Martinique bound tomorrow

Fresh fish for dinner tonight as we had a strike on the way down to Roseau and off to Martinique tomorrow.

Martinique bound tomorrow

Portsmouth and an unbelievable Only in America story

I am having a few quiet days in Portsmouth harbor surrounded by an unusually high percentage of British flagged boats. Everything from this little wooden cruiser up to a 70 foot steel junk rigged schooner.

The town is quiet and everyone seems to be able to take their time to look out for each other even this hen was able to guard her brood in the middle of the main road.

Only in America

Hair-Raising Arrest:

Megan Mariah Barnes was driving her Ford Thunderbird in South Florida and rammed into another vehicle that had slowed to make a left turn. Police say that her license was under suspension because of a DUI conviction.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers say the two-vehicle crash Tuesday at Mile Marker 21 on Cudjoe Key was caused by the 37-year-old woman driver concentrating on her preparations for a date while her ex-husband took the wheel from the passenger seat.

“She said she was meeting her boyfriend in Key West and wanted to be ready for the visit,” Trooper Gary Dunick said. “

If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have believed it.

Oh yes what was she doing? She was shaving her bikini area. Could you make that up?

SUNSET IN DOMINICA

Had a pleasant sail down to Dominica today after a bit of hassle yesterday when a charter cat managed to drag across my anchor and pick it up. it took an hour or so to sort it out. They had burnt out their electric anchor winch and were having to haul by hand. So I finished up using my winch to lift their anchor and chain.

Anyway down in Dominica with the boat tidied up as usual I timed my evening rum and coke with the sunset. Well someone has to check that the Lords of the Sunset are doing a good job.

Tonight was a bit special with the Lords digging deep into their bag of tricks and showing some unusual effects.































A glorious sunset, a small libation in hand, Springsteen on the stereo and a giant local avocado bought from one of the boat boys for dinner. Life is good!

OFF DOWN TO DOMINICA TODAY

The trade winds are well North so I will take advantage of the angle and head South today down to Dominica.

I have to get going anyway if I want to make it down to Bequia in time for the Easter Regatta.

RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET and some other stuff.

ROSA of FALMOUTHThe wooden boat I had seen in Deshaies came sailing in to the main Saintes harbour at sunset.


No engine was heard just the creak of old fashioned spars and rigging as they beat up wind in the evening breese to find a spot to anchor.

Just lovely to watch.

I had suspected a bit of French influence in her design and despite being registered out of Falmouth England it turns out she was originally built in Belgium as a fishing boat in the 30s. I had to ask of course, my 'satiable curiosity at work.

SAINTES CLASS BOATS







The local boy racers were polishing their steeds and preparing to race on Sunday. No souped up Evos here though. Some fifty years ago, every inhabitant of Les Saintes had his own fishing sail boat. On holidays, regattas and races were organized for fun in the splendid Saintes bay.

In 2000, the Comité Guadeloupéen de Voile Traditionnele (Guadeloupean Committee of Traditional Sailing) had been created to encourage building and racing such boats.

In 2005, the class of boats and the races have been made official by an affiliation to the French Sailing Organization.

Spécification as for the boat construction and the material used have been defined in order to be in conformity with the traditional shipbuilding:
Hull of natural wood with ribs, 5,35m max. length and 1,80m max. beam, keel max. 33cm and 5cm thick.
Mast of natural plain local wood, max. 7,25m, collars of creepers for the main sail, wooden cleats, pulleys without winch.
Sails (main sail and jib) without laths of cotton or woven polyester

It has been a successfull endeavour as todays racing shows, the boy racers out on the water doing their stuff and the greybeards sitting under the shade with beer in hand saying how their grandfathers would have beaten them all.

Mind you I wonder if the originals were as tricky to sail as the modern boats seem to be, lots of capsizes today in fairly benign conditions.

OH YES The b*******s towing out the buoys stopped off got me out of bed and said I had to move as I was on the start line. Haven't they heard of a Sunday lie in?

CONFIRMATION OF WHAT I HAD FEARED.
Tony Blair's famous EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION drive was all smoke and mirrors.

Exam grades have been artificially inflated and billions of pounds in increased spending on education wasted, according to a damning international report.

Those relentlessly improving GCSE and A-level results have hidden a true picture of failure in UK schools.

It is REALLY GOOD to be retired and out of it.

TODAY'S ONLY IN AMERICA MOMENT

UTAH has a state gun!



Until this week, Utah had 24 state symbols, from tree (the blue spruce) to insect (the honeybee) to even cooking pot (the Dutch oven).

Now it's added an official state firearm -- the John M. Browning-designed M1911 pistol, becoming the first state in the nation to have one, according to the state legislator who sponsored the law.

HOW DID THEY GET THAT IN HERE?

A bloody great cruise ship shoehorned itself into the Saintes anchorage this morning. Muzak and ferries all day. I don't believe it! [ as Victor Meldrum would have said.]If I had not wanted to do some wifi I would have gone around the corner to Cabrits.

The anchorage had been full of Russians too all on some race/jolly around the Caribbean on Landrover sponsored charter boats. I rescued a dinghy load who had run out of dinghy gas and were drifitng off into the sunset happily intoxicated but without a paddle. The pic shows them starting the leg down to Dominica and the other pic shows my reward.