Antigua ... a Sailing Mecca

We were ecstatic when we finally saw the outline of Antigua on the horizon and were over the moon to be greeted by rainbows.  It had been a gruelling 14 hours to get to Antigua but we were finally there.  

We had set out in the pitch dark at 4 a.m. anticipating a 12 hour sail in the forecasted 14 to 18 knot winds with gusts to 24 and 1.5 m (4.5 ft) seas.  As we set off the winds were more like 22-24 knots with gusts to 35 knots (40 MPH) and as we got further from Antigua the seas built to 10 to 12 feet.  We motored upwind, crashing into waves, for over 4 hours until we could create the right angle to bear off and hoist the sails.  After the first few hours of motoring into the waves, Roger went below to do a general inspection and saw that everything in our main front sleeping cabin was soaked.  There are 2 opening hatches in there, and unfortunately in the early morning I had closed and locked both, but rookie mistake, didn't completely dog down one of the hatches.  With the bow burying into multiple large waves, hundreds of gallons of seawater had washed over the deck. The bilge pump had kept up with the inflow but the biggest concern was that our newly purchased custom mattress from Sint Maarten was now full of salt water.  Roger cleaned up what he could while underway with the rest to be dealt with when we finally got to Antigua.  A laundromat would be high on our priority list!

When the wind angle was finally right, we hoisted the main with one reef (first layer of sail reduction) and rolled out 2/3 jib. Cruising is a big change for Roger who has not reefed a main in 30 years (he likes to go fast).  With sails set and a better angle on the waves, things settled down quite a bit. Pirate was much happier with this quieter state of affairs. However it was still not the walk in the park she would have preferred as we went through as least 10 squalls with gusts up over 34 knots and heavy rain. As we reached the 1/2 way point the squalls ended, the sun came out and the wind dropped to 22-24 knots so we left the main reefed but pulled out the full jib. We settled into sailing Adventure I which handled beautifully boiling along at 7-8.5 knots. The voyage had turned beautiful. 

While St Barths is home to the super yachts, Falmouth Harbour and English Harbour in Antigua is a sailing Mecca and a hive of activity.  As we were anchored, the junior club of the Antigua Yacht Club was racing in Opti's right behind us.

When we walked over to English Harbour, where you do customs, there were about 35 Oyster Yachts lined up tied stern to.  The next day these yachts, ranging from 34 to 70 feet, would set out on an 18 month round the world rally.  Many of these boats had already travelled 2 months to arrive in Antigua for the beginning of the rally.  We chatted with some of the Oyster company representatives that were there to help with the rally and some of the crew and owners that were getting ready to set out.  Most owners had a paid Captain and family and friends aboard for the first leg to Colombia.  Each boat has the option to choose their own stops on the way there.  I chatted with a couple of women who were hired cooks. I can't imagine having to provision, cook and try to make the meals for 5 to 10 crew until they make their next destination.  Fortunately, they assured me, provisioning is good in Antigua and at least the British owners were just fine with the occasional can of Spam or corned beef. 

There are a number of super yachts in Falmouth Harbour including the Maltese Falcon which we had seen a number of years ago in St Vincent. 

Roger has also been checking out all the hot rod sail boats in the harbour. This morning he chatted with the guys just arriving on this super hot rod MOD70 racing trimaran, named ZOULOU, that just won Line Honours for the multihull division in the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) TransAtlantic Race, which takes competitors from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. 

Later this afternoon the first boat arrived from the 3,000 Talisker Whisky Atlantic crossing, also known as the "World's Toughest Row". Thirty teams set out from Spain to row, yes row, 3,000 miles to Antigua... and some of you think we are nuts 😎.  We met the father of a 26 year old rower.  His daughter was at sea for 44, almost 45 days.  There were 12 men and women on the boat, with the youngest 21, and the eldest a 60 year old woman.  Wow.  Call me impressed.  There are two very small pods at each end of the approx 30 foot boat, but there is almost no protection from the elements.  Here is a picture of their boat. 

The winners of the 5 person rowboat were a team called Oardacious, from the UK military, and they arrived in a time of 35 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes.  We were lucky enough to see them pulling into English Harbour.