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Apr 16

We are preparing today for going back to Falmouth Harbor tomorrow for the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.  Our first order of business was to drop off our laundry at Burton's Laundry service.  They are the only option in Jolly Harbor and are not cheap, but they are good and reasonably quick.  Next, I dropped off our empty propane tank at the boat yard.  We have two tanks, and I just recently switched them, but I always like to fill the empty one as soon as possible.  The deal on filling tanks pretty much everywhere in Antigua, is you leave it with somebody, who takes it after work to wherever they fill them, and then you get it back the next morning.  Danny, the Travel Lift operator is the man here who does this. 

I ran the motor long enough to warm it up this morning.  When we motored down to Falmouth a couple weeks ago, the temperature gauge was reading about 195, when it should read 180.  The gang brought me a new sending unit for the gauge, but I haven't installed it yet.  The gang also brought me a new infra-red thermometer.  So, I warmed the engine up to where the gauge said 180, and then I took readings at various places in the cooling system with my thermometer, and it looked like it was really about 165.  I revved it up until the gauge got almost to 195, and took readings again, and it was right about 180 where it should be.  So, that confirms to me that we are not running too hot, and either the sending unit or the gauge itself is the problem.  I'm not going to mess with it today for fear of breaking something else and impacting our trip to Falmouth tomorrow. 

We went to Peter's BBQ for lunch, and sat at the table in the corner that we frequently use.  The little cat that we have named Tootsie was sleeping just a couple feet from our table, and never even got up when we walked up.  I'm not sure if that was because she recognizes us as people who feed her and talk nice to her, or if maybe she really is pregnant and is getting slow.  She is not really showing any belly signs of being pregnant yet, so I'm not sure.  While we were eating, a lady who must live in one of the villas, was sitting a few tables away speaking with the owner of the gift shop next to Peter's.  She had her dog on a leash laying at her feet, but apparently was not actually holding onto the leash.  They had been there the whole time we had been.  Tootsie, had gotten up and was sitting next to my chair, waiting for me to give her something to eat, when all of a sudden the dog bolted for her.  The cat went the full length of the restaurant in a flash, and the dog responded to her owners command and stopped right next to me where the cat had been.  I reached out and took it's collar and held her until the owner got her.  The owner was totally shocked by this behavior, and said the dog is around cats all the time and never gives them a second look.  Maybe Tootsie had said something in animal-language rubbing it in that she was getting fed.

The afternoon was spent fetching laundry and generally getting the boat ready to move again.  We went up to happy hour, but it was Fred's day off.  There were two new young ladies working, neither of which we had met before.  They at least seemed to have an idea what they were doing, unlike the last girl George hired, who is gone.  Dinner was jambalaya made with the left over jerk chicken from when the gang was here.  The chicken had been very hot when it was first made, so when Barb made the jambalaya, she left out some of the hot spices she usually adds.  The result was good, but still a tad hotter than usual.

GPS N 17-03.996 W 061-53.006  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10137.

Apr 17

At 07:00, I went over to the yard to fetch the propane tank.  It was there as promised.  I came back to the boat and checked in with the Coconut Telegraph.  After that, I filled our water tanks so we will be good for about two weeks without worrying about water.  I called William, the dockmaster, to have him come read our power and water meters.  While he did that and the office figured out the damages, I hoisted the dinghy on the davits.  It had been laying on the dock right below the davits, which makes it much easier for us to get on and off the boat when we are stern-to like we are here.  I got the dinghy all strapped down and ready to go, then went to the office to check out.  We joked again about them missing us, but I assured them we would be back at the end of May if not sooner.

A few minutes before 9:00, we left the slip.  Barb took care of stowing all the lines and fenders while I drove out through the mooring field to the outer harbor.  When we had sailed back to Jolly a couple weeks ago, the mainsail had jammed about halfway out when I tried to unfurl it.  Today will be a motoring day anyway, but I thought I would try to un-jam the main while we were on the west side of the island in the calm seas.  I started to unfurl it, and it jammed right about the same place as before.  I didn't mess with it much, but just put tension on the outhaul, and slack in the furling line, and hoped maybe the pressure from the wind would eventually make it pop out.  We motored along in nice flat seas along the west coast, and then turned inside Cades Reef at the southwest corner of the island.  The seas built a little as we were now going almost straight into the wind, but behind the reef we were still protected quite a bit.  After the few miles behind the reef, we turned almost due east along the southern coast.  This is where the most seas get you, because you have nothing in front of you until Africa, and the wind is always from the east.  But, the wind has been moderate for awhile, and the seas were maybe 4 to 6 feet.  To put it in  perspective, it was pretty good, because we only had one wave break over the bow all the way to Falmouth.  About an mile out of Falmouth, the boom suddenly started flopping from side to side more than it had been.  I looked forward and could see there no longer was any slack in the furling line.  The jam had popped out on it's own.  I released the furling line clutch and let the rest of the main out.  I suspected that the reason for the jam was that perhaps when I furled the sail after putting it back on when we had the furler fixed, that maybe I didn't have the halyard tensioned properly, allowing the sail to sag some as I furled it.  So, while it was now completely out, I cranked on the halyard as hard as I could to make sure the sail was tight from top to bottom.  Then I furled the sail back to about 3/4 of full, since we were motoring straight into the wind, and only using it for a bit of stability anyway.  Once we made the turn north into Falmouth Harbor, I waited until we were in the lee of the harbor entrance and then furled the main completely.  We'll see how it behaves when we go back north in a week or so.

Falmouth Harbor is way more full than when we were here a couple weeks ago.  Most of the boats that participate in the regatta are in the Antigua Yacht Club Marina.  But there are at least 125 boats anchored or moored in the harbor today, compared to half that a couple weeks ago.  That's not counting the boats in the three marinas.  Worried about how crowded the anchorage would be, when we left here a couple weeks ago, we had reserved a mooring for our return.  I hadn't known you could do that until we were here and we observed Sea Pony (John) the mooring guy occasionally putting little "reserved" buoys on some of the mooring.  So, as we entered the harbor, I hailed Sea Pony on the VHF and asked him which mooring he had reserved for us.  He directed us to mooring number 5.  There were several moorings unoccupied, and number 5 wasn't one we had been on before, so we had to drive around looking at the empty moorings to find number 5.  They do not seem to be laid out in any particular order.  i.e. number 5 is not necessarily next to number 4.  As we were finding the mooring we saw our old friends on Seabattical, and Receta, both of whom waved to us as we turned around to pick up the mooring.  We once again executed a flawless pickup of the mooring, and got the lines secured.  I mention this because I am constantly amazed watching people pick up moorings, which is a really simple thing to do.  The usual flaw is approaching way too fast, so the person on the bow trying to snag the float has a moving target to get.  There is really no challenge to slowly approaching into the wind, and bringing the boat to a stop at the float, usually without even having to reverse.  Snag the float, put your bridle lines through the pennant, secure.  Even better when possible, snag the float and just drop the pennant loop over a cleat then take your time attaching your bridle lines and then take the pennant loop off and let it ride on the bridle.  Simple.

We got the boat secure and enjoyed an arrival beverage.  When hailed Seabattical on the VHF to see if they had lunch plans.  They were waiting for us to call and we agreed to meet for lunch shortly.  We launched the dinghy and met Mike & Lynn at the dinghy dock and walked over to the Mad Mongoose for lunch.  It was great to catch up with them and as if we had not been away for three years.  We had visited them once at their home in FL our first year back, but still it had been almost two years since we saw them.

After lunch and a couple of beers, we returned to MoonSail.  Even though we only drove the boat for 2 1/2 hours today, we were both quite tired.  We just had some cheese and crackers for dinner, and went to bed about 20:00.  How are we going to party through the whole regatta starting out like this?

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 12.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 18

Today will be an unusual day for us, as we have to go to St. Johns and extend our immigration status.  When we flew in, we were given 90 days immigration.  We could have asked for six months, but we didn't envision being here all season.  Well, our 90 days runs out today.  I had inquired at the Jolly Harbor Immigration office about an extension a couple weeks ago.  Had we arrived by boat, they could have done the extension there.  But since we arrived by air, it had to be done in St. Johns at the main office.  We were also told that we needed an appointment, and they gave me the number to call.  I called and made the appointment for 8:30 this morning.  All they told me to bring was proof that we had a return ticket out of Antigua.  We left the boat at 07:00 to catch the bus into St. Johns.  As we got out of the dinghy a bus stopped at the bus stop nearby, but we weren't fast enough to catch it.  So we waited about ten minutes for the next one.  The ride into the city was ok.  Since we had been the first ones on the bus (Falmouth is the end of the line), we sat it the first row of seats, not all the way in the back for a change.  With the "rush hour" traffic, it took about 45 minutes to get to the bus station.  We paid our fare of $3.75 EC each.  It is about a ten block walk from the bus station to the Immigration office, which is a little past the cruise ship docks.  We had been told by cruiser friends that there would be a long line at the main entrance, but if we had an appointment we should go to a side door that would lead us to the second floor where we would see an officer.  There were about twenty people at the front door, and half a dozen at the side door, so we joined the line there.  The office doesn't open until 8:30, so we waited.  While waiting, it started to rain.  At least we got here where we can stand under cover before the rain started.  About 8:20, a woman came to the door and told us all to move away from the door and the stairs, to another area nearby, and that someone would be out to call names shortly.  A few minutes later, a man in a suit, with a military driver pulled up and went inside.  He must have been the Minister of Something, and they didn't want him to have to wade through the common folk to get in the building.  About 8:35, a lady came out with a clipboard and started calling names.  She had about ten names on her list, and only two or three of them were there.  Then she started telling the rest of the people where they should be.  I stepped up and told her why we were there and that we had an appointment.  She said she wasn't sure, but to come inside.  Let the saga begin...

