrrel Bay, a big Tuna hit the lure, as I was trying to drop the sails in the face of a big black squall. Great timing! On with engine, slow ahead, drop sails, while the tuna strips line, and we are drenched! Miraculously, when we are all shipshape, the fish is still taking line, and the fight begins ! After about 10 minutes I’m very grateful for the rain, and showing signs of making some progress with the monster, when it threw the hook! In fact, I was not too disappointed, as the fish was way too big. We would have needed to share our bounty with all the cruisers in Tyrrel Bay, and all we really felt like, was putting down the hook, and opening the anchoring beer.!

We had just completed an enjoyable and productive sail up from Grenada.! I still had the Dorado to clean and fillet, and the Tuna would have needed an abattoir!

Our three month visa in Grenada expires shortly, so we are heading up to Union Island, Mayreau, the Tobago Cays and Bequia, before coming back to Carriacou . As always, we keep an eagle eye on the weather, in case we have to run!

Views of Carriacou............lovely place!

Friday Night at the Tiki Bar

The rainy season is here, and already there have been four named tropical systems ; none of them thankfully near us. Prickly Bay has been transformed from the karoo /bushveld dry scrub, to a lush green tropical paradise . Its easy to keep the water tanks full, without having to buy water from the marina. World cup soccer, and the pubs happy hour specials during matches has brought all the cruisers together in a fun way ! The current status of the teams is being likened to a repeat of the Second World War ..... France capitulating without a fight, Italy running away from any action, Germany and Britain slugging it out, America joining in late.. etc etc All in jest of course, and lots of laughs.

Friday was Larry D'Aguiar's birthday, and all the SA contingent were invited to the Tiki Bar for a party that night. The Grenada cruisers net at 7.30am is very good, and keeps everyone up to speed with weather, social events, technical services, and treasures of the bilge. Fridays net controller was "Miss Kitty", who is a Texan lady with a Dolly Parton sing song voice, and a wicked sense of humour. She introduced the weather update as follows: " Now Jonathan sweetpea honey, its been raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock in Texas for the last few days... can we expect more?" The answer was Yes, and it did ! But that did nothing to ruin the Tiki bar jol.

After the weather report, Alan Cook ( of Hout Bay Handiman) who is almost a permanent resident here, pitched up in his dinghy, and demanded my participation in singing Happy Birthday to Larry. It set the tone for the day!

A Steel Pan band play every Friday evening, followed by a dance band. The dance area was initially highjacked by a very smiley, happy fellow , whose lift obviously did not reach the top floor. He danced with a rum in one hand , cigarette in the other, earphones on his head, a collection of wooden pigs, and a inane grin on his face. He was followed by a group of Oklahoma happy clapper teenagers , in Grenada "to do Gods work". They formed a big circle and gyrated in a very Carribean and UnGodly sort of way,! This could lead to great" sin and wickedness", and be a bit of a challenge to their leader Pastor Paul!

The music was very good, and one of the highlights was the Bob- Celli medly, where they performed a fusion of Bob Marley's "No woman , No cry", with Andrea Bocellis "Time to say goodbye". Cruisers , young and old , kids and locals, were singing and dancing along ..all having a great time. The rain would come and go, without a beat being missed! I suppose it was helped a bit by the rum, beer, and Tequila's When the band packed up, and we all took to the dinghies, I was full expecting to sign up new members of the Cormorant club! Nobody, it seems, fell in the drink, last night... so no new members! We must be growing up at last ! Both Alan and Larry, however claim to be members of an even more elite club.. The Penguin club. They both claim , on previous occassions, to have waddled up to a dinghy dock, and tried to jump into their dinghies, missing them completely!

Birthday in Grenada!

Finding ourselves all alone in St Davids Grenada, with no cruising companions, and Kate back in RSA, we decided to plan a really c o o l Carribean birthday celebration.

We would start off the morning taking a brisk walk up to the main road, pick up a bus to the nearby Rum Distillery Estate, do a little sightseeing, taste a little rum, return to the Marina for fish and chips, and a cold Carib, take in an afternoon nap, before dinghying over to the beautiful Belair Estate Restaurant, where we had booked a table for a romantic dinner ! Things don't always work out as planned!

