Page 29 - Yachter Autumn/Winter 2022

led the rope back to the genoa winch and we winched ourselves onto the buoy.Then we had to attach the normal lines to the buoy and retrieve the kedge rope. It was now 15.30. Half the crew were fed up as
we had missed the opportunity to spend the afternoon exploring the island, so they went ashore.They organised a table for the eight of us at 19.00.The charter company rang to say that they had secured a new prop and it would be arriving on the 08.30 ferry from Tortola and a diver would fit it immediately.
Dinner ashore was superb, the pain-killers were just the ticket but the 1.5m jetty meant a very inelegant and trouser dirtying experience.A spectacle for those Americans that were dining at 18.00 and wry glances from the staff at The Lobster Shack.
Next morning we were up early to get ashore, the wind had dropped but the clouds and rain had arrived. Lady Buoy had as usual by being awake at 06.45, secured us a buoy back in Gorda Sound off Leverick Marina. So, we knew where we were going.The diver duly arrived, picked up the new prop from the ferry and with few words, loaded his gear into his dinghy and set off for our boat. By the time we were back at the boat, he was in his diving gear with the prop in hand and ready to splash over the side.Three minutes later he re-appeared, refused a coffee and with a slight wave of hand was gone.At 09.15 we were fit to leave. It was still raining. By 11.00 after breakfast and some complaint that we didn’t come to the Caribbean
for rain we cautiously left the mooring, following a couple of other boats.As we got towards the entrance you could see the line of boats coming up toward Anegada.
Everything was back to normal with the boat handling well.Wind was slowly rising 18-20 knots, so we set course for Virgin Gorda having a wonderful sail, when the squalls that were threatening to windward decided to dump a tropical downpour
on us for about 30 min. Luckily only the helmsman got wet, very wet. I have never seen so many mobiles on video mode aimed at the same place before.At least it was warm rain.
The plan was to go into Leverick Marina to re-fuel and then pick up the mooring buoy. Swimming, ventures ashore and lazing around was the order of the day, when Barry came past in his 6m rib handing out menus and a hearty recommendation for North Sound Bistro in Malone Bay.As he sang us
a song and offered to pick us up as a taxi service, first time we had been offered or seen advertised, we decided immediately that we would dine there that evening. Barry duly arrived and took half the crew ashore and returned for the others. Again, the
jetty was about 1.4m high but had a handy bracing bar to step on, so getting ashore was elegant for a change.The meal was great, the owner was a local man made good
and the manager had been the manager at Foxy’s before the hurricane.The slight disappointment was we were in a private room off the main restaurant, admittedly
with splendid views across the sound but it had its own toilet (not used) which the manager obligingly left the door open. It was like a meeting room in a Premier Inn. The view across the sound was stunning though.Yet again the pain-killers superb.
Our penultimate day was a sail back to Peter Island because it was only 4 miles from the marina where we had to return Susie Sea by 12.00 on Sunday.The wind had come back again and with a reef in the main and
a couple of turns on the genoa we sailed
out of Gorda Sound admiring Branson’s new houses on Mosquito Island, about a mile out we gybed and as we sailed at about 9 knots past Mountain Point the wind instrument gave up, but what a super sail of 16 mile downwind at 9-10 knots in what we estimated at 20 knots of wind. Back on Peter Island on our buoy the wind started
to drop and we went ashore to book dinner. Full for lunch and dinner but if you’d like a takeaway, we’ll do you one at approx. 19.00 but you can’t book, just turn up. A photo
of the menu was taken back to the boat
and after great discussion over what we’d
CRUISING REPORTS 29