Sailing Vessel Skylark: St Lucia, San Blas islands

It's been a while since the last post in December. My excuse is the poor or non-existent internet connectivity at St Lucia, the San Blas islands and at Colon.

St Lucia has basic amenities - a reasonable chandler whose inventory ran low with the ARC descending upon the island. Some items were unavailable and we were told the re-stocking would take place "once the next ship arrives..." The economy is in distress, evident from the men loitering around especially at the little town of Gros Islet, a couple of miles from the Rodney Bay marina. At Gros Islet, we ran into a friendly local who welcomed us to St Lucia. He told us he was a a council man for the town and then confided that he was currently unemployed, having been laid off by his hotel employer. Tourism, the mainstay of the economy is doing poorly. St Lucia's people are friendly but the infrastructure is third world and runs a poor second to the neighbouring French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe.

Francois left by ferry to Martinique to catch a flight to France. He was to be married on December 31 at La Machine at a ceremony officiated by his sister, the town's mayor. Ed and I caught a flight to Houston on December 15 to spend Christmas with family. Miew Ling and my Dad joined us from Kuala Lumpur and elder brother Paul and his son Sage flew in from New York. Christmas meant the usual feasting and drinking - the Flints hosted lunch on Christmas day with their extended family. Regretfully, Ed's mother who is 97, was doing poorly and could not join in the festivities,

Ed and I returned to St Lucia on New Year's day to prepare the boat fro the start of the World Rally for Cruisers (WARC) which was scheduled for a January 6 start. The fitting on the genoa pole had to be retro-fitted with new stainless bolts sent from France -- two of the original small aluminum bolts had sheared during the Atlantic passage. The first leg is about 1000 miles from St Lucia to Colon, Panama, with a fleet rendezvous at Chichime Island in the San Blas archipelago. Francois returned on January 5, having abandoned his new bride for the next sailing saga on Skylark.

The skippers' briefing on January 5 suggested some potential for weather along the way with a low over Colombia indicating winds of 20-25 knots. We were warned to watch the development of the low and also for floating debris in the area.

Some pictures of the start of the WARC -- for a yacht "race", Ed seems awfully relaxed. The start line was outside the marina in Rodney Bay heading south and leaving the Barrel o'Beef rocks to starboard, then setting the course for Panama. We had a good start, I believe we were the 6th or 7th boat (of a total of 36 boats) to cross the start line

Weather at start was fine with winds from the north east. We set the genoa pole to port, sailing was good in winds of 10-15 knots.

January 7 - caught a small Albacore Tuna which made a good sashimi meal. The winds picked up on the following day, gusting 26 to 27 knots. Speed over ground was in excess of 10 knots at times. Francois and Ed landed a large Dorado which provided some great sashimi and fish steaks for dinner. Winds tended to pick up at night with gusts of up to 40 knots off the Colombian coast. We were making good time (so we thought). An email from Rally Control was a little deflating -- "you are at the bottom of the first half of the fleet..."

January 12, the San Blas islands were sighted - mostly small, flat islands with palm trees. We reached the finish line for the first leg at 1628 Hrs, St Lucia time. Aftyer negotiating the surrounding reefs, we anchored in 15 meters off the East Hollandse Cays.

A radio call from another Amel "Lady Lisa" advised that they were having rigging and other problems. We gave them our position and suggested they anchor close and we would see if we could assist. It turned out that they had torn genoa and mainsail, as well as a broken genoa halyard. Nothing could be done on the first couple of days as winds persisted with gusts to 20 knots, making removal of the mainsail impossible. The mainsail was finally taken down on January 15 and we used a small diameter line from Skylark as a messenger line to run a genoa halyard through the top of the main mast. We winched the owner, Sandor Cassani, up the mast using one of the electric powered primary winches. However, there were other issues with the rigging which Sandor decided in the end, needed to be fixed in port with spares ordered from France.

January 14 -- David and Susan Mackay on Voyageur came over to Hollandse Cay from Green Island. We visited with their friends, Peter and Penny on their catamaran "In For A Penny" for drinks in the evening. The Mackays had become fast friends with Peter and Penny, having participated in the Round the World Rally with them. We spent a plerasant evening with these seasoned circumnavigators who were refreshingly modest about their achievements.

January 15 - set off for Chichime Island in the afternoon for the fleet rendezvous on January 16. It was a short trip but the narrow passage between two reefs made for some tense moments. There was a prominent wreck of a large fishing boat on one of the reefs. We dropped anchor among 15 or so sailboats. It was going to get much more crowded in the small lagoon with the arrival of the rest of the WARC fleet. We tucked Skylark between two boats and inflated the dinghy. Sundowners that evening on Voyageur in pleasant company.

January 16 -- a potluck lunch on the island. Skylark contributed Thai green curry and rice which was apparently popular, judging from how quickly it was consumed. Fresh coconuts were served up by the village headman, Umberto, liberally laced with rum by Nick of the WCC. The San Blas islands are sparsely populated by the aboriginal Kuna Yala people who maintain a simple subsistence lifestyle supported by coconuts and fishing. The Kunas came around on their outboard powered dugouts (children aboard, furiously bailing water) offering lobster for sale. We bought 3 medium sized lobsters for 15 US dollars, had one as sashimi and steamed the other two. They were very good. Bought a fish from the Kunas the next day which made a very nice lunch. We left Chichime that afternoon for the Lemon Cays to visit with Voyageur. Dinner that evening aboard Voyageur with the Mackays and Peter and Penny. Susan produced a gourmet meal with a baked Brie for dessert - a real treat in the essentially the middle of nowhere. Francois and Ed were introduced to "Amber", a brew of whiskey and maple syrup.