can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Lydia - Lydia's Log. First 13 days.



The crew of Lydia comprises of Donald Begg, the skipper and owner from
Lymington; Matthew Fyfe, an old school friend of Donald's from Emsworth,
Andrew Richards from Wales, Dr Steve Jones from Ipswich and Nigel Lang from
Lymingon. All the crew are ex Royal Navy who have served together at some
time. Nigel is the only Pongo aboard who was a last minute replacement for
another good Gunner friend from Lymington.

We all flew out from a cold, wet and miserable Gatwick on Sunday 3 January.
By sheer good luck Steve and Nigel were seated together and between 3 films,
(Bridge of Spies, The Martian and The Intern) got to know each other and
quickly learnt we shared the same sense of humour. After the 9 hour flight
we landed just after 5pm in St Lucia and immediately were bathed in the
warm, fragrant Caribbean breezes. What a contrast with England! We were
collected by Floyd, a driver Donald knew well who took us to Marigot Bay
where Lydia was moored after being refitted in Granada the previous month.
After stowing our kit aboard we celebrated our arrival with a delicious
Caribbean meal and several rum punches at a little local waterside
restaurant. Andrew who had sensibly flown out with his wife and was staying
for the week before we set sail, went on to their hotel.

Next morning after an invigorating swim we set sail for Rodney Bay marina
about a couple of hours up the coast where we joined the other 31 yachts
congregating there to take part in the 2016-17 World ARC. Needless to say
the marina is surrounded by a number of attractive, friendly and inexpensive
restaurants with WiFi. I am slightly ashamed to say that we did not cook
aboard during our entire stay in St Lucia but took full advantage of what
was on offer. That evening the World Cruising Club gave a welcome drinks
party with copious rum punches and local nibbles for all the crews taking
part in this World ARC. We all began to introduce and get to know each
other. There were crews from Finland, Germany, Canada, the US, France,
Italy, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Austria, Australia, Czech Republic,
Norway, Sweden, Belgium and the UK. Several crews were two handed, at least
three of the yachts had children of 4-6 years on board going round the
world. All were very friendly and with many interesting stories to tell.
About a third of the crews are stopping off at various places along the route and planning rejoin the ARC next year. The majority however are to do the
entire circumnavigation.

It rained that night and we had showers Tuesday morning and intermittently
throughout our stay in St Lucia. The locals complained that for some reason
(El Nino?) the rainy season was late this year but had not provided the
water expected. There were a few admin jobs on the yacht but Nigel was given
leave to go on a "Tree Top Canopy Adventure Tour" through the local rain
forests on Zip Wires. He joined some other World ARC crew members and a
number of US honeymooning couples from Sandals. We were driven to the site
on the other side of the island while our St Lucian tour leader made us all
introduce ourselves and cracked jokes making personal comments, Ugh! The Zip
wires were great fun consisting of 12 quite hairy rides from 250ft at 20mph
to 670ft at 30mph at heights of 50-100 feet. The views were breathtaking and
the whole outing was a new experience for almost everyone and well
worthwhile. That afternoon Matthew as 1st Lt instructed the two midshipmen
Steve and Nigel on the engines, the generator, the electrical systems, the
water systems and the all important watermaker. Alas Matthew who knows the
yacht backwards will be leaving us at Panama so if the skipper is not be
disturbed it is up to us to fly solo to Tahiti..

On the Wednesday morning, Steve and Nigel, who were made responsible for
provisioning, ordered quantities of frozen vacuum packed meat before
joining the rest of the World ARC crews for detailed briefings by our ever
helpful and knowledgable World ARC staff. They covering the Rally in
general, weather and Down Wind sailing. That evening the crews were given
yet another Welcome Party by the manager of Rodney Bay marina, Paul Ash late
Colonel RCT with whom Nigel had served many years before.

The following day Steve and Nigel went by taxi to a large supermarket to
provision Lydia with everything save meat and vege/fruit. Steve is excellent
at this sort of thing but Nigel has far to go! Among other things we were
requested to buy 200 litre of water since these would be our emergency
supply if the water maker on board failed as we sailed across the Pacific
for a month. We filled the taxi with our provisions and water and then had
the challenging task of stowing it all aboard Lydia. Nigel managed to escape
part of this by attending practical instruction by Chris Tibbs of the World
ARC team on taking sextant sights and a interesting presentation on
Emergencies at Sea. That night we met up with Andrew and his wife for yet
another good dinner at the Spinnaker Restaurant, a favourite of Donald's.