Six of us followed the lady, and were told to line up against the wall just outside the door, while she went in and shut the door.  After a couple of minutes, she opened the door and had us line up against the wall just inside the door.  Then, one at a time we faced the lady security guard who signed people in and gave them visitors badges.  We were the last of the six.  Once we stepped up to the desk, the security guard looked at me and said my shorts and funny shoes were inappropriate and she couldn't let me in.  Really?  Couldn't the first lady have said something if this was the case?  I should explain that we knew one should dress "appropriately" when dealing with the government agencies, but we thought we had.  We were not aware of any "no shorts" rule.  We were aware women could not be sleeveless, and all clothes should be clean and not ragged.  So, I put on my best contrite act and apologized for my miscue.  I explained that we lived on a boat and I didn't own long pants.  She thought about it for a minute and then in no uncertain terms told me that next time I came to this office, I would be dressed appropriately.  I thanked her and apologized again.  Past that hurdle, she started to sign us in.  Just then, the original Immigration lady who had the clipboard, told he to stop.  She said instead, we needed to go around to the front door and tell the policeman there that we needed to see Corporal Hampson.  I'm not sure why she changed her mind about this, since she hadn't spoken to anybody about us since she had us come inside (she was standing right there the whole time).  We thanked them and smiled, and went back outside.

Around at the front door, there was another Immigration man with a clipboard, and a police officer.  I approached the man with the clipboard and explained why we were there and that we were told to see Corporal Hampson.  He looked at his list and sure enough my name was on it.  Apparently for a regular extension as we need, you go in the front.  If we had already overstayed our original date, as our other cruiser friends had, we would have had to go in the side and see somebody upstairs.  So, the Immigration man tells us to go inside and give our passports to the man behind a window.  We turned to go in, and now the policeman is between us and the door.  Mind you, we had not moved our feet.  This all took place with the four of us a couple feet apart.  The policeman informed me that neither of us could enter the building in shorts.  Really?  Why did the lady at the other door not mention Barb's shorts, just mine?  The policeman didn't mention my shoes (which by the way are bright orange Crocs).  I was tempted to ask, but kept my mouth shut.  Unlike the lady at the other door, no amount of explaining that I live on a boat, I'm on vacation, and I don't own long pants, was getting us past this guy.  So, I asked him where I might buy long pants.  He pointed down the street towards the cruise ship shops.  Somehow, I remained cool on the outside, but I was getting pissed off on the inside.  The taxi drivers who mistook us for cruise ship passengers didn't get my normal polite "no thank you" as we walked looking for a clothing store.  A few blocks away, we found a store called Source, that was kind of like a small GAP.  We went in and I asked the guy if they had any men's long pants other than jeans.  I specifically said "Something that will work for Immigration".  He smiled as if I wasn't the first guy in this situation.  He had a small selection of khakis, and fortunately one pair in almost my size.  Right waist, a little long.  I didn't care.  I tried them on to make sure the waist was good, and bought them.  After I paid for them, I asked the cashier to take off the tags, and I went back in the dressing room and put them back on.  Meanwhile, Barb had gone next door and found a ankle length light skirt that she bought and put on over her shorts.  Cost?  $190 EC.  Let's try round 2.

Back at the front door, we apparently now passed muster for the policeman.  We were allowed in and directed to the window where we gave our passports to another Immigration man.  He then directed us to have seat with the twenty-some other people waiting.  After maybe ten minutes, the original clip-board man came out and waved us to come over to him.  He had our passports and a large form in each.  He took us outside and explained that since we were first-timers, there were some things we needed to do.  First, of course we need to fill out the forms.  Then we need to get a passport picture to attach to the forms.  Then we need to copy the information page and the page with our last Antiguan check-in stamp from both passports.  While inside I was wondering why nobody could have told us this when I made the appointment, since we have passport pictures on the boat, and a copier, I again politely smiled and asked if he might direct us to a place where we could get the photos made.  He pointed us a few blocks down to a pharmacy and said they did passport photos.  Off to the pharmacy we went.  We stepped inside and immediately asked the cashier about photos.  She said, they did not do that.  I asked if she might know where did.  She directed us around the corner and up half a block to a photographer's shop.  Inside, we were directed to a small room just for passport picture taking.  The girl first gave us each a paper towel to wipe the sweat from our faces.  Barb sat on the stool first.  Apparently Barb's nice white ladies t-shirt was not appropriate.  Don't know if it was the style, or maybe all-white wasn't good, but the girl put an orange shawl around Barb and very exactly arranged it for the picture.  She took the picture and showed it to Barb for her approval.  While Barb's was printing, I got on the stool.  Apparently, my Hawaiian shirt was ok, and all she did to me was pose my head at the right angle.  A few minutes later we had six pictures each and were another $50EC lighter.  While waiting for the pictures to print and be cut up, I asked the cashier if perhaps they made copies here.  Of course they don't.  But, she directed us a couple blocks to an office supply store that did.

We missed the office store on our first pass, because a street signed turned around 90° fooled me.  We walked about three blocks before I was sure we were not in the right place.  I asked a lady on the street for directions, and she pointed us back where we had come from.  Turns out we walked right past the store.  I passed it a second time, but Barb saw the sign.  We went in and I explained which pages we needed copies of.  The young man asked if black and white was ok.  I wasn't sure, but we took a chance on it and went with black and white.  Another $3 EC.  From here we headed back towards Immigration.  Mike from Seabattical had asked us to pick up an ink cartridge for his printer if we saw one.  I knew Radio Shack carried them, and from where we were we could walk right by Radio Shack on our way back to Immigration.  So, we took care of that.  When we got to Immigration, we still had to fill out the forms.  We found a step across the street from Immigration, that was in the shade, and I filled out the forms.  Let's try round 3.

We went back in Immigration and were directed to the window where we started.  This man looked at what we had, it was all apparently in order, and we were directed to have a seat.  It was about 10:00 at this point.  While we waited, we observed several fun things.  One was that there were at least ten signs posted throughout the office saying to turn off your cell phones.  As every person was let in the front door, they were told to turn off their cell phone.  Yet almost every employee at one time or another, including the cop, were using their cell phones.  Another thing was the attention to detail about where you sit or stand was funny.  If you were told to have a seat, you better have a seat and not try to just stand along the back wall.  It didn't matter if all the seats were full, you better have a seat.  This office also handled people getting work permits, and they stood in a line across the room.  Several times we saw them be told to straighten up the line and keep the line against the wall.  The cop, who turned out to be known as Sammy, turned into the office gopher once his work of throttling the start-of-the-day crowd was done.  He ran papers from one person to another and herded people when their names were called to the right window.  I was trying to figure out if he got this job instead of a real police job, because he was being punished, or if he was being rewarded since he got to be inside in air-conditioning all day.  Speaking of which, at least while we were waiting inside, it was nicely air-conditioned.  A nice sweaty room would have really added something to the experience.  After an hour, our names were finally called.  We weren't sure what for, but we were called.  We stood up and Sammy the cop directed us to a desk in the corner that we couldn't see from the waiting area.  It was Corporal Hampson!  We had a seat at his desk and wished him good morning.  Turns out he is the man who really does some work.  He asked why we were seeking an extension.  I explained that when we arrived we expected to be cruising, but that we had so many problems with the boat that we were still here, and may not leave at all until we fly out in June.  He asked to see our outbound flight itinerary, and then summoned Sammy to go make copies of it.  (At least we didn't have to do that ourselves.)  He wrote a long explanation of our story on our forms.  He did mine first, then turned to Barb's.  He looked at her and asked if she was my wife.  She said, "No, we aren't married.  He is my Captain, and I do what he tells me".  Corporal Hampson looked to me and said "You've got a good deal."  We all had a good laugh.  It's good to make the official laugh and break the ice.  Once Corporal Hampson had everything filled out, stamped, and stapled, he told us to go back and have a seat.  He said his Chief would have to review our file, and that it would be no problem, just a formality.  So we went back and sat.

