The sea was angry that night my friends, it was like an old man at a deli trying to send back soup. 5 of our crew are getting certified for ASA 106 which requires them to sail at night. Jeanne had already received her ASA 106 certificate and Linda isn’t getting that certificate yet so her and they got the night off.
The guys split up into 2 shifts and rested until midnight when they all got up to ready the boat. By 1:00 AM we we’re underway.
We motor sailed from Stacia through the St Kitts channel, when we turned north it suddenly got very real. We ran straight into 30+ knot winds and waves as high as 12 ft! Unfortunately our route took us straight into that wind so we ended up motor sailing most of the way.
At one point we hit a wave so high that it completely soaked everyone on board, including the guys up on the flying bridge.
It was rough so the team decided to shorten the main to the 3rd reef. The boat is brand new so, as they lowered the main sail down, they realized the 3rd reef line wasn’t set up yet. Brooks and Jonathan went out to the mast, Brooks climbed up a little and jury-rigged the third reef with a round turn and two half hitches. It held all night!
We arrived into the anchorage at St Barts around 10:00 AM. The boat deck is covered in salt from all the waves, it took a while for the tired crew to set the anchor and then Brooks dived down and realized that a line had gotten wrapped around the port propeller (which they lost sometime during the night). He easily removed the line, tested the engines and both were working again!
We’re looking forward to a relaxing day, dinner at Eddies to celebrate Brook’s birthday and a full night sleep in the anchorage here at St Bart’s.
Tomorrow we rent scooters and tour the island. Until then, thanks for following these posts!