A gentleman never sails upwind. Unless he has a charter deadline to meet.

Some of you sailors may have heard the first part of the quote in the title before. Generally, it's a good rule to abide by unless you are A) racing or B) left with no alternative. Nath and I try to to abide by this whenever possible. Generally, a Caribbean Winter is governed by prevailing Easterly winds, with a week or so of North East or even Northerly blow expected once or twice each month. This is more frequent in the months of December and January - the locals commonly refer to 'Christmas Winds'. If you aren't in a hurry, or if you only travel North and South up and down the Southern part of the archipelago, you can usually avoid long hard trips against any heavy weather. If you have a busy charter schedule to maintain, you often have to sail regardless of the conditions (as long as it isn't unsafe - uncomfortable must become acceptable).

Sailing up the Drake Channel

Last week was one of those time where our charter schedule and the weather schedule happened to clash. We had to sail 90 miles almost due East from St. Thomas to St. Martin, against heavy Easterly winds and swells. Though TM is a sturdy ocean-rated yacht, she had not been sailed that hard in years due to inactivity before we were hired. Overall she took it well, and we still made good time. The 'minor' things that became major nuisances (leaks down the mast, dorade vent, and forward hatch) were never apparent problems before because every previous passage for us on this yacht had been downwind. When you sail downwind, there are not massive amounts of water getting washed over the fore-deck, and the boat is not slamming up and down like a mechanical bull with an overzealous operator. Anyhow we made it safe and sounds, if not a bit tired and wobbly, and have successfully completed the first 'half' of our charter trip today. With the exception of another rip in the mainsail and a bowthruster that conveniently failed before my most difficult docking of the season, all went quite well. We will be 'hanging out' (working like crazy to fix things) in St Martin until Wednesday, when we will continue the 'second half' of our charter.

-Capn

Welcome back to France! With some bubbles :-)