During this waiting period I had a thought.  I wondered what would happen if this building caught fire right now?  Our passports would be gone.  They don't do anything with computers (not one to be seen in the whole office).  We would be in a bureaucratic nightmare that would make today's events seem trivial.  After a little more than an hour, we saw Sammy take some papers like ours over to the cashier.  We had deduced by this point that this was the last step in the process.  We just hoped those were our forms.  Sure enough, a minute later, the voice of the cashier, whom you could see behind a partition, called out our names.  We were up at the window and more than ready to pay the fee and be done.  But, she got a call on her cell phone.  She did say "excuse me" as she took her call, but obviously it's a one-sided rule.  She finished her call, took our $150 EC each, and gave us our receipts and passports.  12:30 and almost $600 EC and we were legal.

We were starving by now, and in great need of a drink.  We walked down the street to a place just off the cruise ship docks, that I had heard years ago was good, but we have never tried.   Hemingway's is a second floor restaurant with a nice porch on three sides with tables.  We were seated right away, and although it was cruise ship priced, the food was good and the service was not surly like the other places we have eaten near the cruise ships.  After lunch we walked back to the bus station and got a bus back to Falmouth, with a quick stop at the farmer's market across the street.  We got one of the larger buses that holds probably 25 people and is a little nicer than the smaller vans.  It filled up quickly and we were on our way.  We got our first Mario Andretti bus driver on this one.  We were back in Falmouth in about half an hour.  We dinghied back to the boat and ditched the long pants.  Barb actually ditched her skirt on the dinghy dock, since she had her shorts on underneath.

When we got back to the boat, I called Sea Pony on the radio to see if he wanted me to come to shore somewhere to pay him for our mooring, or wait until tomorrow when he made his normal morning rounds.  He said to wait until tomorrow.  I then made a quick trip back to the yacht club to get a bag of ice.  About 16:00, Lynn & Mike were coming back to their boat from town and stopped to say hi.  They came aboard and had a beer and we made plans for the evening.

About 18:00, we dinghied in and parked at the very crowded yacht club dinghy basin.  As we got out of the dinghy, we saw Lee from Allegro and Morgan from Nirvana (formerly Winergie) talking on the dock.  I speak to Lee almost every morning on the Coconut Telegraph, as he is one of the regular net controllers, but we have only met face to face once or twice several years ago.  I had told Barb I was going to be embarrassed if I didn't recognize him when we met, because I could not picture him in my head.  But, as soon as I saw him, I knew who he was.  We haven't seen Morgan since 2009 in Jolly Harbor.  A few weeks ago, I saw a boat at the fuel dock in Jolly Harbor that I thought looked like Winergie, but the name was Nirvana.  I didn't think much more of it, until earlier today when somebody hailed Nirvana on the radio here.  I instantly recognized Morgan's voice when he responded.  He has a very distinctive voice.  We briefly said hi to both of them as we were expected down the street at Mad Mongoose.

We joined Lynn & Mike at Mad Mongoose where they introduced us to Colin & Giselle from Zephyr.  Lynn & Mike have been traveling some with them this year, but Giselle is leaving for the UK in a day or two, and two crew are joining Colin to take the boat back to the UK.  We enjoyed a drink with them, and then moved back down the street to the yacht club.  There was a band playing and a large crowd of racers and crew, as well as plain old folks like us.  They had food for sale as well as drinks of course.  We grabbed a bite to eat and visited with quite a few folks we know.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 19

We awoke to a drizzly, hazy morning.  It almost looked foggy, which doesn't happen here.  Barb said maybe we had been transported to Maine overnight.  We got up and did the morning net, and then Sea Pony came by to collect for the mooring. 

Today's regatta events start with the judging for the Concourse d'Elegance.  This is a judging of how good the boats look.  There are several classes based on size, type of boat, and whether it is privately or professionally maintained.  The judging starts at 09:00, and the drizzle stopped about 08:45, so I bet there was some furious chamois work going on.  We were originally planning to go over to look at the boats during the judging, but the rain had convinced us to stay aboard awhile.  We had sandwiches onboard for lunch and then went to the Yacht Club about noon.  We walked out on the dock and immediately found our friend Ira on Lone Fox.  Ira had Lone Fox in Grenada for hurricane season the first year we were down there.  We last saw him in 2009 in St. Maarten.  Lone Fox is an active charter boat, and has been chartered for the race.  Ira told us the deal is, the guy who chartered it actually does the racing, including the single-handers race this afternoon.  Ira will be aboard, as even in the single-hander race, there are two "observers" onboard as a matter of safety.  We only got to chat briefly, as they were getting ready to race.  Hopefully we'll see him again later.  We strolled down the rest of the dock looking at the nice collection of classic boats, and some pretty incredible modern mega-sailboats.  There are lots of pictures.

As we watched most of the classic boats leave the dock for the 14:00 start of the single-hander race, we ran into Jon from Wicked Good.  We chatted with him as we watched a mega-sailboat named Rebecca back into her slip.  Pretty cool stuff, all done with the flip of two joysticks at the helm.  Jon had not eaten lunch yet, so we joined him at Cloggy's in the Yacht Club.  Even though we had recently eaten, the menu looked inviting, so Barb and I each got an appetizer.  After we ate, we went back to the boat for about an hour, and then returned to town with Mike & Lynn.  We walked over to Nelson's Dockyard, so Lynn could use the ATM.  It put up a fight with her as it has with us, but she finally found a card it would work with.  We headed back to Falmouth, and stopped at the Mad Mongoose for a drink.  We only had one drink there, as we think there are free drinks and snacks on the dock.  We got to the dock, expecting to find a crowd wherever the free drinks were.  We didn't see much of a crowd, so we thought perhaps we had bad information.  But, Lynn spotted some people sitting at a table outside the Panerai store with plastic glasses of wine, so she asked where they got them.  Turns out it was in the store.  They had beer, wine and champagne, and a variety of snack foods.  We all got drinks and a table and enjoyed.  We visited with several other friends who were in the crowd that was getting larger.  By 19:00, the free stuff was gone, but a subset of the A.M.P. Halcyon Steel band was playing on stage, and they were getting close to announcing the winners of the Concourse d'Elegance.  We moved to the area near the stage and listened to the winners being announced.  Rumors were flying around that Dennis Connor is here.  Not sure if that's true or not.  We headed back to the boat about 21:00.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 20

We were awakened before dawn by a heavy rain storm.  It rained hard enough that I even had to close the hatch at the head of the bed, which normally can stay open during a light to moderate rain.  When we got up later, it was still raining lightly.  I went out to the cockpit and looked in the dinghy, and it had about six inches of water in it.  It took me quite a while to pump all that out with my little hand pump.

I hosted the Coconut Telegraph today and needed help hearing some of the respondents as I am close to the marina and the big boats which put off all sorts of RF interference.  Our plan today had been to join Mike & Lynn on Pigeon Beach and walk to the point where we could watch today's races.  But, since it was still raining until well after the start of the race, we abandoned that plan and stayed onboard.  Instead, we ran the engine to charge the batteries, wrote logs, and read.  We had lunch onboard of some leftovers that needed finishing.   We listened to the starting of the races on the race committee channel on the radio.  The race official reminded all the racers that this is a "gentleman's regatta", and that there were not to be any protests.  Apparently you can make a protest, but it has to be accompanied by a large sum of cash that you lose if you lose the protest, and you will be subjected to the "disdain of your fellow yachtsmen on the docks later".

We finally went ashore late in the afternoon to partake of the free stuff at the yacht club.  Apparently every day, the Panerai store is hosting the open bar and snacks, so we started there.  Then from 18:00 to 20:00, there were free Dark & Stormy's on the yacht club "lawn".  The lawn has very little remnants of grass on it at this point.  Dark & Stormy's are supposed to be Gosling's Black Rum and ginger beer.  I have never had one, and technically still haven't, because of course these were made with Mount Gay Rum, since Mount Gay is the big sponsor.  Speaking of sponsors, I don't think I have mentioned the sponsors for the regatta.  Panerai is an Italian watch company.  They are the platinum sponsor of this event and nine others specifically for classic yachts.  They restored and own Eilean, which is here in her restored form.  Another huge sponsor of this and many other sailing regattas is Mount Gay Rum.  In the sailing community, getting a Mount Gay regatta red hat is a special thing.  I'll have more on that later.

At the yacht club, we ran into Lee & Sharon from Allegro.  My very first contact with Allegro was when we were passing through a cut near Woods Hole, MA, in 2006.  We were going opposite directions, and he hailed us on the VHF because he saw our Texas flag.  He asked if we knew another Texas boat, Milano Myst.  I replied that we did not, and he said they were in Newport, where we were headed, and to look them up.  Well, we did and became great friends with Milano Myst.  As for Allegro, next time we heard from him was in 2007 when we headed south through the islands, and the Coconut Telegraph was born.  We heard Lee almost everyday, but didn't meet face to face until 2008 when we were running the marina in Grenada.  And until now, it's also been back to only hearing him on the radio.  Well, in my feeble old memory, I couldn't remember if Lee had a connection to Texas himself, and that how he knew Milano Myst, or if he had just met them somewhere and were hooking up two Texas boats.  So, I asked him about it and found that indeed he had lived in Houston for years and kept his boat at the Houston Yacht Club where Milano Myst had been berthed.  Mystery solved.  Until I forget again.  We also saw Ira, from Lone Fox.  I asked how they did, and he was not happy.  They had finished third in their class.  Doesn't sound bad, except apparently it's the first time Lone Fox has not been first or second in a classic race in six years.

