New Canvas!

Capt Chris, 80's, winds ENE 10 to 19 knots
02/13/2009, Honeymoon Beach Water Island St Thomas USVI

Check out Christa's belated Christmas presents! Hale and Susan from SV Cayuga finished up said project this morning. My is Christa happy. You can see that I have a new mainsail cover made with "Christa" stitched in with 7 inch letters and I've now changed most of the outside canvas to white. Also that is new dodger canvas as well. Notice the canvas spray shield just forward of the stern anchor. Since Christa is a wet sailing boat this will help protect me more in the cockpit while beating to windward. Not that I plan on ever doing that again. But just in case. You may also note I fashioned up a piece of mahagony, sanded it and put multiple coats of Cetol that soaked right into the wood. You can see it is used as a fuel jug rack. While at sea and hard on the wind with water gushing down the side of the boat the last thing one would want is fuel jugs breaking loose.

So the lastest sailing plan is still up in the air. Although I will be moving. My latest plan is to wait and depart early Monday morning. The winds are going to be very light and variable to 10 knots. Where I land is unknown and I really won't make the call until I'm at sea. I am giving serious thought to motoring the 125 nm toward St Maartin arriving sometime on Tuesday morning. If the forecast holds, the winds should be clocking to the north. If this occurs and the timing is right I would then broach reach another 100 nm to Jolly Harbor Antigua. However, all of this is up in the air and is incumbant on how tired I get and the conditions. The forecast really appears to be wonderful and now it really is just a matter of timing the clocking of the wind. Mid week next week a large north swell will be spilling into the Caribbean basin which limits some of the places I can safely put into. If I were to bet, I would say Christa and company will make either Antigua or The Saints just south of Guadeloupe in the Leeward Islands.

More later as the forecast becomes solid....well as solid as weather forecast go.