This trip ranks as highly or better than any I’ve done in the past 8 years. With lighter winds than expected and hoped for it proves that the group dynamic is the most important thing on any expedition and these guys rank among the best. Of course, the mood was helped with 12 out of 14 days of kiting, most of them either at sunset or under the full moon with a strong sea breeze blowing late in the day.
My return to Discovery was not exactly welcoming, nor even pleasant. A long flight from Seattle to Caracas, a sleepness night in a ratty hotel near the airport and then an early flight to Puerto La Cruz burdened with three massive bags and boxes stuffed with gear, parts and galley equipment only to be met with a frantic Nico. The water pump to the freezer had quit the night before and we were losing all our frozen goods. I dumped all the gear, hooked up the cooling water intake to the shore water and ran to the chandlery to purchase a new pump (and spare). The next 5 days would be of much the same. Replace the impellar for the generator after overheating, two of the 4 electric heads were down and needed replacement,…not a fun week in the blazing heat.
This trip by location is just about a dead repeat of trip number one. A 15 day Epic from St Lucia down to Prickly Bay, Grenada. From there we’ll sail a few hundred miles to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela to take some much needed time off as well as complete a few major projects on Discovery, including a topside freezer, large solar array for some greener charging, which will double as a surfboard rack, possibly a new tender and outboard…it’s a long list.
Antigua Fort This time of year is an unknown when it comes to the wind. Which means hit or miss. We keep getting rather marginal forecasts but somehow get lucky. From Antigua we sailed out of Falmouth Harbour, launched Bruce off the back of Discovery, (something we’re getting quite adept at) and sailed 6 miles…
Heaven Thankfully the winds have returned to The Best Odyssey and we’ve taken advantage of every whiff of them on trip #6. From St Maarten we shot across to the south side of Anguilla for a day on her perfect beaches, then spent a night back at Orient bay on St Maarten before sailing down…
We’ll never tell I’m a little speechless this last night of the trip. 10 days of kiting, 10 days of wind, 10 days of some of the finest locations I’ve ever ridden or seen. Add to that the riding caliber Shannon Best and Clinton Bolton bring to the table and I can’t imagine it getting…
Breakfast on arrival We left Jumby Bay, Antigua at 0430 Wednesday morning after a failed attempt to do some filming under sail with Discovery. Shannon Best was finally onboard after squaring his nightmare visa problems and almost getting arrested on the flight from Miami for playing video games. The wind was too light at launch,…
Remoteness Friday morning I was scrambling around fixing things, buying parts and spares, always with the dark cloud of provisioning for another 10 days hanging over my head when I got a call from Jody that Nicolas (Nico) had arrived on the docks with gear in hand. We’d posted all over the net and through…
Hard work and a lot of partying and plenty of entertainment in between as we cruise up the windward isles in the Caribbean
The Pitons, St. Lucia, Day 3, first Adventure. What a difference a group makes. After 5 frantic days of repairs, provisioning, getting Clinton back from Florida and Joaquin Hubbard, our good friend from Seattle down to help fill the departed chef’s shoes it’s been all laughs. These guys are wild! I met Cory, his wife…