The entertainment tonight is a father/son duo.  They both played guitars and sang, and a guy with a trumpet joined them.  They were quite good.  The real interesting part of their story, was that the son, who was an adult probably in his thirties or maybe even forty, has always lived on a boat.  He was born and raised on a boat when his parents were cruising, and is now a professional captain or crew.  While we were listening to the music, we ran into Jon from Wicked Good, who is crewing aboard Old Bob.  We knew Old Bob was the last boat to finish today, but Jon told us they had finished with only six minutes to spare before the race would be declared over and they would have scored a DNF.    It rained a little while the music was playing, but we just happened to already be under a canopy, so we remained dry.  After the rain had been gone a bit, we decided to head for the boat.  As we were getting in the dinghy, we saw lightening and then heard thunder.  Thunder and lightening are very rare in the Caribbean, so this definitely got our attention.  The good news was that it was already off to the west of us, and weather normally moves east to west here, so we shouldn't have to worry about it.  We saw a couple more flashes over the mountain on our way to the boat, then it was gone.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 21

I hosted the Coconut Telegraph again today.  I was able to hear pretty good, and we had a good number of check-ins.  Yesterday, the weather was forecast to be worse today than it had been yesterday, due to a tropical wave moving southeast to northwest through the islands.  This didn't bode well for the racers nor for our planned trip up the hill to watch.  However, the day dawned nice and clear with no suggestion of bad weather.  So, by 09:00, we were in the dinghy headed for the dock on Pigeon Beach.  David, a friend of Mike & Lynn's professed to know where the trail was to hike to the top of Pigeon Point where we could see the whole race course.  The dock is on the western end of the beach, and instead of walking west from there which seemed logical to me, we walked east the full length of the beach, and up the hill halfway back to the Yacht Club.  If this is where the trail starts, it would have been shorter to walk from the Yacht Club.  When we finally turned off the road onto the trail, it was a rough road, passable by a four-wheel drive, and quite steep at points.  It was probably no more than a mile's hike, but it seemed like forever.  Once we got near the top, there was a final bluff to be climbed that the road didn't go up.  So we scrambling over rocks and through brambles to get there.  Once at the very top though, we had a couple trees for shade, rocks for seats, and a beautiful view of the ocean.  We arrived just a minute after the first class started the race, but were able to see the five other starts.  The first mark was about four miles straight south from the harbor entrance.  We could see the first of the boats make the turn and head for the second mark near the entrance to English harbor.  The third leg brought the fleet back almost to the start finish, where they turned back out to sea to the first mark.  The most excitement we could observe was at this third turn.  Even though the distance between the second and third marks was less than a mile, the wind was such that the boats all turned the second mark and then went out to sea some, then gybed back towards the third mark.  Then they would gybe around the third mark and be back on a reach out to sea.  Well, there were several cases where we could tell that too many boats were going to want to be in the same place at the same time rounding this mark closest to us.  In this type of race, you have small boats and huge boats.  Regardless of technical right-of-way rules, small boats are supposed to give way to large, less maneuverable boats.  In one case, there were two of the sixty to seventy foot classic wooden boats nearly side by side approaching the mark.  However, they were the small boats in this case.  The 200+ foot Athos was also approaching the mark, but much faster than the others.  Athos had blown her horn twice to warn the other vessels she was coming.  Two really little boats made it around the mark before Athos got there, but the two big classics were not going to, so they both went wide of the mark, as they should, giving Athos the room she needed to make the mark.  That's when the problem started.  The smaller of the two classics, which had a wooden bowsprit a good twenty feet past the bow of the boat, was on the outside of the turn.  They wanted to turn astern of the other classic to then take away their wind when they turned.  It was a good idea, just not executed exactly right.  The outer boat turned too soon, hitting it's bowsprit on the stern of the other boat.  This resulted in a sickening crack of wood that we clearly heard up on the bluff, along with a lot of yelling.  The boat that got hit only sustained some bending of stanchions and continued to race, although they immediately called the committee boat and filed a protest.  The boat that did the hitting was unable to continue.  Some of their bowsprit was gone, and their furler and forestay were dangling in the water off the bow.  They managed to get the foresail down and secure the lose rigging and sailed back into Falmouth Harbor.  As I mentioned earlier, an announcement was made on the first day that this is "the last of the Gentlemen's regattas".  They actively discourage protests, and they even further discourage collisions.  Most of the boats in this regatta are extremely rare, expensive, and beautiful.  Damaging them for the sake of a race is not the goal.  Of course, if you are going to damage a classic wooden boat, Falmouth Harbor is the place to do it, with several craftsman here to effect repairs.

Most of the fleet was passed the mark closest to us, and a couple had already rounded the final mark, when we decided to start walking back.  We were about out of water and getting hot.  When we had gotten to the end of the rough road we followed up here, we found a nice newly graded road coming up from the side closer to the beach.  This appeared to be a much easier and shorter way down.  So we tried it, and sure enough it came out right by where we left the dinghies.  In David's defense, this wasn't really visible from the dinghies, and it's obviously very new, so we didn't give him too much crap about taking us up the long way.

When we got back to the beach, even though we were at the end near the dinghies, we walked the length of the beach to the restaurant/bar for a beer.  We were rewarded along the way with several topless sunbathers, who were actually people you didn't mind seeing topless.  We ordered beers at the bar.  There was a puppy there who was obviously hungry but very timid.  I tried to coax her over for a pet, but she was very wary.  Eventually she did let me pet her snout a little.  She was definitely the scruffiest puppy I have seen in a long time, and probably doesn't have a bright future unfortunately.  While we were there, a little girl brought the puppy several snacks.  This definitely brightened the puppies spirits and she was racing around with the little girl after that.  We decided to get a snack ourselves, and got chicken wings and fries.  As with our experience eating here before, the food was mediocre at best.  Guess we'll just stick to this place for a beach beer in the future.

As we were eating, we noticed the sky to the south getting very dark.  We still had the radio on the race committee channel and we heard them talking about the incoming weather.  Weather does not normally come from this direction, but this tropical wave is pushing northward.  We left the bar and headed for the dinghies in the hopes of beating the weather.  We got there just in time as the wind switched to the southwest and the rains came.  There were still lots of boats on the race course at this time, including of course slow Old Bob.  We learned later from Jon that Old Bob had used the storm to their advantage.  When they rounded the final mark and had a mile to go directly windward, which Old Bob does not do well, they tacked back out to sea instead of following the other boats.  They met the incoming storm, tacked back towards the finish, and rode the high winds from the storm right to the finish.  They were not last today.

By 17:30, the weather had cleared.  We joined Lynn & Mike ashore and immediately walked the docks looking for the damaged boats.  We found the one with the broken bowsprit first.  The remains of the bowsprit had been removed, and I overhead the skipper saying that Woodstock Boat Builders was making a new one.  A quick repair like that probably couldn't be made anywhere else in the Caribbean.

We ran into Lee & Cindy from Tranquility on the docks.  Lee is also a net controller on the Coconut Telegraph, and we had only met face-to-face once before in Martinique.  We chatted with them for a bit before going to the Mad Mongoose for dinner with Lynn & Mike.  Barb & I each had a nice rare tuna steak, which we haven't had in some time.  After dinner, Mike & Lynn went to enjoy the music at the yacht club, but Barb & I went back to the boat, retiring early after our big hike. 

We relaxed in the cockpit with beverages, and as I was idly staring to the south, I realized I could see the Southern Cross.  The first time we saw the Southern Cross was in 2007 on our way south and we were in The Saintes, south of Guadeloupe, which is about 60 miles south of here.  At the time, I was surprised we could see this constellation.  I thought, as many do, that you had to be in the southern hemisphere to see the Southern Cross.  Turns out that isn't true.  After seeing it low in the sky tonight, I did a little research.  Turns out it's possible to see it anywhere south of 25°N which is just about Key West, FL.  It depends on the time of year, with April to June being the time you can see it further north.  I started singing the Stephen Stills song in my head, while enjoying the view.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 22

Once again, we had a rain shower come through right about dawn, but by race time it was a beautiful day.  The cool event today, in addition to the race itself, is a parade of the boats through English Harbor at the end of the race.  English Harbor is quite narrow, with a well defined narrow entrance channel.  The boats will then turn around in front of Nelson's Dockyard and return to their berths over in Falmouth Harbor.  Mike & Lynn joined us in the walk over to English Harbor. 

My first stop in English Harbor was the Port Authority.  Our cruising permit expires today.  If I had been smart, I would have renewed it before we left Jolly Harbor, because it costs more here.  Since English/Falmouth is part of the National Park, there are extra fees.  Because of those fees, most people lie about how long they are staying in English or Falmouth.  I told the girl we arrived from Jolly yesterday, and would be leaving Wednesday.  Even with those fibs, the fees on top of the cruising permit fee were $91 EC.  The permit is $20 EC.  No wonder people lie about it. 