The 15min walk up to the main road was a bit hot and sticky, but nothing like as uncomfortable as the bus ride which followed! That was white knuckled, sweatpouring raw fear! Ever since the drivers of Grenada traced Lewis Hamiltons roots back to Grenada, they have tried their utmost, to prove that he is not the only guy around who can drive fast. Despite having asked the boychick/ conductor/fare collecter that we were getting off at the Westhall Rum Estate, we sped on past in a cloud of dust and shattered nerves, only managing to get off many miles further on. We crossed the road, and flagged down a bus going back the way we had come: Thankfully not a Lewis Hamilton wanabe! Our guide at the Rummary was an encyclopaedia of Grenadan history, and we learnt about a lot more than the art and science of rum production, including quite a lot about the American invasion of Grenada, when they showed too much of a liking for Castro. Ironically, the Westerhall rum distillary makes and exports a brand of Rum called "Havana" specifically to the Cuban refugees now living in Florida. The Havana rum recipe, which includes elements of coffee, tobaco, and vanilla, was leaked to Westerhall for this purpose, when Castro nationalised the original rum distillary in Havana.

After a little tasting, we managed to flag down the Island Water world delivery vehicle , en route back to St Davids, where they have a shop. The local electronics expert, who was testing the new, and faulty Raymarine chartplotter, needed to conduct some tests on the boat, while talking to the Raymarine technical guys in USA. Having done so, they concluded that it was indeed faulty, and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately,,,,, they dont have any in stock at the moment at Raymarine, so we will just have to wait, .. my fears confirmed.

This messed up the fish and chips and afternoon post rum nap part of the plan, but what the heck, we still could look forward to dinner ! The first thing we had done in the morning was to up anchor and move, once our German neighbour had hauled out, and moved out from above our anchor. The new spot we had chosen proved rather too shallow as the the wind swung 180degs, and a few bumps on the rudder indicated that it was time to move again! So a quick relocation, anchor, swim and cockpit shower, before heading off to the Belair Estate Restaurant . The only other two patrons, in this very elegant establishment , with open air dining overlooking the bay, were two serviette wielding Frenchmen, swatting legs, arms and faces, as they were attacked by mozzies. Smuggly armed with our "F off" insect repellant, we thought we would be spared.. No such luck! With the French yelling "Zay are Vampires ", we were soon re applying "F off" to every bit of exposed flesh, while we ordered our meal., Grilled snapper for Mary, and Creole shrimps for me. We knew it was a "B" price range restaurant, but said birthdays come but once a year. Mary's two Snapper fillets came to R150, and my 6 little shrimps and a blob of rice about R180. R30 a shrimp!! Add four rums and a tip , and your'e over R600 down the tubes for a very modest meal for two! And to add insult to injury, the vampire mosquitos attacked us through our clothing, so we had to leave in a rush to apply anti itch lotions all over back on the boat! Not quite the celebration we had planned!

Grenada & Carriacou

Grenada consists of three Islands : Grenada itself, often called the Spice Island, Carriacou 40 miles to the north, and Petit Martinique, 4 miles to the east of Carriacou. During the past month, we were lucky to be joined by Kate, taking time to chill out before starting her new job, and to checking up on her old folk, to see how they are adjusting to this new cruising lifestyle. We moved around in a respectably slow and leisurely way, doing our best to show her some of the sights and delights of Grenada. We anchored in Prickly Bay for a few days, before going round to Hog Island for a few more days, and where we went to Rogers Sunday Beach braai and opskop. We then returned to a different ancorage area in Prickly Bay, and found ourselves anchored next to Klaus on"Ti Bay", (the cat that wiped out half our Hout Bay Marina in a big blow). We then went round to St Georges, anchoring outside the harbour entrance and visited the markets, yacht club, and shops by dinghy. We treated ourselves to a couple of days of real luxuary at Port Louis Marina,( which I had seen in June 2008, when asked to help sail the 76ft Zephiro to Sardinia from Grenada),and where we watched England murder Australia in the T20 final.

