Trip to Europe (and back) begins
- Thread starter dLj
- Start date
St Maarten is a great place to get anything you might need from the US. No duty, and you can setup an account with a freight forwarder (we used four star cargo in MIA https://www.fourstarcargo.com/). Send your Amazon orders to them and they fly into SXM twice a week as I recall… pretty reasonable too, but you do need to get to the airport.
Zoomed out a little so we can see their destination of St. Martin:
There are some very... interesting beaches on the French side of Saint Marten.
My wife said, "no!" to visiting the beaches on that side of the island. The Dutch side was very pretty too, of course. My father had just returned from the Canarias when we met him on the Dutch side. He stayed at anchor off the beach, most of the time.
-Will
My wife said, "no!" to visiting the beaches on that side of the island. The Dutch side was very pretty too, of course. My father had just returned from the Canarias when we met him on the Dutch side. He stayed at anchor off the beach, most of the time.-Will
Tacking? The winds don’t look too favorable for the time being.Yes. I'm sure @dLj will share the story when he gets a chance.
I've been watching the models and what I'm actually seeing for wind and waves - very different! A bit unnerving.... That jog was indeed a tack. I had some tough wind and wave conditions and was trying to get north. You can see how little progress I made... I finally resorted to motor sailing. I'm quite a bit further north now. I'm hoping to be in St. Martin by morning.
Last night was a tough night here. I'm very much looking forward to getting into St. Martin....
dfj
Last night was a tough night here. I'm very much looking forward to getting into St. Martin....
dfj
I'll have to find out what what means.... I guess it's going to be beach time.... Not my favorite, but hey, I might change my mind...There are some very... interesting beaches on the French side of Saint Marten.
-Will
dj
There is a huge segment missing in this map. I'd made it all the way into the bay at the end of Guadalupe. Had dropped anchor - got the anchor VERY stuck. Then the wind and waves came up and made the anchorage totally untenable. I had to drop that anchor with all 200 feet of chain and get out fo there. I'm really glad I'd originally tied the chain to a nylon rode so when the chain was fully out, I could cut the rope. That was a first for me in having to escape an anchorage. I then went into the ocean to handle the adverse conditions. The winds were trying very hard to drive me onto Guadalupe - it was a rather trying night.
And the wind models said there would be little to no wind....
dj
I'm only as good as the reporting on Marine Traffic. Currently dependent on you passing big ships to get a current satellite position.
Here is this evening's update - making great progress:
Yes, we made it to St. Martin. Great place to fix some things. I've been running around all day checking in and finding bits I need. Found a great marine supply store that has everything I need. Amazing how much long distance sailing takes a toll on equipment.
My crew mate, Anja, will depart Sunday back to Slovenia. I have found a crew member to go from here to Puerto Rico. He flies in Monday. We will likely head out Wednesday weather permitting. He has sailed down here a lot so a very welcome addition.
I'll be replacing my staysail sheets, primary anchor chain and primary anchor. On the new list is to upgrade my secondary anchor system. I used it this morning and was not impressed. Great for a lunch hook, the anchor is excellent, a Fortress well sized for this boat, but the chain and rode system it has attached is not up to my liking. The rode is undersized. It is original to this boat, except I put new chain on it. Back when I did that, I was thinking the rode looked small, now that I've actually used it - no way I'm staying on that anchor in a blow with that rode! ABYC standards are really quite well written. When you watch an undersized rode work, you realize it fully...
So after sitting on anchor for a short time watching the system work, I realized that picking up a mooring ball was the better option. So I'm well attached to a mooring ball in the bay. Wasn't bad at all price wise, a whole lot cheaper than replacing an anchor, chain and rode and whatever might have happened with that rode breaking...
dj
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