Christmas Winds

Over the past 8 seasons we have enjoyed sailing in the Caribbean enjoying the Islands between Grenada and Antigua.  Several times over the past several years we have run into people who have stayed in one spot for the entire season due to "Christmas Winds".

Chris Doyle defines these winds as "When the isobars get tight, the wind increases and is sometimes very fresh (25-30 knots). We call these Christmas winds. This high pressure is offset by cold fronts that come down from the northwest. They almost never make it as far as the Windwards, but as they approach, we often get very calm and sunny weather followed by wind and rain, as their tail ends affect our area".
 
Our experience over this time period has been the same - the winds will pipe up for a few days and then fall off as cold fronts spill of the US and enter the Atlantic. 

Several days ago we had another of these encounters - this time with a Canadian woman who was on a large Cat sitting in the Rodney Bay Marina.  She complained that they were unable to move last year because of the "Christmas Winds".  No amount of discussion would convince this woman that there are opportune times to move all season as long as you pay attention to the weather.

So we have been watching the weather and we are heading to Antigua from here with stops along the way at St Pierre, Portsmouth, and Deshaies. 

Happy holidays.

Moving North

We left St Lucia yesterday morning and had a blustery trip to Marin.  Winds and waves higher than forecast but the trip is les than 4 hours so we were fine.  We came in past the Club Med beach resort and anchored in our favorite spot off Cap Dusquene.  Even got some free very low level wifi so were able to check weather and email.

Went in to the Port Captain office and cleared in and out then picked up a few boat parts and some local groceries before moving out to St Anne for the evening (and lunch ashore a Snack Bou Bou).

On to St Pierre tomorrow then Dominica (yellow flag), Deshaies, Guadeloupe (Clear out only so that I have the form for clearing in in Antigua the following day).  We've had some great weather for moving North so far and want to get as far as we can before hunkering down if need be for weather.

We have a reservation at a Marina in St Croix beginning the 10th of Dec - hope we have good weather.

Lesley had a discussion with a cruiser lady in St Lucia about weather and Christmas winds - a story for next time................

Dinner Ashore

We met a friend here for happy hour yesterday afternoon (Vision) and said our goodbyes.  We first met Vision when we hired him to take us on a tour up into the Edmund Forest Preserve 5 years ago and we have remained friends since.  Vision does boat work here in Rodney Bay - usually teak, waxing and polishing and is a very nice fellow.

After  cocktails we had dinner ashore at our favorite Indian place.  We each had a samosa chat and then split an order of chicken biriyani and a side of garlic naan.  Everything was great......

Came back to the boat and watched 2 episodes from the first season of the old series Northern Exposure. We lived in Okinawa Japan when the show first aired and I think that we first started watching Season 2 or 3 on AFRTS.  Good show....  Love our Western Digital Media Player.

The broken pin

Here is a photo of the pin that broke off at the masthead wind speed/direction sensor.

My plan for the repair originally was to feed this wire back through the connector and then splice it in to the cable.  Could not feed the wire through so ended up digging the wire out of the connector slightly then tack soldering the pin to the wire.

Anyway, everything is still working so we plan to move on to Martinique tomorrow and then continue up to Guadeloupe next week early.

Wind Speed/Direction working

Three trip ups the mast, major surgery on the cable and connector, extra parts, soldering iron swap out, SUCCESS!

First, up the mast to see if I had enough slack to access the cable and I was able to pull about a foot up the mast and tie it off.  Then I took the masthead mount loose and took the connector apart to see what I had in store for me....  Molded soft rubber connector so rather than work up on the mast I cut the connector off and brought it down to do the temporary repair.

Down the mast and took the connector apart.  Cut into the connector to expose the wire from the broken pin.  I used an ohmmeter to confirm that it was the red wire and then tack soldered the wire and connector and put everything back together.

Second - up the mast with the repaired connector and parts, tools, soldering iron, extension cord etc.  Plugged the soldering iron in and started attempting to splice the 6 conductor cable - Trade winds to strong for the small soldering iron cooling it off so Lesley sent the 100watt iron up.  Spliced with wires and shield, reinstalled the unit at the mast  head and then started putting the wind vane cups and direction vane back on.  Dropped one of the nuts and watched as it made a one point landing in Rodney Bay.  Verified that the wind direction was now working and then went through the calibration procedure.  Back down the mast - need a replacement nut for the wind speed head.

Third, back up the mast and managed not to drop anything this time.

Finished, Success, we now know where the wind is coming from and at what speed.

This is a temporary repair that should hold till we can make it to the USVI to pick up permanent repair parts.

This morning in Rodney Bay

The plan for today was to start off by going up the mast to repair a connector on the masthead wind instrument - wrong.  Overcast with rain showers so will wait till it dries out to attempt the repair.

In the meantime I replaced the keyboard on my laptop.  We started having trouble with it while we were still in Grenada so ordered a replacement, shipped to a friend in Florida who then shipped the part to us here in care of the Marina.

Old keyboard out!

New keyboard in!

Now, over to Island Water World to offer a sacrifice to the Boat Gods.

Bequia walk around

We had been hanging around Bequia with the intent of moving a WiFi Access Point but the "Local Ladies", even after 1 year of planning still could not get a plan together.  So we took of early yesterday and walked over toward the Old Hegg Turtle sanctuary. 

Along the way we noticed that the local health center was undergoing major renovation.  Not sure where the temporary facility is located.

Garden on the side of a hill.  Pigeon peas, corn, yams, etc.

Some of the unusual plats that we saw on our walk.

It was to late for "Bread Fast" so we had a Roti instead. 

 Firefly Plantation.

Now we are chilling out having just arrived at Rodney Bay Marina (we beat the ARC).

Pizza, salad and a nice Chianti for dinner and then it is time for bed.  We left Bequia at 0300 this morning - way before I'm ready to even growl.