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Smoke and Roses - Escape To Devil's Island



Leg 17 Total Distance 2034 Nautical Miles

First Half of Leg Logged 1061 Nautical Miles, 7 Days 6.5 Hours

171 Hours and 40 Minutes Sailing, 80 Minutes Motoring



March 8 – 15

Cabedelo, Brazil to Devil’s Island, French Guiana



Leg 17 from Cabedelo, Brazil to Grenada is the last leg of our World ARC Cruise, we will sail for 2034 nautical miles from the South Atlantic, across the equator into the North Atlantic and then the Caribbean Sea with an optional 24 hour stop at Devil’s Island, eight miles off the coast of French Guiana.

The French penal colony known as Devil’s Island was established in 1852, it’s a network of tiny seemingly serene islands that have been mostly forgotten about by the rest of the world…unimaginable things happened here. Over a period of nearly 100 years around 70,000 convicts were sent there including murderers, rapists and political prisoners. Doomed to a torturous existence, most never made it off the island. Papillion is a book and movie about prison life at Devil’s Island and one prisoners escape.

Leaving Jacre’ Village Marina, on March 8, at slack tide, we enjoyed a nice sunset while motoring out through the Paraiba River. Once in the South Atlantic we put up the main sail, in the process, the main halyard wrapped around the spreader so it took a little longer than usual. It rained a little at the start of my midnight shift. I have to steer a bit more east than want to avoid a tanker to my port and a line of sailboats to starboard, all within 2 nautical miles of Smoke and Roses. The next day we flew the newly repaired gennaker all day and sailed 8 to 9 knots. In order to check for chaffing we took the gennaker down a couple times throughout the day, it was all good. Early evening the gennaker was taken down as we had a squall with 30+ knots of wind. It is very dark with no moon and the temperature is nice, the sea is 86 degrees. During Dan’s early morning shift we had a squall with 37 knots of wind; he double reefed the main, rolled in the genoa and followed the storm going downwind to reduce the pressure. A couple of boats reported some minor damage. The cloudy weather with frequent squalls is causing me to have sinus pressure, my stomach issue from more than a week ago is finally better.

As usual, we are following the course line and on this leg it follows the shelf of deeper water along the coast of South America. There is a 2 to 2.5 knot current helping us. This is good as we now have light wind and we are still sailing 5.5 to 6 knots speed over ground and just 3.5 to 4 knots through the water. We did motor for 30 minutes. Other boats have gone farther offshore and have up to a 1.5 knot current. With the wind on our beam at 15 to 20 knots all night we are sailing fast again. It is bouncy and pounding from waves. From 21:00 (9:00 pm) to 09:00 we sailed 105 nm!

Crossing the equator on March 11 at 16:45 (4:45 pm) we sailed from the Southern Hemisphere into the Northern Hemisphere on the Atlantic Ocean. 13 months ago we crossed the equator in the Pacific Ocean on February 15, 2018, just before reaching the Galapagos. Other than adding reefs for a smoother ride, we have not had a sail change for 2 ½ days. Occasionally the wind moves up to 70 degrees, we are on a starboard tack with waves constantly splashing over the starboard hull. The whole cockpit is slimy and salty, thank goodness for our side curtain as it keeps the salt spray and rain off the helm. Sometimes the pounding makes salt water come up through drains and through hulls inside the boat so there is salt water running along the floor. With waves coming over the hull, hatches in two heads are leaking. I can handle the salt water outside but I really don’t like it inside. Finally on the last days the wind slowed to 12 to 15 and moved just aft of the beam, now sailing on a broad reach the ride is much smoother. At noon on the14th of March we crossed from Brazilian waters into French waters. We are just 17 nautical miles offshore in 106 feet of water with a 3 knot current pushing us, as we sail 9 to 11 knots, nice! After 7 days and 6.5 hours we crossed the finish line for the first part of leg 17 at 22:51 (10:51 pm) then anchored in Cocotiers Bay off Ile Royale in the Iles Du Sault (Salvation Islands). Our course and sail handling decisions was spot on, this was one of our fastest and best passages.

Shortly after 06:00 we heard “Mad Monkey” on the VHF and were waken. I was anxious to explore the beautiful looking tropical islands. We tied our dinghy to the floating dock on Ile Royale, the largest of the three islands. Up the central hill was a pleasant bar/restaurant with lovely views of Devil’s Island and beyond to the sea. Here we saw a peacock monkeys, agoutis and wild chickens. Next we took the walkway around the island with lots of tropical foliage, the roads and buildings were produced using prison labor. Although beautiful there was an eerie feeling about the place, Dan could sense the souls of the miserable lives that were lost here.

Ile Saint-Joseph was a short dinghy ride away, a ranger instructed us to unload passengers at the dock then tie the dinghy’s to a line out from shore, Dan and Matt tied up the dinghies then swam back in. This was the most terrible of the three islands on which to be incarcerated. Prisoners were kept in solitary confinement in a small, dark cell with enforced silence. There were fed meagerly through a hatch in the cell door. It was a living hell, of 70,000 men; three quarters of them died from harsh labor, tropical disease, starvation, mistreatment and failed attempts to escape. This was another beautiful island with a horrible history. Visiting the prison ruins we walked among countless rows of tiny prison cells. Devil’ Island was for political prisoners, it is forbidden to anchor or land there.

Just before dinner at the restaurant with the group we walked another path around Ile Royale and watched a group of White Throated Capuchin monkeys eating from the tree trunks. They were very entertaining and one had a tiny baby on her back. The buffet dinner was expensive and not good. Due to a broken dinghy davit and in much need of sleep, I convinced Dan to stay an additional 7.5 hours before departing on the second half of the Leg, for race purposes we will forfeit the additional time. We will leave early morning for Grenada.

Agnes Long


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