Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

We were ‘stuck’ in Jolly Harbour for days with strong wind and plenty of wind chop on the water – it’s two miles in to the main dinghy pontoon and the shops. We were very lucky that our friend Steve was there as we were able to call on the services of his large hard bottom RIB. Our own roll-up dinghy, although very good, with its 3.5HP engine wouldn’t have quite cut the mustard. The wind went on and on for days and days – it nearly drove the mate mad, which, in turn can drive me to almost despair J

We did meet up with a nice bloke from Sweden though, who was a mate of Steve’s. One day whilst they were both ashore and I was sat on Stargazer’s foredeck I saw Hans’ boat move a bit too much. The mate told me not to ruin the meal they’d gone out for by calling to tell them the boat might be dragging its anchor, but 20 minutes later, it was impossible to adhere to the mate’s wishes as the speed at which Hans’ boat was dragging, became alarming. Not only that, she was coming our way. The mate put out fenders, I called Hans (no answer) and started our engine. As we veered Stargazer away from the dragging boat with the mate changing fender positions, I finally got through to Hans. He and Steve had had a few rums before they went ashore and now the situation was worse. They were totally p*ss*d. As we watched Hans boat drag astern of Stargazer we felt the main danger (to us) was over as long as his anchor didn’t drag across our own chain and dislodge us. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. At last Hans and Steve came back in their dinghy, having first forgotten where their boat was. It was now dark and the process of them re-anchoring is not one that I wish to repeat here, but suffice to say, the mate’s nerves were in tatters.

A few more days of wind wind wind continued but at least I discovered, in the local supermarket, a case of beer for £12. This is an unbelievably cheap price in Antigua (for UK people, it works out at a £1 a pint). In fact it was so good; I went to buy the rest! ‘Where’s it all going to go’ cried the mate, don’t worry I replied, it won’t last that long….

On Sunday 6^th April, we were promised, by the weather forecast, a force 4 breeze from the south east with little swell. This is about as good as it gets, when going from Jolly Harbour to Falmouth Harbour, the former being on the west side of the island and the latter being on the south. It didn’t sit wholly right with me as the south side of Antigua is totally open the Atlantic and the wind had been blowing hard for days. But, the forecast in the morning confirmed calm(ish) conditions and off we went with two reefs in both sails. As we left Jolly Harbour, the breeze filled in and we enjoyed a decent sail for about half an hour. Then, the wind came straight on the nose and the swells were massive. This is exactly what I would have expected, but the forecast was adamant otherwise. Getting in the genoa and motorsailing under reefed main only we had the thought of turning back, but as the weather wasn’t forecast to be any different for the foreseeable future, we decided to press on. Nearing the south west point of Antigua (off Cades reef) we got full on Atlantic swell, crashing into the contours of Antigua. Heading further out would have had us halfway back to Guadeloupe without the conditions improving too much, so we carried on, about 40 to 50 degrees off wind, tacking towards Falmouth Harbour. The swells were about 3.5m to 4m on a miniscule 3 second period, Stargazer took it and took it very well, but it didn’t stop me wanting to see if all the bulkhead tabbing was still secure on arrival in Falmouth!

We anchored up in the north west of the harbour, almost exactly where we were last year, amongst a lot of other boats that we also recognised from last year.

Our purpose of being here, apart from we both quite like Falmouth Harbour, is to see and be involved with the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. This starts on the 16^th April and the mate and I will once more be dinghy wrangling i.e. helping all the beautiful classics into and out of their berths. We also get to go to all the parties!!

But, before that, today 11^th April, we are having lots of ‘fun’ cleaning out our engine exhaust elbow. If you’ve got a boat – check yours. We’ll leave it there…