While waiting on the weather to become more favorable In St. Thomas, My friend Patty asked if I wanted to fly to St. Lucia and deliver a 47' Beneteau to Tortola. "Sure" I said, "that should only take a few days, and the wind will be on the beam the whole way". We ended up sitting in St. Lucia for 7 days waiting on parts. This got old quick, but at least we had an opportunity to see the island, and in any case, the owner was paying us per day. When we finally left, the weather was breezy and squally, much like it is today in St. Thomas. Fortunately, with it on the beam, this made for fast sailing, and we made Tortola in 53 hours. I caught a nice blackfin tuna off Guadalupe, which was delicious. Patty didn't catch anything.
Now I have to face slugging my way east in this same weather, or wait for more favorable conditions, which puts me closer to the heart of hurricane season. The other choice would be to head straight to Trinidad, which would leave the wind on the beam the whole time and make for a fast trip, but I'd miss some of the islands that I really wanted to see.
I'm really frustrated with this weather. Quite frankly it sucks, and its forecast to continue for as long as the forecasters will predict, 7-10 days. The boat is ready to go, and I'm getting very tired of being asked when I'm leaving.......
