Trades Carry Us to Carriacou

Much as we were enjoying Dominica, we realized we needed to continue moving down the Caribbean island chain to our goal of Grenada before July 1^st to keep our insurance folks happy. We decided to save Rosseau, the capital of Grenada and larger port city for next seasons visit.Escape Velocity had already left for Rosseau to explore further and Field Trip was ready to head south as well so we decided to leave together and sail down to Carriacou, part of the Grenadian Grenadines. The distance is approximately 180 miles requiring an overnight sail and passing Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent.

We hoisted anchor at 7:00 am with typical weather trades of 15-18 knots in the forecast. The most difficult issue from the start was the fact we were in the lee of the island and therefore in very light winds.Adding the high mountains of Dominica into the equation, we were further affected by light winds.

Early morning squalls off of Portsmouth on the way to Carriacou.

We started off trying to get far enough away from the island to get more wind and managed to keep moving along. Once we reached the southern tip of Dominica we had some stronger winds compressing and curving around the island jetting us along, commonly called the "cape affect".  Now we were really moving averaging well over seven knots.  We had more than enough wind and decided to pull in the genoa to a reef point where we were more balanced.  It was also easier on the autopilot trying to keep us on course in the stronger gusts and easier on us as we could relax a little more. We settled into our three hour watches as the evening approached.

Our buddy boat, Field Trip, sailing at a brisk pace.

We couldn’t have had a more beautiful night and as I gazed up at an idyllic moon lighting our path; it was a special moment of thanks to be where we were at that exact moment and have been so fortunate to experience these past years.

Moonlit path guiding us along our course

No lack wind for the rest of the trip as we sailed past Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and down past Bequia and the Grenadines until we finally reached Carriacou, Grenada. We had one of our best passages to date with no motoring required, the best of weather conditions, and in the end we were only about an hour behind Field Trip.Competition aside, catamarans can really get moving on a beam reach so it can be hard for monohulls to keep up. They can't touch us,  however, when we are close hulled and pointing into the wind. Only problem was that Customs was closing at 4:00 pm and we got to the harbor at 3:30 pm without enough time to get anchored and dinghy into port to clear.No worries as the Aussies say, we grabbed a mooring ball off of Sandy Island close by and called it a day.After 20.5 hours of sailing we were ready for a couple sundowners and a little feet up time.We relaxed and enjoyed the sunset and planned to clear customs in the morning and then head over to Tyrell Bay.

Another spectacular sunset.