We walked around the waterfront at Nelson's Dockyard wondering about the best place to sit and see the parade.  There was an option of buying a bottle of champagne for almost $100 USD which would give us access to a nice seating area on the lawn, but we passed on that.  We found seats along the dock that would be ok, but then we heard that there was an announcer across the water at the Slipway Marina.  So, we took the water taxi across for $5 EC each.  Slipway Marina has a nice restaurant which was packed with people whom I'm sure made reservations some time ago.  But there was ample space to stand out on the bulkhead with probably a better view than those in the restaurant.  We were in the sun, but there was a good breeze so it was not unbearable.  We got there before 13:00, and the first boat is expected about 13:30. 

As we had crossed in the water taxi, the old man who runs it had pointed out the Mount Gay Rum tent right by where we were going to disembark.  The deal with the Mount Gay promotions is that at designated events, if you buy three rum drinks, you either get a ticket which should get you the coveted red hat at the Mount Gay party on the 27th, or you can get a t-shirt now.  They only bring a couple dozen t-shirts to each event, so they go quickly.  The taxi man wanted a t-shirt, and asked if we were going to drink rum, could he have the shirt?  So, I went to the bar with him, ordered four drinks for all of us, and got the man his shirt.  He was delighted and I won't miss having another t-shirt.  I'll also probably have other opportunities to get one.  In the course of the couple hours we were there, we kept pooling our drink orders and got t-shirts for Mike & Lynn also.  They were also selling pizza by the slice at the Mount Gay booth, so we were able to get a snack without having to deal with the restaurant itself, which we heard from friends was drastically overwhelmed by the crowd.

About 13:40, the first classic boat appeared at the mouth of the harbor.  We started taking pictures of each one as they passed by.  After quite a few pictures, I had the impression that the pictures looked kind of dull or gray in the display on the back of the camera.  I think it took a bit for me to notice this, because without my glasses I can't really tell if a picture is clear or not.  Finally, I was convinced something was amiss.  I looked at the front of the camera, and the lens was fogged up on the inside!  No wonder the pictures have a gray hue to them.  This is a new-this-year camera, and it is waterproof, so it shouldn't have a problem with moisture inside.  It has only been in the water twice and then only just under the surface.  I turned the camera off and put it in my pocket.  About ten minutes later, I took it out again and the fog had cleared.  I continued using it, but put it in my pocket between shots instead of keeping it in the direct sunlight.  Something else to deal with when we are home this summer.

The parade was quite impressive.  We overheard several people saying things like "the really big boats won't come in here because it's too tight".  Well, they were wrong.  One of the first few was Rebecca.  Rebecca is 139 feet long.  As the parade progressed, more and more little spectator power boats were drifting around getting in the way.  There isn't much outside the States as far as officialdom, but some authority should have been able to tell these guys to either anchor out of the way or get out.  There was one sailboat our sized that anchored just outside the navigation channel across from us.  It was a local boat, and maybe they were part of something official, but it still seemed like a bad place to be anchored.  A 70-foot boat named Kate does not have an engine. They sail on and off the anchor here in English Harbor each day for the races.  They sailed in with the parade, which was downwind, but then had to turn around and sail back out almost straight into the wind.  That meant to make the less than quarter mile back to where they were going to anchor, they had to tack across the channel and traffic three times.  It especially looked like things might get exciting when Elena, all 200+ feet of her, appeared at the harbor entrance as Kate made her final tack.  I think Elena must have known what was going on, because she came to almost a complete stop and stood off until Kate left the channel and dropped their anchor.  Elena then proceeded into the harbor.  So much for any thought the "big" boats wouldn't parade.  Our friend Ira's boat, Lone Fox, came in, with the charter guest at the helm.  I know it's part of the deal when you arrange a charter like this, but Ira's got to have nerves of steel to trust his boat to somebody else in tight conditions like this.

Eventually, the parade seemed to be tapering off.  Not all the boats had done it, but those that did put on a good show, with the crews all dressed alike and lined up along the rail.  Several of the old boats fired cannons as they passed, startling me every time.  There were several water balloon battles between boats as they passed each other, and a couple of water balloon attacks on the restaurant.  One boat was throwing balloons by hand, but misjudged their ability and all landed short of the dock in the water.  Another however, overestimated their range.  They had a large water balloon slingshot and every balloon except one went over the building harmlessly.  The one boat that had not appeared yet was the one most people were waiting for.  After a few minutes of no boats, finally here came Old Bob.  They had raised a flag line from bow to mastheads to stern, had their matching t-shirts which even though new, kind of had the old scruffy look fitting of Old Bob, and had a guy in a pink dress dancing on the bowsprit.  They were all singing a song, but we couldn't make out the words among all the yelling and clapping. 

With Old Bob gone, we were ready to head back to the other side.  Mike & Lynn had already departed, as they needed to get back to their boat to change.  They are volunteers at the Sail Maine party tonight and have to be there at 17:00.  We hopped in the water taxi with six other folks and rode back across.  As everybody disembarked, they paid the guy their $5 EC each.  I waited until last, and when I got out, I asked, "Does the free t-shirt I got you equal a free ride?"  He smiled and waved us on. 

As we were heading out of the dockyard, we passed the museum building.  I had mentioned last time we were here that in all our visits to the dockyard, we've never gone in the museum.  Since we were in no hurry, we took a detour.  It is a nice little museum detailing the history of the dockyard both in the 1700's as the working British Navy repair facility, and then the restoration as a park and working dockyard.

We walked back to Falmouth and debated what to do.  The free drinking hadn't begun yet, but it was already 16:00, so it seemed like going back to the boat was a waste of time.  So, we sat down at Seabreeze, a coffee shop and ice cream shop in the main yacht club area, and had ice cream.  My first ice cream since January.  When we were done with that, Barb went and laid claim to a table outside the Panerai store where the freebies will be, and I went to fetch the dinghy from the dock we left it at this morning and bring it here to the main dinghy basin so it's convenient when we leave later.  When I got back it was still not 17:00, so we took a little walk down the dock.  We saw Ira, and he was much happier today with a 1st in class finish.  We walked down to Old Bob and saw Dave the owner and our friend Jon who has been sailing with him.  As a typical Old Bob thing, they had an electric bubble machine going on deck, kind of making fun of the more elegant parties on decks of some of the more thoroughbred yachts.   We walked back to the Panerai store and surprisingly regained our table.  It was now 17:00 and the free drink and snacks began, along with the stampede of cheap cruisers who live for such an event.  The majority of people have a couple of drinks and a few of the snacks.  But there are those who make a meal of it, and would probably bring Zip-locks if they thought they could get away with it.  Then there is the guy who just stands at the serving table and grazes, not even making an attempt at appearing proper.

The main event tonight is the Sail Maine party.  Eight boatyards in Maine put on this party for free.  Mike & Lynn are amongst the volunteers serving the food & drink.  All we know is that it is complimentary for all, and there allegedly is lobster involved.  Unlike other events at the Yacht Club, this time they had a guy directing you to a table first where they asked you to fill out a name tag.  You didn't really sign in, so it wasn't an attempt to gain addresses or anything for marketing.  When you got your name tag, you also got four tickets each for drinks, and one ticket each for a raffle at 19:30.  The drinks were water, beer, or rum punch, the latter being mixed in three huge igloo 120 quart coolers with the lids removed.  We got two drinks, gave two tickets, and moseyed up to the parking lot where the food tent was.  They has two huge vats of lobster bisque being passed out in plastic cups, several cheese and cracker trays, lobster rolls cut into two-bite sized chunks, and another appetizer that was a lobster salad on a little hunk of toast.  We each got cups of the lobster bisque, and it was quite good.  There were large chunks of lobster in it, and if I had to guess, it was really Maine lobster, not the local Caribbean lobster.  We got a few bites of the other stuff too, but the crowd around the food tent was untenable, so we moved back down near the stage in the main lawn area.  There was a local band playing, and we found if we stood to the side of the stage, the volume wasn't unbearable.  That also put us right next to a table that had more lobster bisque and drinks.  I had another cup of the bisque, and the guy at this table was filling the cups full and dipping from the bottom of the pot, so there was lots of lobster.  Another advantage at this table was they didn't seem to care about the drink tickets.  I don't know that we had more than our allotment anyway, but it let you feel like you were getting away with something.

