Trinidad to Carriacou
Author: Shirlz
Saturday, 25th January 2014
Early on Saturday morning, Will from Shandoo helped me get the dinghy aboard and I set off heading for Tyrrel Bay. I thought I might stop in Prickly Bay or St George’s if I needed to fix any problems. Speedwell had been out of the water for several months and I might have forgotten to check some vital detail. I was very happy that the fibreglass cladding I’d put on the hull back in 2004 was still in perfect condition and obviated the need to be constantly pumping out water until the wood had ‘taken up’ again after being dry for so long.
We sailed merrily through Boca de Monos with the outgoing tide and it looked as though it should be quite easy to lay the course to Prickly Bay. It was a perfect trade wind day and for nearly an hour all seemed better than I could have hoped for. Then I noticed that the GPS was convinced that our heading was 45 deg more Westward than the compass was indicating. Oh dear, the dreaded current was sweeping us inexorably off course. The sea was quite rough and the wind gusting to 20 knots so motoring was not an option. We were doing a fairly impressive 3 to 4 knots with 4 panels up sailing as close to the wind as possible. Nothing else to do but carry on. The Navik took care of the steering and I was able to go below and keep Sparky company.
It was a very dark night with only the tiniest sliver of a waning moon peeking over the horizon at about 2am. We plugged gamely on but the current was still unrelenting.
Monday, 27th January 2014
Early this morning I tried a tack but the result put us on a south westerly heading which was totally wrong so back on the starboard tack and hope that things improved before we reached somewhere like Haiti. The wind was picking up and we were down to 3 panels.
At last I noticed our track curving in a slightly more favourable direction. We were about 30nm NW of St George’s, Grenada. I tacked and it was almost possible to lay the course. The wind was still blowing strongly making it a long hard sail through the night.
Tuesday, 28th January 2014
As dawn broke we motor sailed the last few miles and anchored in the peaceful anchorage outside St George’s. I had a much needed few hours of real sleep then spent the rest of the day tidying things up and enjoying the relaxing break. No need to go ashore so the dinghy stayed on deck and Sparky enjoyed playing about under its shelter. All the buffeting about had loosened one of the bolts holding the solar panel to its mounting so I had a chance to sort that out.
Wednesday, 29th January 2014
A good nights sleep and early this morning, after allowing a fierce rain squall to work itself out, we were on our way again. This time I had no misguided ambition of doing the trip by sail alone and prudently motor sailed along, hugging the coast of Grenada until it was possible to head across the gap, braving the current yet again, to reach Carriacou.
We arrived at Tyrrel Bay just before dark. It seemed quite crowded and it took three tries to find a comfortable place to anchor without being too close to another boat or some hard to spot clear plastic bottle marking an informal mooring. Quite a few familiar boats were there: Jervon, Ambia, Iron Bark and more. Sparky seemed quite unfazed by his first rough voyage.
Next morning I cleared in at the very convenient Customs and Immigration office near to the boatyard.
February 8th, 2014 at 01:49
hi i was very intrested in your junk rig and was woundering if you have a page talking about the mast steping and the overall performance of the tabernackle, i plan to do this on my boat, but need more pictures lol
February 19th, 2014 at 04:45
Hi Shirley and Sparky!
Greetings from a very wet and windy Cornwall. We’ve been quite sheltered from the worst of the storms but lots of the little harbour villages were badly hit. It was great seeing you again and we mustn’t leave it as long before the next meeting.
Love from Ian, David, Maxwell and Wellington.
February 22nd, 2014 at 12:55
Way to go Sparky! 🙂
February 24th, 2014 at 12:51
Hey there sailor!
Looks like Sparky is settling well to the sailor life style.
Pete