They passed us as we were setting up the spinnaker for the run northwest. Since they were bigger, they are mathematically faster, but I was hoping we could at least keep up with them once our secret weapon was deployed.
It didn’t happen. They were flying their mainsail and a big asymmetric spinnaker, which was periodically collapsing in the lee of the main. Even so, they still overtook us on a slightly diverging course.
How disheartening. These days, symmetric spinnakers are somewhat out of fashion with non-racing boats. They are harder to manage and good for a smaller range of wind angles than the more popular asymmetrics, so most cruisers these days go for the latter if they have to choose. We love our symmetric, and dead-downwind conditions like this should have given our sail the edge. We were going as fast as Begonia could possibly go in this wind. {Maryanne: I'm sure we'd love a bigger range of sail options too, but that would required more storage, and other changes to make so}.
The French boat would have to gybe occasionally, but it looked like we would periodically come close enough to have to be vigilant about collision and the right of way rules. Maryanne and I switched places at the helm a few times. After washing up from lunch, I took over to see that the other boat was definitely, unequivocally behind us now and they were still flying the same sails. Well, that feels better, even though we weren’t racing. By the time we made it to Dotham Cut, all we could see of them was the top half of their sails receding over the horizon three miles back. I had been worried we would be racing the sunset, but we still had three hours to go, even after fighting a slight current all day.
Entering the Dotham Cut; another glorious day
Because of the timing, Maryanne suggested we anchor off the Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Island, just inside the pass, rather then try to continue further on the shallow bank behind the island chain. When she told me the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) was hosting a party there, our fate was pretty much sealed.
We have been members of the SSCA since their primary means of communication was paper newsletters. We even had our tattered Commodore burgee to prove it, but we have never been able to cross paths with one of their actual, in-person functions. We were certainly expecting it to go better than our most memorable SSCA encounter when, as junior Associate members, we spotted another Associate flag and went over to say hi (in the BVI many years ago).
A nice party day ashore thanks to the SSCA and local restaurant owner Lorraine
Nothing like that happened thankfully. We took the dinghy to the beach and met plenty of good-natured, friendly people. Most were not members, just cruisers who heard the music. Few of them even knew it was an SSCA party, which was open to all. A local restaurant shut down for the night and brought their whole operation down to the beach for us, including all the portable chairs their staff could carry. They had live music as well as a DJ, who emceed over a string of beach games. At the end, they had a fire dancer who was a bit different from what we had seen before. Instead of circus-type stunts with lots of spinning fire batons and such, it seemed to be more of an, uh, gentlemen’s club style with fire. I’m sure she is the best fire dancer on the island, but there were a few cringy moments that required us geezers standing next to our wives to feign surprise at accidentally wandering into some lout’s bachelor party.
In the morning, after a good rest, we went shore for a more usual (for us) exploration of various lookouts as well as a wander about the village. We had almost turned around when we came upon the Sunset View Restaurant. There, we found a beautiful spot for a delicious and generous lunch before it was time to return to Begonia and continue north.
Exploring Black Point
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