At 19:30, they had the drawings for the door prizes.  They had several Maine cruising guides, and several neat bags made from old sails that had bottles of rum in them.  The grand prize was a passport to Maine.  The deal was it had a $100 US bill in it.  So you won at a minimum $100.  The rest of the passport deal was that there were coupons for a total of a months worth of dockage at various marinas in Maine.  This made it worth considerably more, if you were going to Maine this summer.  The guy said if you could not use the passport deal, they would auction it so you got the $100 and whatever the auction brought.  The guy who won didn't speak much English, so instead of doing any auction, they said they would explain it to him more.  We left right after that and were back at the boat before 21:00.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 23

We stayed onboard all day today.  Today is the final day of racing for the regatta, and we listened to the race committee VHF channel all day.  All you normally hear is the starting sequences of each class starting, and in the beginning at least three or four boats will ask them to repeat the bearing to the first mark because they hadn't been paying attention.  A little extra excitement today was Spirited Lady called the committee boat and asked how to reach ABSAR.  ABSAR is the volunteer Antigua Barbuda Search And Rescue team.  They apparently had a boat out around the race in case they were needed.  Spirited Lady hadn't started the race yet and a crew member had apparently jammed his foot on something.  So the captain asked ABSAR if they could pick him up from the boat and take him to seek medical attention.  I assume they did, because shortly after, Spirited Lady's captain made an announcement that if anybody wanted to crew and could get out there in a dinghy quickly they had an opening.  Not sure if anybody took her up on it or not.  As boats finish the race, they call the race committee boat to announce themselves as they approach the line.  Being the last race, there were lots of thanks to the committee and fun banter.

There was an unusual request on the radio today.  There was an announcement for an urgent need for Type-O blood.  The announcement told any potential donors to come to the National Parks office at English Harbor and they would arrange transportation to the hospital for the donation.  They made it even more personal by announcing the name of the person who needed the blood.  Hopefully they got some help.

As the boats were returning from the race, a couple of the Carriacou sloops sailed all the way back to the dock.  That means they sailed through the anchorage on their way.  I was below and Barb was in the cockpit when she called me to come above quickly.  As I popped my head out of the companionway here came Genesis passing about a foot off our stern under full sail and heeled over pretty good.  To make it even a funnier picture, our local friend Sujaye was sitting low on the deck with just his head above the rail with a big smile on his face waving at us as they passed.  It would have made a great picture if we had seen it coming in time to have the camera.

During the afternoon, Felicita West returned to the dock at the Antigua Yacht Club where she had been when we were down here a few weeks ago.  As she docked, we commented on the large black soot mark on her side near the stern, obviously where her exhaust exits the boat.  We joked about how that needs to be cleaned immediately.   Sure enough, within the hour, the soot was gone.

While we were sitting in the cockpit this afternoon, Barb noticed an unbroken water balloon floating just at the surface of the water.  There had been a brief battle with a departing boat earlier in the day.  Unfortunately, a floating water balloon would look just like a jelly fish to a hungry sea turtle.  So, after thinking about it for a minute, I got in the dinghy and retrieved the balloon.  I thought that would be my good deed for the day.  But, later as we started to dinghy ashore for happy hour, Barb spotted another balloon floating by.  I turned around and after several attempts, we snagged that one too.  It's not easy picking up a small floating object from the dinghy, because as you approach it the wake pushes it away.  We also saw a soda can floating nearby, so I went to pick it up too, but I ran over it and it sank instead.

There are no free food or drink activities tonight, so we joined Mike & Lynn at  the Mad Mongoose for happy hour and dinner.  At happy hour, we ran into Bruce from R Phurst whom we had met once back in Grenada several years ago.  He and his friend joined us for dinner.  By the time we had finished dinner, it was after 20:00, and they were having another red hat promotion night here.  We already have the tickets that should get us red hats, but I never got a t-shirt the other day at the parade, so I bought drinks, and got a t-shirt.  By the time we had finished those drinks, I saw the guy was still there.  I went to see what sizes of shirts they had left, and they had one XL left.  I told him to hold it for me and I would be right back with tickets.  He handed me the shirt and said he trusted me.  I bought the drinks, and returned with the tickets. 

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 24

Barb hasn't been feeling well, so we stayed onboard all day today.  We invited Mike & Lynn over to MoonSail for happy  hour and snacks.  About 17:00, before they got there, I realized we may not have enough rum aboard.  It's not polite to invite people over for happy hour and then not have rum.  So, I made an emergency run to the store to get a bottle.  As I docked the dinghy in the yacht club basin, I saw Ira from Lone Fox on the dock.  I walked over to ask him when they were leaving, and the answer was "right now".  I was glad I got to say goodbye, and promised to look him up next year in St. Barths, or St. Maarten, or here.  I then got the rum and dashed back to MoonSail and got there just after Mike & Lynn.  We had a nice visit and next thing you know it was 21:00. 

For the past several days, there has been a significant rolling in the anchorage.  We've been in worse, but it's just enough to get annoying after a while.  During the day today, it seemed like it had abated, but by evening, we were rocking back and forth again.  Mike and I discussed this when they were here.  We understand how when a swell comes from the north, the bays on the northwest corner of an island can get uncomfortable.  But, Falmouth Harbor faces due south.  The entrance is narrow and about a quarter mile long.  How a swell ever gets in here is beyond us.  We agreed we missed that chapter in the fluid dynamics class.  Just at dusk a boat came in and started circling as if looking for a place to anchor.  Sure enough, he dropped his anchor in front of us and dropped back to where his stern is about 30 feet from our bow.  As long as he doesn't drag, he probably won't be a problem to us, but if the wind shifts he could become a problem for some of the other boats on moorings.  It amazes me that people anchor in the middle of a mooring field and don't realize a boat on a mooring swings differently than one on an anchor.

Tonight was the big ceremony awarding all the trophies for the regatta.  We would like to have been there, as it turned out to be quite a show.  But, it wasn't starting until 21:30, so we didn't go.  We learned later that Lone Fox won the Panerai Trophy which is the top prize.  It is awarded to the best overall corrected time in the regatta.  If you don't understand "corrected time" don't worry.  Most boaters don't either.  But, it is the second year in a row for Lone Fox to win.  Another cool thing involved Eilean.  Eilean was featured in a Duran Duran music video and I believe on the cover of their album Rio.  This was before she became derelict and subsequently was rebuilt.  Well Simon Le Bon and the rest of Duran Duran were there and spoke about their experience with Eilean.  Also, this news article confirms that as rumored, Dennis Connor was indeed here.  He didn't come out to say hi to MoonSail.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 25

I got out of bed this morning after hearing a large boat blow it's horn five times.  I've mentioned before, that the big boats all get to blowing their horns when one is departing for the season, but five short blasts is an internationally recognized signal for "get out of the way, I'm about to run you over".  So, I got up to see what was going on.  The ship Dona Amelia was leaving Falmouth Harbor Marina.  After she turned around and headed out the channel, she blew five blasts three more times.  From my point of view, I couldn't tell for sure why they did this, but I don't think they were just saying goodbye.  I'm guessing some dumbass has anchored in the channel and they wanted to make it clear to him that they didn't appreciate it.

Today is the big pizza contest day at Al Porto.  We stayed aboard the boat until about 15:00, when we met Mike & Lynn ashore and picked up a rental car.  My three-month driver's license expired yesterday, so I had to get another one.  Getting a temporary license just means showing them your US license and giving them $20 USD.  Paperwork completed, we headed to Jolly Harbor.

Our first stop was at the marina office.  Mike & Lynn are hauling at Jolly this year also, but this will be their first time to do so.  They already have made their arrangements via e-mails, but wanted to stop in and meet Festus the manager and introduce themselves.  When we got to the office, Festus was there, and I told him I brought him new customers.  We all had a nice chat and Mike & Lynn got a couple questions they had answered.

Next stop was at Typically Tropical to reserve a villa that we will share with Mike & Lynn as we prepare our boats to be hauled.  Since Mike & Lynn haul a week before us, we had originally thought we would get a one-bedroom villa and they would stay for the first half of the week, then we would stay the second half.  But, Amy didn't have a one bedroom available for exactly our dates.  She did have a two-bedroom though, that she was able to give us for the same price, since it is the end of the season.  It also has a dock, so we can use our dinghy possibly to ferry stuff off the boat.

With the business part of the trip completed, it was off to visit Fred at WestPoint for a few drinks before the contest.  Lynn & Mike had not been to Jolly Harbor since WestPoint had changed hands from Angie, who now owns Al Porto, to George.  Fred, our favorite bartender, was working and was glad to see us.  We enjoyed several drinks, even though it was not happy hour pricing yet.  While we were there, Lawrence, who used to be a bartender here and now works at Al Porto came in.  We learned that he was returning to The Netherlands tomorrow for at least a couple of months. 