We then sailed up to Tyrrell bay in Carriacou, where we spent a full week. What a lovely place! Simple and unspoilt. About 7000 people live on the island, but there are about 20-30 000 living in England, and a further 15 000 in New York. A number of these folk return to Carriacou when they retire, and build impressive mansions alongside the little dwelling where they were born/brought up. Martin, (or should we call him by his Island name Bramble?) took us for a tour of the Island, which took a whole three hours, including the hour for lunch in a liitle local restuarant in Hillsborough! The Islanders are a proud and industrious people, involved in farming ,fishing, boat building or tourism activities. Crime seems not to exist there. We came across a few really intersting Island Names .... Sexy Romantic Venus, was one belonging to an eldery, toothless, fruit seller! "Warrior",was another belonging to the little old oyster seller, who would demand a beer or rum, before trying to sell oysters.Afterwards, he would then ask for another, to "seal the deal"! The only battle he was ever involved in was rowing back to shore after his evening selling session.

The water there is crystal clear, warm and inviting, and hourly swims were the norm to cool down. We went to the legendary little Lambi Queen restuarant, where we tried Curried Lambi ( Conch shell), Lobster & fish. All too soon we had to sail the 35 miles back to St Georges, so that Kate could catch her plane back to the Real World. It was a good brisk sail and we got there 6 hours later, just as the Rainy season arrived with a vengeance! We checked in to Port Louis again, which was just as well. Trying to negotiate getting Kate, her luggage and her Mom, from the anchorage to the airport, via dinghy, in a tropical downpour would simply not have been possible!

Even walking the 100mts from the mooring to the Taxi was a wet affair.

So now its Derby and Joan again.Meanwhile, we are waiting for a replacement Raymarine Chartplotter, as our brand new one seems to have a Page Button problem. Budget marine were the suppliers, so we are hoping that the Trinidad Installer, will arrange for a replacement swap via the Budget Marine in Prickly bay.When I placed the original order, it took 4 days to reach me from the US. So far its been 6 days and counting since we reported the problem... Will let you know what transpires !

Gauntlet to Grenada . . .

Whenever one talks to folks cruising between Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada, the topic of piracy inevitably comes up. There have been a few confirmed cases over the years, and a few near misses.... But not very many. Its a bit like the probability of shark attacks while swimming or plane crashes while flying. In reality, more people are killed in car crashes, but the hype and fear of that fact does not carry the same impact.

Thats not to say that one should ignore the threat.... that would be like crossing the road without looking left or right! The last confirmed case was in December last year, where a German yacht was boarded, and the crew robbed and traumatised, 37miles off Trinidad, by Venezualan fishermen ( More likely, drug runners).The Coastal Marine authorities in Trinidad and Grenada, assisted by pressure from the private yachting services groups,Ysatt and Mayag, are making efforts to advise sailors of best stategies and time to sail, offering contact numbers , email addresses, and offering advice and updates in the sailing publications.

As no attacks have ever taken place at night, we decided to make a night passage. We hid our second passports, our handheld VHF, most of our cash, a GPS, and decided on what our appropriate level of resistance should be in the event we were attacked. We wanted to sail across in stronger winds, and boistrous seas, believing that there would be less liklihood of the bad guys wanting to be out there in open power boats, and, reasoning that if they were, they would find it impossible to board a yacht carving through those seas at 7knots.... and if they did try, it would most likely be one guy at a time..... giving me a chance to fire a couple of parachute flares into their boat to distract them, while Mary threw the helm over .We would have been filling the emergency waves, VHF ( DSC), and SSB all the time, giving positions, descriptions and situation updates.... and simply hoping for the best!

We checked out in the morning, and then holed up un Scotland Bay until 17.00, where we were going to be joined by another yacht, heading down to Colombia . The heavens opened at 17.30, and we had a serious squall, which delayed our departure, making us rethink our 1 reef strategy. A 2nd reef was taken, and we headed out through the Boca, into the sunset, to find a lumpy sea, and no wind! We motored on for half an hour , feeling sure that the weather forecast was wrong, and wondering when to shake out the reefs. Suddenly, 20knots from the east and we were away! It stayed between 18 and 25 knots all the way to Grenada. Our planned route was a 27mile beat taking us to the east of the Hibiscus and Pointsetia oil rigs, about 30 miles out, after which we could bear away by 40degrees, and hopefully enjoy an easy broad reach down to Grenada. We knew there would be a fair current from the east, but underestimated how strong it could be when combined with the outgoing tide at springs. Instead of clearing the Hibiscus rig by 10 miles as planned, we passed it with 3 miles to spare, having given away 7 miles leeway in 27 miles of beating hard on the wind. Well, that took care of 25 degrees of my planned dogleg route,so we eased off just 5 degrees, leaving about 10 in the bank, and thundered along in freshening winds, and a short choppy 2 to 3 metre swell. Its in conditions like this that one appreciates once again, that a Shearwater is a fantastic sailing boat! With 2 reefs in the main, my tiny staysail, and about a number 3 sized headsail, there was no stopping her. She ploughed through the swells, hardly wincing when we hit a big one, and we maintained a steady 7knots . I seriously doubt if any a pirogue pirate would have been able to get close!! Mary said the crashing down below was alarming, but then she has never sailed in a Farr 40 in rough seas!!

