On the Rode Again

At 7:00 am Saturday morning we said farewell to Prickly Bay, Grenada, our home for the last six months. As we were leaving  the morning VHF Radio Net crackled to life and we reported in the “Boats Leaving” section. We said a sad farewell and thanks to all the incredible people we’d met in Grenada, with a special shout out to Pierre Yves and Me’rie, our Tai Chi and Yoga instructors. Also a goodbye to all the wonderful Grenadians who’d helped us, Shademan who took our alternator 50 miles up the coast to be repaired (three times), George from Survival Anchorage who took us on his shopping bus on Fridays, and Cuttbert who replumbed our head and took our cooling system apart. And also to all the folks who volunteered time as Net Controller’s at 7:30 each morning. Good bye Grenada, we’re going to miss you!

Goodbye Grenada!

With the promise of a fresh easterly we made our way around Saline Point and headed north up the west coast of Grenada under an azure blue sky and a scalding sun. Except our easterly turned into a northeasterly so that our planned leisurely beam reach became a 16-knot, close-hauled, wave-bashing adventure. No worries, it was a great day and we were in no rush. 

After a six-month hiatus, it took awhile for Meryl and I to get back into the sailing mode. I was just shouting (cautioning?) to Meryl to be careful of a gybe when I heard slam/crash as the boom came flying across from one side of the boat to the other. As usual the mainsheet got caught in the traveler block and bent it skyward. Oh well, “thing to fix number 1.”  

Then we got a call on the VHF from a very husky-voiced German woman who asked if we would take some pictures of their boat, named Ambler, as we sailed past. No problem, except our little point and shoot cameras don’t have very strong zoom lenses on them. Turned out the Ambler was owned by Stan and Cora, the local singing duo who packed various bars in Grenada when they played. Maybe we’ll get a free song out of this.

A traditional cutter-rigged sailboat, the heavy displacement Ambler was well suited to the heavy waves coming up just ahead.

As we sailed farther north we veered away from the lee protection of the island and the waves started getting bigger. When we had brought up the anchor earlier that morning it was covered with all sorts of gunk that I tried to hose off, and which inevitably collected on the side decks. Well no problem there as big rollers washed over the bow and down the decks sweeping them clean of everything. With a single-reefed main and genoa we still had the rail close to the water most of the way. Still, a beautiful sunny day and with the green hills of Grenada to stare at the whole way north, who can complain?

We decided to take a tack inshore to get to smoother water. Turned out to be a smart move and we could now move around the boat without feeling like we were in a Roller Derby match. Next decision was whether to sail near an underwater volcano (Robert Ballard who discovered the Titanic had his research vessel there studying the volcano) or to take another tack closer to the islands and go above it. Since we are essentially lazy we just held our course and hoped the volcano wouldn’t erupt in the next hour.

Down below it was rocking and rollin’. As a wave caught me off balance I grabbed the teak saloon table for balance only to have it levitate off its pedestal (due to a previous incident) and become unattached. Quite the job laying underneath with the boat rolling back and forth trying to get six small screws in place with sawdust floating down into my eyes. I would start to get the screwdriver closed to the screw head when the boat decided to lurch and I would miss the screw by three inches. We finally got some temporary screws to hold it temporarily, but “thing to fix number 2.”

Now clear of the lee of Grenada we were out in the Martinique Channel and feeling the full brunt of the waves and winds. Welcome back to Sailing 101, Flying Cloud. The boat did great and we saw a steady 8 to 9 knots of boat speed, not bad for a heavy bluewater cruising boat sailing close-hauled.

As we approached Carriacou, the northern most of the Grenadian island chain, we held our course as long as possible and then tacked back to lay the harbor. Given the lateness of the day, we decided to furl the genoa and motor sail in to get a good charge on the batteries. Unfortunately the engine alternator decided it was going on strike just then. “Thing to fix number 3.”

When we originally sailed down the Windward/Leewards it was off season and we had our choice of anchoring spots in almost empty harbors; today we were lucky to find a spot anywhere in the area. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.  As we dropped the main and began to zip up the Stack Pack the zipper pull broke. “Thing to fix number 4.”

As we got everything tidied up Cora came over to the boat to drop off a USB drive so we could copy the photos. She also invited us to the Lazy Turtle for their singing gig that night, but after such a long day (we are so out of sailing shape) we just crashed in bed. It’s hard to describe the deep sleep that follows such an arduous day of sailing but we were both out like a light.