April brought with it racing. We had a ton of fun and an ocean load of work. Day racing this time. We had villas organised by the owners wife (interesting, need i say more) As I was in charge of feeding the 17 crew members every day and the Captain had to be near the boat, we got the luxury villa. Huge rooms each with onsuite bathrooms. A long deck with decent size plunge pool and gas braai. Minimal injuries this race. I got whipped by the genoa sheet being pulled in as we tacked. This was due to a late crossing as the order to tack unfortunately got scrambled as it was passed down the rail. I had to make sure the other ladies made it across the rail first and by the time i had a chance to cross the sheet was already whipping across my path :( Having heard all the stories about people being flung overboard by whipping sheets my arm was sacrificed as a shield and I ducked under. Wow now thats pain. It swelled so big and looked so wonky that they sent me to the doctor for xrays. But it takes more than that to break a Safas bones no? (touch wood, anyway)
Us racing. (Sorry about the blocked out transom and faces)
More of us racing. Doesnt do the heeling of the boat justice though.
Race finished and we rushed away from the prizegiving so that we could make the trip back to Antigua in time for customs to be cleared and people to make their flights. That was one long, full boated trip! 17 people!!! What fun. Well when you have 5 people on watch and youve spent the previous 7 days literally running up and down hills to provide for the needs of 17 people, you simply cant justify keeping your eyes open to the wooshing of the hull moving through the dark sea.
Arrival in Antigua meant a mad dash for two days to get the boat ready for a cruising charter. Yes, we had to change it over from racing to cruising, clean up the muck from having 17 people on board, polish to a shine, get enough food on board for 6 and a half people for 10 days etc etc etc So onboard came the 4 and a half guests and the cruising began.
Barbuda. So low. Known for its most valuable export, fine, white sand.
3 adult never ever been on a yacht before's, 1 know enough to pull a line and 1 14 month old mess making ball of fun.
They wanted to sail and explore. So we took them sailing to Barbuda via Green Island. Wowsa was that a LOT of work.
Monserrat blowing off some steam. A view once back on Antigua
Back round on Antigua the wind left us. Probably a good thing, guests considered. So we motored around the island with the awning providing shade, stopping in various harbours and next to reefs swimming and cleaning and cooking. What lovely guests. A lot of work but we had fun together. Here it is: a boat with an entirely varnished interior and a 1 year old covered from head to toe in suncream learning to walk...connect the dots
Not too many photos i'm afraid, too busy cooking food for the kid, for the adults and cleaning up the all the mess a teething 1 year old learning to walk makes. But we got to do lots of snorkeling!!!
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