Hummingbird sails back north for the ARC 2018 prize giving
Hummingbird's crew enjoyed a morning off in preparation for our night passage North back to St Lucia. Most lounged by the pool, sipping smoothies and soaking up the sun, making the most of the eerily-quiet facilities in Glossy Bay Marina. Still, it appears that the place wasn't quite empty enough as Danny and Terry got evicted from their table in the otherwise-deserted bar so the billionaire Irish owner of the marina could have his lunch in peace. They're seriously offended, particularly as they'd both had showers within the last day. The cheek of it - acting like he owns the place...
Back onboard, Gary, a complete novice three weeks ago, gave us a great in-depth overview of our passage north. We slipped lines at 3pm local, raised the Yankee 2 and found our course. Skipper Stu, never one to let a potential teaching moment go untaught, decided that the 30-degree of the Caribbean was the ideal time for a lesson in storm sails, so we duly wrestled with the storm jib and trisail to keep him happy.
At one point, as we were hoisting the bright orange trisail up its track, a passing catamaran radioed to ask if we were having difficulties. It was tempting to reply that indeed we were as the rum ran out two days ago, but we stuck to strict Channel 16 protocol, thanked them for their concern, and reassured them it was just a training exercise. I think they might have been worried they hadn't heard about the hurricane we were clearly expecting.
Once we'd learned all there is to know about storm sails, we opted for a more conventional sail plan. Alex, Clare and Danny went to the foredeck to swap the storm jib with the staysail, getting a rather large soaking while there. So they have been given the first watch off. They may just about have dried off by the time they're due back on deck.
With the trisail down and two reefs in the main just as the sun set, we are cruising nicely northwards, eating up the miles. Meanwhile Charlie and Rene are battling away in the galley preparing dinner while Stephen and Gary stand watch on deck.
Terry and Stu