On the Friday morning Steve, Andrew, his wife Hilary and Nigel took a taxi
to the Vege Market in the capital Castries. It was a large openair market
where Nigel got firmly put in place for having the temerity to try to
bargain! We returned at lunch time mission accomplished. That afternoon the
skipper trained new crew members in the art of rigging the twin forestay and
the two spinnaker booms on either side from which the yankee (large high cut
genoa permanently rigged) and the hankey, a similar sized foresail but
hanked on. These would be used with the wind astern for classic downwind
sailing. The rig sometimes call a "Dolly Parton" rig for obvious reasons
when you see the sails billowing forth, give a far larger sail areal than
the average spinnaker and far easier and safer to control especially as you
do not need a mainsail with the possibility of a broach or an accidental
jibe. That evening we had the last of three Welcome/Farewell parties for ARC
crews given by the St Lucian Tourist board. We had originally planned to go
on after this, after yet more Rum Punches, to the weekly "Jump Up" open air
street party for locals downtown. However, by the time we had had dinner it
was after 10.30pm and were advised that as tourists it might not be a good
idea to attend the Jump Up at that time of night. Pity, as it could have
been fun to join in a real Caribbean evening.

Saturday and the start of the race....sorry I mean cruise in company with
prizes for line honours based on handicap at Santa Marta our next stop in
Columbia . Whereas you can use your engine, however if you do so you have to
declare it and accept the penalty points involved. The wind at the start
was fickle but we turned off our engine at the 5 minute gun and do not
intend to start it until we cross the line. Not so the vast majority of the
fleet who on turned on their Iron Spinnakers and during the first night and
much of the following day we were left trailing last.

However by Sunday morning the wind increased to 10 knots from the East, dead
astern and with our very efficient Dolly Parton rig we slowly but surely
began to catch up and to over take the stragglers of the fleet who had used
their engines. We have been gaining ground on the leaders far ahead ever
since. The only downside of this trade wind sailing with two foresails is
that the yacht rolls from side to side continuously so at times sleeping and
particularly cooking can be challenging. Nigel for one has several large
bruises on his backside as he has crashed into a particularly annoying hook
at bum level in the galley. The star cooks are Matthew who rustles up the
most delicious lunches and suppers without receipes or apparent effort.
Steve is equally good but more methodical and makes wholesome bread on
board. Steve is also the yacht's fisherman and as a result of the morning's
Thursday 14 January catch we are having Tuna steaks tonight. He has had
several massive fish finally escape his line at the last minute including
one rude fish who took not only his lure and trace but also most of his line
as well. We are buying stronger equipment in Colombia.

We operate a 3 hour Watch system of 9pm to midnight. midnight to 3am, 3am to
6am and 6am to 9am. Once the wind reached 10 knots we have been using the
newly acquired Wind Vane self steering bought at the Southampton Boat Show.
Keeping a course sailing directly down wind is challenging at the best of
times but for a wind vane to do it so effectively is remarkable. Our daily
routine is after breakfast the net controller (one of the World ARC yachts
which changes daily) contacts all yacht to ask for their position and local
wind speed and direction. After that its running the generator to top of the
batteries for up to 8 hours and start the water maker to replenish our fresh
water tanks which takes most of the day. The good thing about this is that
we have the luxury of a short shower each day. Our clothes washing is done
in a bucket of fresh water on the after deck adjacent to the deck shower
hose from which we can replenish buckets.

The weather since we set off has been unbelievably good and consistent. Blue
skies with occasional puffy white clouds, warm winds of 10-15 knots dead
astern sending us on our way and gentle seas. Frankly what more could a
sailor want apart from his beloved beside him. In the evenings as we sail
direct into the sunset and the sun goes down with the colours of the clouds
lighting up the whole wide uncluttered horizon changing from white, to
reddish to finally a brilliant crimson which lasts for some time as the sun
finally disappears below and the inky black darkness begins to descend. Then
the moon rises and again we are sailing directly along its silvery path
bringing back memories of the song "Moon River" With no street lighting from
towns and cities to pollute the beauty of the night the stars and planets
come out like tiny diamonds set in the vast velvet canopy above. We are just
so lucky to experience all this.

With all good wishes to those who may read this from the crew of Lydia.
Nigel


Previous | Next