Well 3 days ago we set off from St Thomas to Nevis (or St Kitts depending on how we were feeling when we got east). The winds were to be light – 10 to 15 knots from the east to north east and the seas slight – 1 to 1 ½ m also from the east, but we planned to motor or at best motor sail for this first leg down to Grenada to meet Al and Boofa at the beginning of June.

We left at 10:00 am and by the notes in our logbook, it took us only 1hour and 55minutes before we gave up and veered south towards Dominica, rounding St Croix very close to the eastern tip. Even with both motors on 2200rpm the short choppy seas (about 2m) and the wind (over 15 knots on the nose) was making this a very uncomfortable trip – so Dominica it was – or so we thought!

By 1800 on the first day we had rounded St Croix and were sailing with the motors off – but the log still has comments such as “occasional slams”, “still slamming into it until the first 24 hours was up – we had done 123 nautical miles and the note is “calming slightly”. So we had made 5knots and had a very uncomfortable time. This was almost enough miles to get us to Nevis, but we were now south of the Saba bank and Nevis was not an option.

The second day and it became obvious that Dominica and Guadeloupe were not going to be an option so we tacked to get east, but fought against a 1.5knot current that ended up making lose miles against even Martinique, so after a few fruitless hours we tacked back waiting for a wind shift or the time to put on the motors as a last resort (don’t forget we only paid 1c a litre for this fuel in Venezuela!). The destination kept getting further south, Martinique, St Lucia, Bequia and ultimately a further day sail down to Grenada!

By mid afternoon the seas were still on the nose and moderate to rough – it seemed no matter what angle we took, we were slamming. This uncomfortable ride culminated in an “I’m going home!!!” moment for Karen, particularly as it looked likely we were going to spend another 2 nights in this uncomfortable sea! As she was coming out of the galley, the boat shifted and Karen caught her right foot on the edge of the kitchen cabinet! Her whole foot started to bruise and swell almost immediately! That’s when she decided that she had had enough and was heading home!!!

“I don’t care if it is only 5 O’clock and we are at sea – I’m having a glass of wine!” she said, filling a glass and sitting “calmly” in the cockpit. 10 seconds later the boat rolled down a wave and the wine was gone – without a sip.

I sprung into action and picked up the glass raced back to the fridge, half filled the glass so it wouldn’t topple again and raced it back to the table to be met by “I said fill it up!!!!!!!!!!”. I knew I was in trouble.

Anyway – this incident was a fairly good incentive for me to do some serious thinking and trialling to see if I could get us into Bequia or anywhere with only another night sail! We put the motors on and left both the main and gib up and motor sailed at about 30 to the wind and after some trimming trials we got up to 8 knots out of the boat. Next day at about 10am Bequia was in sight, and we turned east out of the south-easterly swell (which then turned easterly and started to blow up and break over the bow???)  and after 4 hours of watching the island get slowly closer we arrived, beaten, sore and sorry in Port Elizabeth Bequia with enough time to check in without overtime fees. Something I would not have expected to do just 24 hours before with the wind continuing to turn onto our nose and currents up to 2 knots against us. Boy was I glad to get that one over with!

Now I know this is the first blog with no photos, as there wasn’t really anything worthwhile taking – but I will however leave you with one visual: the twisting head scene from The Exorcist – I think you know what I am talking about.