We also really enjoyed all our new equipment, which perfomed well, after being asked some serious questions. We really liked having the Radar side by side with the chartplotter, and AIS as we piloted our way between the oil rigs. We were followed out by a big Danish Galleon, and were able to watch as her echo and nav lights fell further and further behind us, and we then caught up an echo that turned out to be Hunter 46, when we anchored in Prickly Bay. We were picking out yachts in poor conditions up to four miles away, and this was of some comfort too, as we kept our eyes on the look out for the bad guys!

And so , as we sit back savouring our traditional anchoring beer, feeling very pleased with ourselves and our boat, for having "run the gauntlet", we are also forced to admit, that about 6 yachts per day do exactly the same trip, so whats the BIG Deal????

Back in the Water!

After nearly six weeks of hard work "on the hard", we are finally back in the water, and doing sea trials. We are thrilled with our new white non skid deck, which is so much cooler, and all our new equipment which is up and running, including ( I think) the SSB radio ! Mary kept reminding me, when I moaned about the dust, the heat, the sweat etc, that we did not come to Trinidad for a holiday! We came for the boating infrastructure, and to make sure everything on our checklist was done ..... until we start the new checklist!

It was certainly the right call to come to Trinidad, and we saw enough to want to spend more time here during the hurricane season, and perhaps seeing a bit more of the Island. Our visit to Caroni swamps was interesting and worthwhile, although it certainly made us appreciate once again, the rich and wide biodiversity we have in RSA.

We saw the Spotted Caymen, one only......, and were lucky to see a little silky anteater, curled up in the fork of a tree ( all 500gms of it). The flocks of Scarlet Ibis were impressive, and their vivid colouring is such a bright contrast in the mangrove swamps, where the carotene in their staple diet of crabs , produce the bright red feathers. We also saw a number of Blue herons, and little four eyed fish ! Actually, four retinas.... two for below the sutface, and two for above the surface! But that was it, really! We could not help but think about what we would have seen in a four hour boat trip through the mangrove swamps of Mapelane, or the St Lucia Estuary. We really have been lucky to have done and seen so much in Africa, but it takes a trip into other Ramsar Heritage sites, like Caroni Swamps, to appreciate it all over again!

On our first day of sea trials, we discovered the alternator pully was incorrect, and chewed up the belt in an hour, and the water pump which was rebuilt in Brasil, sprung another leak... But we did manage to spend a day up in lovely Scotland Bay. We went back to Chaguaramus, where all the problems were tackled, and while there, we witnessed a real Pelican Pig out . There is a huge resident population of Brown pelicans, who spend all day fishing around the anchored yachts, and sitting on every available post. There is also a big live bait netting industry, for the fisherman going out in search of game fish and Tarpon. When the net keepers turn their backs, or retire for the day, the Pelicans think its Christmas!! Hundreds of greedy Pellies squabbling and bickering in twenty square metres of keep nets!

We are now back in the quiet, calm, and beautiful Scotland Bay, with about 6 other yachts. Here the water is clean , and inviting . The only sad thing is to see all the litter around the shore line, and its not from the Yachties , but the locals, who just dont seem to care. There is a tempory fishing camp on the shore, about 100mts away, and we watched in fascination and horror, as one fellow just raked the rubbish from the clearing , into the surrounding bush. There is a big green notice around the corner on a little beach, which says NO LITTERING, punishable by XYZ, but the rubbish just piles up around it, and the locals just keep going there and doing zipo Sad!! Today we head back to Chaguaramus, for dinner with friends, and to stock up prior to clearing out with Customs and Immigration on Monday/Tuesday for our sail to Grenada, where we are looking forward to being joined by Kate, who will be flying over to be with us. More from Grenada!