19 July 2000, by Tom Waid

(This is a little more technical than what I usually put in the Journal so if you're not a sailor feel free to skip down to the next article about Rum.) 

Experienced sailors know what it’s really like sailing in the Eastern Caribbean but many who are not sailors are unaware that the "gentle trade winds" are most of the time anything but. Inter-island passages are more often than not hard sails in 20 to 25 knot winds, many times to windward. We knew this before we arrived but that is not to say that we didn’t have to go through a period of adjustment. The first thing I had to do was to swallow my pride. It felt ridiculous getting underway in a calm anchorage with two reefs in the mainsail but experience told me what it was going to be like when we cleared the island and were in the open ocean. So let the other sailors think of me as a sissy. I’m going to try to be as comfortable as I can when we’re out there pounding away. It was only later that I noticed most everyone else doing the same thing and the ones that didn’t ended up hanging on for dear life.

It took us a little while to work it out but our desire to be relatively comfortable on inter-island passages with the wind forward of the beam led us to come up with our "inter-island" sail plan. This consists of a double-reefed main and a 100% furling genoa, which is a smaller jib sail with a full hoist that has proved to be quite efficient in rough going. Because it’s taller and more narrow (higher aspect ratio) It produces a higher ratio of driving force in relation to heeling force than if we were using our 135% genoa reefed down to the same area as the 100% genoa. The other advantage of using this sail plan is the easy way we can handle squalls. It’s common to be hit by squalls and gusty winds around the northern or southern ends of islands. When this happens we quickly release the jib sheet and roll it up. We then live out the squall with just a double-reefed main. Sometimes this a little too much sail reduction but we then start inching out the jib until it’s just right. The point is that since the main is already reduced considerably any further reduction in sail is done with the jib by pulling on the furling line from the cockpit. No one has to go out on the deck to tie another reef in the main. Amazingly enough as our survival instincts took over and made us concentrate on comfort we didn’t really lose much speed. Our passages are now made as quickly as before when we were getting beat-up.

By talking to other sailors and watching other yachts underway I’ve discovered that, as with us, most everyone has worked out their own special way of making these passages and are able to keep their boats moving well in relative comfort. There may be some disagreements between us in the details but everyone has worked it out and I, for one, have a great deal of respect for my fellow sailors. The sailing conditions down here require sailors to practice their art with considerable skill and skillful boat handling seems to be the norm. It will be a while before anyone can call Linda and I old hands at sailing in the West Indies but we’re getting better and are learning how to avoid getting beat-up too much.