Ep 31. We hit a reef! sailing into the new year with a bump (Sailing Susan Ann II)

This week we make a plan on where to spend New Year 2018 and we’d heard good things about the French island of Martinique. Marin, the town at the South of the island is a sailing mecca and a great place to fix some boat issues so we decided to head there and check it out. Marin is about 90 miles from Bequia which takes us around 14 hours so we knew we’d have to stop off somewhere to ensure we don’t arrive at night. It’s never a good idea to arrive at an unknown harbour in the dark! We opted for a cheeky night in Marigot Bay, St Lucia without clearing customs and an early start the next morning to find the best anchorage in the huge natural harbour of Marin.

St Lucia and Martinique are two of the most Easterly islands in the Caribbean and with the trade winds coming from the North East, we have to pinch upwind as much as we can – not the easiest thing to do in a catamaran! It’s actually not too bad, we can go pretty fast at 50 degrees to the wind. The wind and swell often increases as you come out from the lee of the land at the top of an island so be prepared for it and reef down before you get there.

We got some decent winds as we sail North and Hayley learned why you should always check you have turns on a winch before opening a clutch so we had the first aid kit out, luckily we’d kept it out because then I was attacked by a killer hornet, those blighters are huge in the Caribbean.

It’s only 5 hours or so From St Lucia to Martinique so we could spend some time finding the best anchorage. Ideally, we want a short dinghy ride ashore (I’m expecting my vision may well be a bit worse for wear on later in the evening) and a nice calm and quiet spot for us and our friends boats. As you all know, Hayley is our top helms woman so she skill fully navigated her way into the harbour, around a load of yachts on moorings looking for the dream spot… I remember Hayley saying to me “Dave, I’m full throttle but we aren’t moving” “ALL STOP Hayley! We’re on a reef.” So I get in to assess the situation and right enough, we’re in about 3 feet of water. Good effort babe!;)

Our options:
1: Stay where we are and wait for a rising tide
2: Use our anchor and pull ourselves off

As I wasn’t even sure what state of tide we were at, we decided on option 2 plus it’s embarrassing when all the boats around us knew we were on the reef!! A French guy helped us from his dinghy and set our anchor about 30m ahead in the sand and we pulled the boat off to assess the damage. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty as our keel dragged across the rocks. I think we got lucky and only lost a few small patches of anti foul and gel coat but these do need repair. The chandlers had a great 2 part product that cures in the water and sticks like shit on a blanket, even underwater. After spending many years working underwater, I think this is a job I should be able to do well and I’m pretty proud of my handy work.

After a day like this, there’s only one thing we can do… P.A.R.T.Y! Luckily for us, it’s New Years Eve.

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