Bermuda/St. Martin was suppose to be the fun part of the trip -
variable winds for a day or so leaving Bermuda, then the trade winds
kick in and its a broad reach down to sunny St. Martin. Instead we
had southeast to southwest winds the whole trip, beating our way to
land. 
On
board for leg two were Renee, me, and three excellent sailors from the
OPO (Offshore Passage Opportunity) program created by Hank Schmit. We
had Bill Lowsteader, who did the first leg and seems to equally love
both the foredeck and the helm. Leeann Avery and Clay Sanborn got on
the boat in Bermuda. LeAnn can't get enough of being offshore, and
Clay is a purest who's building his own 26' wooden boat in his
backyard.
Eighteen boats left Newport with the NARC rally on Sunday
November 3rd. However, on Tuesday November 12th, there were only seven
of us leaving Bermuda - six Swans with delivery captains and us.
All the other boats were either delayed in Bermuda, or stayed in Cape May
due to weather on the first leg.
After fueling up with duty free desiel arranged by Hank, its out
through the cut at St. George and south to St. Martin. We were second
to last leaving Bermuda, passing through the cut around noon. We only
saw one other boat, Sky, a Swan 51 as we left and then by night we
were all alone.
Our forecast called for southeast breeze then switching southwest and
finally having the easterly trades kick in. Overall, our forecast was
correct, with the exception that we should have gone more east. We
did get a southwest shift but it was light winds and we ended up
motoring a bit anyway.
Nightime was squall time. After day two, each night the squalls would
come out. We'd spot the squall on radar, then alter course to dodge
it. Sometime you win, sometimes you get very wet. Storm track radar
at its finest.
Around day three, we started seeing stronger (20 - 25 kts) winds which
we beat into for the next couple of days. We had a reefed main up the
whole time. As the seas built, we switched to our staysail with no
loss in boat speed.
Nighttime day three, off to our southwest we spied a masthead light in
the distance. We learned the boat was the Swan 46 "Babe" during the
next morning's radio check. All the next day and night, we saw Babe
off to our right. It was nice to see another boat out there in the
deserted sea, especially, when you have to look back to see it!
The final day was a nail bitter.
After seeing a boat on your tail for two days, you don't want to have
them pass you right at the end. Babe, fell in line behind us as we were
about 50 nm away from land. Our glances back became more frequent. By
midday, it seemed their mast was getting bigger. We tweaked the
sails, ate some lunch, and kept checking aft. Still bigger. Staysail
came down, we unrolled some headsail and took off - sorry, Babe!
By nightfall, we crossed between Prickly Pear and Dog Island. As we
passed through the cut, dolphins swam and jumped across our bow
welcoming us to land.
See St. Martin Leg Photos for more pictures.
