Anastasia - Full circle

14:04.4W 060:57.0W After all the partying and dinner celebrations in Marigot Bay I expected the “Parade of Sail” back to Rodney Bay to be an anti-climax, but it was actually rather fun. We formed a line, smallest boat first, and sailed back in single file, doing a circle around Castries harbour and waving to the onlookers on the cruise liners who were probably wondering what on earth was going on. The entire fleet docked in Rodney Bay marina in record time, because there were drinks by the pool waiting for us. And after a few rum punches there were about forty fully clothed people splashing around in the swimming pool. In the evening we had the final dinner and prizegiving ceremony. Then it was all over. For the past few days we have been saying goodbye to our. read more...

Anastasia - Cruising the Caribbean

13:00.6N 061:14.3W From Grenada we cruised northwards through the Caribbean, in the company of various ARC boats, stopping at Carriacou, Union Island, Tobago Cays, Mustique, Bequia, St Vincent and finally St Lucia.  A couple of years ago we would have regarded each of these legs as a significant passage, now it just feels like a quick hop to go from one island to the next.  There was a good breeze on the beam all the way, so Anastasia was cruising at 10 knots and even the forty mile passage from St Vincent to St Lucia only took a few hours. We had a good time in Grenada.  It is a beautiful island, the people are friendly and there is little of the hard selling that you get in some parts of the Caribbean.  The town of St Georges is quaint, with its mix of. read more...

Anastasia - Brazil to Grenada - The last day

12:02N 61:44W Having passed Tobago the wind started to veer to the east, forcing us to head slightly north to maintain an optimum wind angle.  Eventually we reached the decision point – turn south and head for Grenada or end up in St Lucia.  Turning south exposed the full deficiencies of our reefed mainsail and we had no option but to switch to the asymmetric spinnaker.  This gave us a speed almost identical to Gunvor and we both crossed the final 80 miles to Grenada on gradually converging paths.  We arrived at the southern tip of Grenada with Anastasia just 0.8 miles behind Gunvor.  At this point we had to round the corner and turn up into the wind.  With a full mainsail it might have remained close, but it was game over for a catamaran with two reefs. read more...

Anastasia - Brazil to Grenada - Day 6

10:46N 059:03W  1530 miles covered, 180 to go We are nearly there now, we can almost smell the rum.  Our first sight of land will be Tobago which is 90 miles away, although we will pass it at about 3 am so all we will see are the lights.  We should get some acceleration around the northern tip because the north equatorial current flows quite strongly past Tobago. The wind has remained favourable and, apart from a few hours this morning, it has been blowing from the northeast at 16 to 18 knots.  That means we have the wind coming from 10 degrees behind the beam, which it just so happens is also Anastasia’s ideal wind angle.  So far we are just managing to keep pace with Gunvor, who are now in sight, three miles ahead of us. We had an interesting. read more...

Anastasia - Brazil to Grenada - Day 5

08:31N 055:52W  1304 miles covered, 412 to go Another day, another 263 miles.  533 miles in two days.  We are out of the strong current (it is about 1 knot now) so the remainder of the trip will be slower, but we should still get in before sunset on Friday, all being well.  We now need to average 8.5 knots to get in at 18:00 Grenada time. The wind has been very kind, both in strength and angle, and we are still quite close to Gunvor.   I had a chat with Karsten over VHF this evening, so we are within about 20 miles of them.  We exchanged positions and I calculate they are about 5 miles closer to the finish line.  We have agreed that the first person to arrive will buy drinks for the other boat, so at least we will get free drinks on. read more...