24 Jan: ARRIVAL DAY! And our most challenging sailing day of the trip. Dawn breaks to dark cloudy skies and our track on the plotter looking like that of a drunken sailor, as we approach Barbados. Here’s why: we had a wild and wet night with several rain cells passing over. Some with strong gusts others with very low wind, but all with very varying direction from SE through to NE. After each squall we seem to be heading for a different end of the island, leaving our track zig-zagging westward. At one point we were slopping around in the waves with 8 knots of wind, watching a large rain cell approach on the radar, then 30 seconds later wind was whistling through the rigging at 35knts, powering up the twin head sails and sending us on a sleigh-ride with a constant speed of 10-11 knts. The sheets to the sails were so taught they could be made of steel. Thank goodness we can furl the sails from the cockpit to reduce power… but we didn’t, we instead enjoyed the ride!… and kind of prayed nothing would break. Other than the thrill, at this speed the yacht is also remarkably stable, clearly dominating the waves rather than the other way around. This is the time when we are glad to be riding on a Hallberg Rassy, as it pushes aside 30 tons of sea water every few seconds.
2-3 mins after the wind rises we are pelted with rain – real rain, not that nancy stuff you get in Europe! Glen’s been waiting all trip for one like this, to wash the mast of Sahara dust accumulated in Lanzarote. Couldn’t have done it better even with a pressure washer! And thank goodness for our cozy cockpit tent. It would have been a very different experience without it, as the wind howls and the rain loud on the plastic windows. On the other hand, without it Ellie would have had to clear all her junk back to her cabin! :). Hmmm maybe we should lower the tent for just one rain squall!
Sunrise treats us with golden light bursting through stormy clouds and at breakfast we are treated with several rainbows, each under its own rain cell. A long beaked gull flies around the boat occasionally diving into the sea. We assume to catch a flying fish. If it had been here 20 minutes earlier there were 3 dead ones on the deck that we could have handed over.
OK, it’s decided. For real this time. We are heading around the north end of Barbados. This puts us on a nice broad reach in 27kts with full genoa only. Oh, and a new method to balance the boat – the boom is still “poled out” to windward. Barbados is now big on our plotter screen and occasionally the VHF crackles away. Getting near now. Our speedy broad reach is short lived as the wind changes time and again, each time a squall cloud comes over. Our track continues to be a zig-zag as we try to keep both sails pulling. But between the clouds the wind is down to 10kts and the sails flap horribly.
At 16:25 GMT: “Land ahoy!!” as Barbados looms out of the grey horizon. The next few hours are very tedious in these fickle winds, but we are determined not to motor even though Barbados doesn’t seem to get any closer! Its so tempting to put the engine on and just GET THERE!
As we get closer, the weather is even more gloomy, no blue sky between the clouds now, and it looks more like we are approaching Ramsgate in a choppy grey North Sea than the tropical paradise of Barbados! As we get close we see huge water spouts on the coast – blow holes doing their thing as the Atlantic swell hits the caves.
Finally, we round the north tip and head the 5 miles south to the marina. OMG, we are on a speedy reach on a FLAT sea! Whoopy! Pity we have to stop now. Outside the marina 10 or more yachts are at anchor. As we’d hoped, we managed to enter and tie up in the last hour of day light, after waiting 15 minutes for yet another rain squall to pass. Not exactly the warm tropic welcome we had envisaged!
Before we’d even finished tying up, 2 customs ladies are with us and we trot off to the office to complete the formalities. They are all very friendly. Anglican Church is reputed to be very strong here – this is confirmed as one of the lady officers is singing hymns as she enters our data! After that, a shower and a sit down in the yacht club with a cold drink.
Oddly none of us have the “land-legs”, a syndrome where you feel the ground moving after a period on the boat. Then it’s back to the boat and to bed at 9pm local time, 1am GMT. OMG, the bed isn’t moving and it’s silent. Zzzzzzz comes very quickly.