About 18:00, we headed down the street to Al Porto.  We had a table reserved and the three of us were seated while Barb was introduced to the pizza cook and the other competitors.  There are four entrants, and their pizzas are listed on a special menu.  The deal with the contest is that between 19:00 and 21:00, the person who has the most of their pizzas ordered, wins $500 EC and their pizza goes on the regular menu for next season.  Our entry is called MoonSail's Pesto.  It is the one Barb has been making us at home recently.  The way it's made is, brush olive oil on the crust, spread basil pesto liberally on, top with thinly sliced tomatoes, browned Italian sausage, and mozzarella.  When the contest began, a MoonSail's Pesto was the first pizza ordered.  Barb went behind the counter and made the first pizza.  The regular pizza chef handled the oven work with his large paddle and the wood fired oven.  Over the course of the evening, Barb made a total of seven of her pizzas and then the chef took over.  He confided in her that he liked hers the best.  The place was not as crowded as on the 2-for-1 pizza night, but there was a good turnout.  Several times during the night, we looked over at the chef and he indicated we were ahead by two pizzas.  We were all having a good time, and then realized it was after 21:00.  We asked Angie if the contest was over or not.  She looked at the tally and said we were tied with one other competitor.  Then an order came in for one more of the other girl's pizzas.  I suspect it came from her table of eight friends.  So, the contest was over, and we lost by one pizza.  It was fun anyway, and we told Angie to feel free to use the recipe.  The event at Al Porto had also been one of the red hat promo nights, so we scored several t-shirts for buying Mount Gay drinks, and we got another ticket for a hat at the big party for being entrants in the contest.

We left Al Porto and stopped back by WestPoint.  We gave Fred half a pizza we had left over, a t-shirt, and a ticket for the red hat party.  Since we were there, we decided to have one more drink before heading back to Falmouth Harbor.  We left after that for the forty minute drive back.  We got back and parked by the Yacht Club and dinghied back to the boat.  We were surprised to see that it was midnight already.  Time flies when you're having rum, as they say.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 26

We intentionally picked up the car mid-afternoon yesterday so that we would be able to use it quite a bit of today too.  Our plan was to meet at the dock at 09:00 for the day's adventure.  We went in a bit early and ordered coffees at Seabreeze, since we had not made any on the boat this morning.  While we were standing there waiting for Mike & Lynn, Angie and her little boy walked up.  We chatted a minute and said hi to Sam.  It wasn't until after she had walked away that it occurred to me that running into her in Jolly Harbor was a regular event, but running into her down in Falmouth was unusual.  She had mentioned Sam was going to pre-school, so maybe she makes the drive down here daily for that.

Mike & Lynn showed up and we headed north.  Our first stop is to check out North Sound Marine Services at Crab Point near Parham, which is on the northeast corner of the island.  We have been close to this area before, but not all the way to Parham.  We followed the tourist map that comes with the rental car, which leaves a lot to be desired.  Remarkably, we ended up finding the place without going to far out of our way.  The facility here is very new and modern.  The big sign out front identifies it as Stanford Marine Terminal.  If you don't follow the news, R. Allen Stanford was a Texan who came to Antigua and bought a bank.  He had regular banking business here on Antigua, but also then made a separate offshore bank for investors to hide money in.  He offered too good to be true interest rates on CD's which lured lots of money to him.  When the US SEC shut him down and put him in jail for running a Ponzi scheme, the whole thing collapsed.  Not only did many of the offshore investors lose their money, but there was a run on the local bank also which resulted in it's collapse too.  This all happened in 2009 about the time we were leaving Antigua.  Since then, Stanford has been in jail in Houston, and recently got convicted of all but one of the charges against him.  The interesting thing here in Antigua though is the legacy he left.  I'm sure there are many people who don't like him because they lost money in his bank, but the majority think he was a hero and was wrongly convicted.  They think this because with his ill begot funds, he invested heavily in Antigua.  He built a huge cricket complex near the airport, which today stands empty and is the first thing you see as you drive out of the airport.  He brought the Stanford 20/20 cricket tournament here.  Of course that all fell apart with his arrest.  The Stanford Marine Terminal is another example of a huge investment he made.  Details about the history of this place are hard to come by, but I think he built it hoping to lure mega-yachts here for storage and/or service.  The Travel Lift is 150 ton, which is more than twice the size of Jolly Harbors and can haul huge boats and wide boats like catamarans that Jolly Harbor is not able to handle.  There is an airplane hanger sized building designed to store boats inside and withstand a Cat 4 hurricane.  There is room for 100 boats to be strapped down on concrete outside.  The whole facility also has many buildings.  There is a huge warehouse looking building that I'm guessing was either intended to become some type of cargo facility, or perhaps to house businesses catering to mega-yachts.  There are also buildings that look like they were to be restaurants or a reception hall or something.  It is all nicely landscaped and has a big security gate.  When we arrived, we found the office to inquire about rates.  We were given a rate sheet and then introduced to Tom who is running the boatyard now.  I'm not at all sure of the arrangement he has with the property.  I doubt his one business is supporting the maintenance of all the grounds.  Anyway, we had a pleasant chat with Tom, who seems like a very straightforward guy.  My initial impression of the place is that while it is all new and shiny, it is very exposed in case a hurricane did come.  Another drawback is that it has very little dockage available which you need to get a boat ready to haul or ready to sail after launching.  It also is in the middle of nowhere.  There are absolutely no other facilities nearby, like a place to stay, restaurants, grocery, nothing.  You would have to drive 15 minutes to St. Johns for anything.  So, while interesting, I don't think we will be staying here unless it gets more developed in the future.

From Crab Point, we drove west across the island to St. Johns.  We stopped at the Mega Store to see what they had in the way of microwave ovens.  Ours started acting odd recently, and while I think I have figured out that the problem is just one of the buttons wearing out, it's probably best to replace it.  The problem is finding one that will fit in the space in the cabinetry.  I'm sure buying one here will cost much more than one could be had in the States for, but when you factor in the getting it here, I'd rather just buy it here and be done with it.  We found a potential candidate, although I haven't measured the old one yet.  At least we know about the price range we're looking at.  I also went to the electronics section and got a connector that may be what I need to finish my AIS installation.  The ones I had the TX gang bring me were not the right ones, so that project had still been on hold. 

After the Mega Store, we went on into town and parked near the cruise ship docks.  There is only one ship in today, so town isn't too crowded.  The ladies went to find a specific store Lynn wanted to go to, while Mike & I went to the bar by the dock.  We got a couple beers and watched the world go by.  We were tickled to notice the "No Soliciting" signs all over the plaza where there is nothing but soliciting going on when a cruise ship is there.  I guess a hundred taxi drivers trying to get you to take their tour isn't soliciting.  The ladies joined us ten minutes before the deadline that had been set, and Lynn had found what she wanted.  We walked a couple blocks to Hemingway's for lunch.  Based on Lynn's recommendation, Barb & I both had a seafood pasta dish that was excellent. 

After lunch we headed a little north to the new Epicurean grocery store.  Mike & Lynn had not been to the new store, and they were impressed.  We did some shopping and then headed home.  It was 14:00 when we left the Epicurean, and we have to have the car back by 15:00.  We got to where the dinghies were parked and unloaded the groceries.  While everybody else ferried stuff to the dinghies, I went and got gas in the car and returned it.  We dinghied back to the boats and stayed aboard for the evening.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 27

The day started with a rain shower.  Not a good sign considering tonight is the Mount Gay red hat party that everybody has been looking forward to.  Unlike some days where we get a morning shower, and that's that, today it rained off and on all day.  We just hung on the boat all day and ran the engine to catch up on battery charging.  The wind generator is doing it's part today, but not much solar power is being made.

We met Mike & Lynn at the dinghy dock about 17:00.  The party is at Reef Gardens, which has it's own dinghy dock.  But, from the boat, it looks like it is a very small dock and there are two small power boats that are always tied up there.  It is only about a quarter mile down the street from the main part of town, so we left the dinghies at the yacht club dock and walked down.  Reef Gardens is owned by the same people who own the Mad Mongoose.  Because of this event, Mad Mongoose is closed tonight, and all the staff is working the party.  When we got there, the first stop was a booth to buy tickets for food and drink.  Our waitress from the two nights we have had dinner there was selling the tickets.  We only got a few tickets to start, since there will be an hour of free rum drinks from 18:00 to 19:00.  Since it was just a little after 17:00, we went in the permanent building that houses a bar and got drinks.  Junior, the daytime bartender at Mad Mongoose was behind the bar.  When we came out, we saw where the line was already forming to claim your red hats.  There had been emphasis put on "while supplies last" for the hats, so we got in line.  Halfway the length of the area roped off for the line was another tent giving away sample shots of Mount Gay Black rum and coconut water.  We were conveniently right next to this tent as we stood in line.  So, for about 45 minutes until the hat giveaway started at 18:00, we just kept sipping on free rum.

