We had left Soufriere very early on Wednesday morning, after saying a fond goodbye to Shane, and arrived at the small island of Bequia just around suppertime. We quickly tidied up the boat, and got reacquainted with Brian and Paula of Magique (of Saint John), over a sundowner and some snacks.
We were intending to travel from St. Lucia with John and Stopp Knot, but he had been delayed. The plan was for Stopp Knot to be the home base for a J-24 boat, “Loose Cannon”, which was sailing down for the Easter Regatta here. John had been talked into the arrangement by the captain, Edgar, an Australian who now often refers to St. Lucia as home. Dawn had also tried to convince him; so he had talked his friend Robin, who packed his two teenagers, his British sister and her teenager, and possibly Edgar’s Lucian girlfriend on board.
They had finally got Stopp Knot loaded and ready to go on Thursday morning; but pulled away from the dock and found the boat would not go into forward gear. Four hours later, John knew that the boat would not have forward gear until it spent some time in the yard on the hard. What a disappointment.
That also left Edgar and his crew with no home base. They had left Rodney Bay at 6:00 a.m. Of course, when we saw them coming in to Admiralty Bay, Bequia, we hailed them over, and set out some fenders. We became their base. Immediately, two beds, and much of the foredeck and cockpit became quite loaded with people, extra gear, and coolers of icy cold Piton beer. As well, our dinghy was in very regular use.
We decided at the last moment to just join in and go with the flow. We agreed to become the crew for Magique, and dove into the 4 days of racing and partying.
We didn’t win any races, had good and bad starts, scary tacking duels and amazing near-collisions. We’ll tell you more tomorrow. For now, here are some pictures:
s/v Magique, with Paula, Brian and Dawn and Laurie
Pictured below is Paula and Brian Cullinan from Saint John, NB aboard their C&C 44 foot.
Here is Laurie on the left and Brian at the helm and Paula at the winch. Did you know that monohulls sail with a huge tilt?
From left to right, the crew of Loose Cannon:Trevor(Saint Lucian), Edgar(Australian) and Ronnie (Italian). Absent in the photo is: Steve (British) and George(American) as they stayed aboard other boats.
Here is Edgar with his crew on "Loose Cannon", a J24. The J24 category was huge and they raced different courses than the other divisions.
Ahhh, the sailing has taken its toll...or should we say the Piton beer is to blame. Whatever, many snoozes were taken during the day after racing because of the lack of sleep after the Regatta parties at night. Free Heineken and Mount Gay rum was on the supper menu each night! Edgar often said, "a meal in every bottle!" Below is Steve on our trampoline catching a wink.
Poor Ronnie from Italy is bushed! His bed wasn't slept in last night!
Edgar is on the left and Trevor (our Saint Lucian policeman) is on the right. Trevor slept in our cockpit every night so didn't have a bed of his own! We felt well guarded at night, whenever he made it back to our boat!
