Martinique

Monday 14 May: A lot of drama today, as if we needed any more!
Alarm goes off at 4:15am for a very early departure from Martinique, as we aim to reach Les Saints in Guadeloupe before sundown, a leg of 85 miles. It’s still pitch dark with starry sky outside. But a coffee and breakfast later, the dawn light is fading in.
We pull the anchor at 5am trying to be as quiet as possible for our neighboring yachts. Engine is off in minutes and we set full main and genoa.
The last job last evening was to run a cleaning cycle on the water maker. It takes about 2 hours to do and as usual covers Glen in toxic chemicals! So first thing out of the anchorage, once we are in clean water, we run the watermaker to check its performance – which seems to have improved and is back to its original in terms of flow and salinity. Good, that should do it for another 6 months. It’s one of those jobs we don’t relish doing.
As usual, the wind is strong as we cross the huge Fort de France Bay for the last time. We stay 5-7 miles offshore to try to keep the wind constant as we pass the leeward side of Martinique’s volcanic peaks. It works, and we manage to sail all the way up the leeshore, with winds gusting from 6-26 knots.
As we start the crossing between Martinique and Dominica, the wind pipes up to a steady 22-24 knots, gusting 30. We reef down to just 1/2 main and small triangle of genoa, but the beam wind still powers us along at a steady 9 knots.
The waves are huge, and roll us with each passing. The new autohelm seems to get itself into a bad cycle, so Glen hand steers most of the way.
Just as we start to get green water over the decks, Oana suggests we should check the bow toilet. Lucky she did.
As Glen goes down to check it, he sees sea water pouring in through the forepeak hatch, which was still on vent. It seems no matter how many times we cross check each other with regards to hatches and windows, there is always one left open somewhere! There’s a lot of water in the forecabin, but nothing like it would have been if we hadn’t made that check, because soon we are getting every wave on deck and some as far back as the windscreen. It sure is one hell of a wild ride, our most vigorous yet.
Just as we get into the lee of Dominica and we think the seas are calming, Oana goes down to get orange & lemonade drinks. Glen sees here coming into the cockpit just as Cloudy Bay does a big roll …. and Oana falls back into the saloon, drinks and all! Luckily she is OK, but we have orange juice everywhere.
Finally it really does calm down and the wind turns light in the lee of Dominica’s volcanic peaks. Oana goes below to get lunch, but as she brings it up 15 minutes later the wind is gusting up to 30 knots again, and even after reefing, we eat our lunch holding onto everything on the table. And of course, as soon as eating is over the wind is back to 6 knots!
And then the 3rd drama of the day. Walking on the deck during this calm spot, Glen is horrified to see there is hydraulic oil all over the deck below the newly serviced vang. A closer look reveals that the lower seal has popped out, releasing the oil from the hydraulic piston.
To say Glen is furious is an understatement. He had said at the time the technician who did the service was a bit too cocky! While in phone range of Dominica photos are taken and a very curt email sent to the rigging manager who had arranged the service.
And so we exit the lee shore of Dominica and cross to Les Saints, the small group of island south of Guadeloupe. Yet again the Atlantic swell and wind kick in but not as strongly as through Dominica Channel.
This time we have reefed main and cutter. The genoa furled away. A much more comfortable ride, so much so that Glen manages to have a nap in the cockpit.
As we enter between the reefs of Les Saints the sea dies down and we motor the last 1/2 mile and pick up a buoy in Anse Coine. It’s 5pm. 95 miles of fast sailing in just 12 hours and we still have 1 hour before sunset.
We have a calm cup of tea in the cockpit, then start the clean up in the bow cabin. Actually, most of the water has been absorbed by the bed covers …. so not so bad as it seemed.
Then a call to the riggers who serviced the vang. He apologies for this immediate failure and says he will contact the guys in Antigua to reservice it and recharge back to them. Well, can’t really ask more than that, can we. But this time Glen will watch the service like a hawk.
After a light snack we head to bed. Another 4:30am alarm is set ready to do the 80 miles to Antigua tomorrow. Fingers crossed for less dramas. But then this is sailing, right?