Overnight to Bequia

Overnight to Bequia

Wednesday 1st - Tuesday 2nd May 2024

It’s been several months since we last did an overnight passage. The journey from Marigot Bay down to the island of Bequia (an island off the south coast of St Vincent, is a little over 60 nautical miles. This should be achievable during daylight hours, but for some reason, we started to think about doing it overnight.  In my mind we would leave around 6pm and enjoy the sunset from out at sea, and sail gently southwards so we wouldn’t arrive in the dark the following morning. I expected to have a chill, relaxing passage, looking at stars and generally enjoying the ambiance of being out on the ocean at night. It didn’t exactly work out like that … it never does … but apparently the “happy filter” in my brain forgot about how hard it can be!!

We did have a quiet day on Wednesday, hanging out on Cotinga and completing a few minor boat jobs. We dropped the mooring at 6pm as planned and motored out of the channel to the ocean. We decided to put one reef in the mainsail immediately. We weren’t in a rush and felt that this should make the sailing less intense during the dark hours. The sunset was every bit as beautiful as we had hoped, and the view of the Pitons from the ocean was impressive. It was a dark night and the stars were amazing. We started to see the lights of St Vincent from about 25 nm away, which made hand steering easier, but we couldn’t see the waves or anticipate the movement of the boat. The conditions started off mild, but as we proceeded across the open water, the winds gradually increased from ~ 15 knots to ~ 20 knots, and the seas became quite bumpy. We decided to put the second reef in the main before reaching the northern tip of St. Vincent, where cape acceleration effects tend to amplify the wind. Unfortunately, when we put the first reef in we didn’t take up the slack on the second reefing line and when we came to use it, the line was wrapped around the end of the boom. We struggled to free it and eventually had to switch on the engine so that we could head directly to windward and work on the boom whilst it was centered above the deck. It was pretty bumpy. We finally got the line free, secured the second reef, and continued sailing. Our timing was good because the winds picked up to a sustained 23 - 24 knots off the north of St Vincent and we saw gusts to 29 knots. Behind the island conditions were much calmer. However, as we approached the southern point, the winds filled in again from the SE and we spent the final 2 hours beating upwind to Bequia. We arrived at the anchorage in Admiralty Bay around 5.45 am, completing the passage in just under 12 hours. Our average speed over the ground was 5 knots, but we were actually sailing quite a bit faster than this, but fighting current (up to 2.5 knots) most of the way. The boats was absolutely drenched with salt water spray and I’m actually hoping we get some rain to wash it off. Once settled at anchor, we had a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and the slept for a couple of hours before taking the dinghy to shore and checking in with Customs and Immigration.

13 00.614 N, 61 14.696 W

Mike

The catamaran sailed across the setting sun at just the right moment.

Sailing south from Marigot Bay to Bequia. It's early in the passage. Winds were light, but we have one reef in the main ready for night-time

It really was a beautiful evening

This photo of Gloria and myself was taken by our friend Nigel Trent on his phone whilst visiting the Diamond Fall botanical gardens in Soufriere. We don't have many photos of the two of us and I love this shot. Thanks Nigel!