Promptly at 18:00 the line started to move.  The tickets made it clear that there was a limit of one hat per person.  We had a couple of extra tickets, but our plan was to get back in the line and play almost by the rules.  We were surprised to see they apparently were not enforcing the rule as several people came away with more than one hat in one pass of the line.  We got our one each, and Barb & Lynn got back in line while Mike & I went to the large tent in the middle of the grounds to get us all free drinks.  This tent was about 20 x 20 with six or seven bartenders pouring rum & something as fast as they could.  The crowd was about three deep to get to the bar, with absolutely no line recognition.  It was not my favorite place to be.  I got two drinks and got out of there, meeting Barb in line.  It didn't take long for the line to process, and there were still hats.  Best I could see, they were still giving away hats to stragglers at 19:00.  We met several old cruising friends, like Steve & Ann from Receta and had a nice visit.  Steve had been the invited photographer on four different boats on the four days of racing and he was telling us about that experience.  In another conversation, we learned some sad news, that the Starfish Espresso store in Jolly Harbor closed, apparently for good, not just the off season.  That's too bad.  Although we rarely stopped in, we had gotten to know Terry the owner a bit.  I hate to see someone not make it with a small business.  From my understanding, the landlord doesn't get it that the businesses here are all highly seasonal, and they don't make the rent agreements be a profit sharing kind of deal instead of a flat rate.  Maybe when 75% of the shops are empty instead of the current 25%, they'll get it.

About ten minutes before the 19:00 cut off for the free rum drinks, I went to the bar to get us two more.  This was a mistake.  The crowd of now liquored up cheap boaters was again three or four people deep and pressing to get one more free drink before the bar closed.  I was in the crowd before realizing just what a crush it was, or I would have passed.  Once there though, I was getting pushed and shoved by these crazy people.  My instinct to stand my ground took over, and I did some elbow poking of my own to keep jerks from pushing past me.  For all my aggravation, I got to the bar just in time to see the last of the rum being poured and the announcement made that the bar was closed.  I turned and got out of there before it got any uglier.  It really pissed me off to see people behaving like this to get a free drink that would cost them $3 USD otherwise.

We decided it was time to eat.  The choices were a big tent where they had roast suckling pig, paella, and ribs.  An announcement had been made at the start of the party that those things go fast, and there was a huge crowd by that tent.  Not wanting a repeat performance, we opted for the other choice, which was burgers or hot dogs being grilled behind the main permanent bar building.  We found a short line and got burgers.  We then went inside the bar building and found almost no one there, so we camped at the one little stand-up table for four in the middle of the room to eat out burgers.  We bought drinks from Junior and all was well.  That was until a guy walked over and put his empty beer can down between me and Lynn and walked back to the girl he was trying to pick up.  I guess I had a little anger in me still from the bar deal, because this really ticked me off.  I stood staring at him as Barb tried to calm me down, but he didn't even notice because he was trying to impress a girl half his age who was not going anywhere with him.  I waited, hoping she would leave, because she had nothing to do with it.  When they both started to walk off, I went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.  I asked him how he would like it if he were eating dinner and somebody walked up and dumped there trash on the table.  Of course he said he wouldn't like that.  I said "Well next time find the trash can for your empty beer can."  I turned and walked away before he could respond, and he didn't follow up.  Shortly after returning to the table, another girl reached between Barb & I and put her wadded up paper something down.  I picked it up and threw it back at her, just missing her, but she saw it go by.  Apparently we had a sign above the table saying dump your crap here, because minutes later another young girl who was a local put her empty plastic cup down between Barb & Mike as she walked to the bar.  Would it really have been so hard to put it on the bar where the bartender would have thrown it away?  Before Barb could stop me, I took the cup and got in the girls face.  I tried to put it back in her hand, but she kept her hands clenched.  After yelling at her, I threw the cup at her feet.  The last straw was when a cruiser lady came up to our table and tried to grab one of the pennants hanging over it.  These were not promo pennants for the evening.  These were yacht club pennants that somebody had donated to the bar and hung from the ceiling.  Fortunately, the stupid cruiser was short and she could barely reach the end of the pennant, not getting a good enough grip on it to tear it down.  I yelled at her to stop.  What would make a person think stealing the decorations from any place of business is ok?  I think she eventually did get a pennant from across the room.

Any of you who know me, know that I am not a confrontational kind of guy.  There was just something about tonight that really rubbed me the wrong way.  I'm sure it had to do with the size of the crowd and the alcohol involved (in me and everybody else).  But, I think there has also been a shift in the way people treat each other and a lack of common courtesy.  I have noticed that the camaraderie amongst the cruisers doesn't seem to be as much as it was when we first started cruising in 2005.  I heard other people say the same thing, and some speculate that the demographics of where cruisers are from has changed and this may have to do with it.  Or maybe it's just that a party offering free stuff brings out the bottom of the barrel of people.  Maybe my feeling is similar to when a family moves and the kids have to make new friends at school.  Most of the cruisers we came south with in 2007 have gone home and there is a new class now and we aren't part of it.  In any case, it was time to go, as it was turning more into a local's party anyway.  Unfortunately, the last event of regatta week left me with a very bad taste in my mouth after a wonderful week.  If we ever come back to Classic week, the red hat party will NOT be on my list of things to do.

We went back to the boat and spent some quiet time in the cockpit (except for the base thumping from the party ashore) before retiring.  It certainly wasn't the end to Classic Week that I expected.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 28

There was not much exciting to write about today.  The wind has been honking so we stayed on the boat all day reading and playing computer games.  The Sailing Week races have started, although I haven't as much interest in them as I did in Classic Week.  This week is all about modern racing sailboats, which don't interest me at all.  Today's race was the Around The Island race, which is about 55 miles.  They will probably appreciate all the wind.

At 17:00, we dinghied to Seabbatical, who is now on the mooring right behind us, for drinks and snacks.  We were joined by Ann & Steve from Receta.  After last night's experience, it was nice to spend a pleasant evening with friends from our original years of cruising.  We returned to MoonSail about 21:00 for a windy night's sleep.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 29

As forecast, today is maybe even a little windier than yesterday.  Today's race is a 15 mile course off the south end of the island.  They ought to have fun.

About 09:30, we were hailed by Spirited Lady who is on the mooring to our starboard.  We don't really know her, so I was wondering what was up as I answered her.  She was calling to ask if I could get in my dinghy and rescue a fender that was drifting by her boat.  For whatever reason, she is on the boat without her dinghy, and it didn't drift close enough to her for her to snag it with her boat hook.  I got in the dinghy and snagged the fender as it was making it's way across the harbor.  I went back to Spirited Lady, because I wasn't clear on whose it was.  She told me that she thought it belonged to a catamaran that is anchored up in front of her, since they had been pointing and waving and yelling to get her attention in the first place.  I headed towards the cat, which was in the process of weighing anchor.  As I got near, I hollered to him and he waved as if to say come alongside.  Then there was a whistle from the boat to his starboard and he waved me towards him.  Turns out that's who's fender it was.  This is the boat who I have written about earlier who seems to think it's his right to anchor in the no-anchor zone in front of the marina.  He was also weighing anchor and when I handed him the fender, he said he had been going to chase it down in his big boat.  That's all we would have needed - a big ugly steel sailboat, being single-handed through the anchorage while trying to fish a fender out of the water from a eight-foot high deck.  He was very polite and thanked me for the save.  Had I known it was his, I might not have been so quick to help out.  I get triple nice-guy points for that one.

I decided playing computer games all day wasn't acceptable and tackled a small project.  The belt on our large alternator has been slipping lately, keeping me from being able to run the engine at high enough RPM to get the max out of the alternator.  I was going to try and tighten the belt up, but when I looked at it, it was quite glazed, so I replaced it with a new one.  Once I was in there, I started taking measurements for a project I might do next season to increase our charging capacity as well as better mount and drive the alternators so belt eating is no longer an issue.  This required taking about a dozen measurements, several pictures, and putting it all together in an e-mail to a company that does custom charging solutions. 

My one little foray off the boat today was to go to shore for a bag of ice.  I expected to get wet, since the bay is very choppy with the wind up, but by just going very slow, I managed to not get soaked.  I got the bag of ice, and the return trip, going in the same direction as the wind, was ok.  I got to the stern of MoonSail, and in one graceful step, with ice and dock line in one hand and grabbing a rail with the other, stepped aboard.  I put the ice down on the deck and tied the dinghy line securely.  Then I realized the outboard was still running.  So much for my cool arrival.  I had to get back in the dinghy, shut the motor off, and board again.  It's actually amazing that I heard the motor, because the wind was making so much noise.  It would really have been embarrassing to have left it there idling for a couple hours.

Dinner was pizza.  Not the almost-prize-winning pesto pizza, but a tomato sauce based sausage and cheese one.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

Apr 30

We keep telling Sea Pony, the mooring guy, that we will be leaving, and then we ask if we can stay a few more days.  The wind is still howling, and is now forecast to lay down by Thursday.  So, when John (Sea Pony) came to the boat this morning, we paid him for three more days on the mooring.  He laughed and said it was ok, although I think we probably have put a kink in his planning for race week boats that wanted moorings.

Mid morning, we had a call from Seabbatical.  Lynn wanted to know if Barb wanted to go to town to check out the gift shops.  Mike had a boat project to do, and I was tired of sitting on the bouncing boat, so I offered to be the dinghy driver.  About 11:00, we picked Lynn up and slowly went to shore, pretty much staying dry.  We walked and walked for a couple hours to several different shops, including one we never found.  We ended the journey at Bar-B's restaurant, where we each had a beer and Lynn swapped some books in their book exchange.

GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 10149.

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