My last few hours in the Bajan sunshine are giving me some time to decompress from an extraordinary 56 days as crew on the Catamaran LodeStar; a 40 foot Lagoon. Her captain, Andrew, hails from South Africa and is on an epic adventure with his wife, Claudia, and two daughters, Erin and Bowdie. Having spent the 2019 season in the Mediterranean, the adventure continues into 2020 with a Caribbean exploration.
The Beginning…
So, how did I end up on board? A fateful day in August last year, I found a Facebook group which was connecting boats with crew who wished to cross the Atlantic. As I was on my way back to the Sunsail base in Lefkas, I composed a little message, posted on the group, and hoped for the best.
Claudia got in touch a day or so later and, before I knew it, I was on the phone to Andrew to chat about the voyage, crew, and whether I’d fit in. They needed a sailor to join the team while Claudia and the girls went back to SA for the holiday season.
Little did I know that that phone call would lead me on a journey across an ocean!
Andrew has a positivity and lust for life which is infectious! During our stay in Las Palmas, I got to know him reasonably well. By day, we worked on little odds and ends, planned the crossing, and talked all things sailing. As the afternoon turned to evening, we would talk about everything else under the sun (fuelled by the unending supply of alcohol available on LodeStar while she’s in port)!
Initially, it was myself, Andrew, and Craig on the boat. Craig, a mate of Andrew’s from SA, was there to help install a pair of brand new solar panels. I very much enjoyed getting to know him while he was aboard.
It seemed like there was no time between Craig leaving and LodeStar departing! I had a hasty introduction to Chris (Andrew’s Dad) and Neil (Andrew’s Cousin). Both seemed nice enough to spend 3 weeks with, so I guess I was committed!
The Crossing
The crossing itself was a mixture of magic, routine, and boredom. The magic came in many shapes and sizes – from the phosphorescence glowing in LodeStar’s wake during a night watch, to taking a swim in the deepest, cleanest sea any of us had ever experienced, to hours-long discussions resulting in mutual understanding rather than conflict.
We caught and ate fish (my first time eating Mahi Mahi!), we watched Dolphin play at the bows (including 4 baby Dolphin no more than a couple of feet long!), we even saw a whale get a little too close for comfort!
We also spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. What an incredible privilege to be comfortable doing nothing! The world moves so fast that I’d forgotten how to do nothing. At times it was glorious, at times it was frustrating, but it was the most intensive brain detox imaginable. With the help of a few stimulating discussions, I felt able to declutter and refocus, which is an extraordinary gift.
Our days quickly fell into a routine. My morning would start with chartwork, to make sure we were making good progress, followed perhaps by attempting to retrieve a weather forcast by SatPhone. This would be followed by a navigation chat with Andrew to talk about our strategy for the next few days. Breakfast would have fitted in somewhere there. We’d maybe then have a bit of a chat, or just all fall into reading whatever book we had on the go. Lunch, then post-lunch naps. All of us got together in the early evening for dinner, a discussion of our night watch rota, and then finally a cup of tea or coffee over a game of Rummikub.
As we made strides to the West, the days merged together and, before we knew it, the crossing was over.
Our farewell to Neil felt quite abrupt, coming just two days after arriving in Barbados. We enjoyed a bit of a farewell party, involving a lot of rum punch, and it was sad to see him go. It felt very much like the beginning of the end!
Onward to the Caribbean!
After a discussion with Andrew about whether or not he could stay in Barbados for 10 days until his family arrived, he decided (to my enormous relief and gratitude) that we would go for a little wander downwind to St Vincent and St Lucia.
The practical upshot of this was that he would let me act as skipper to collect those all important >60nm passages to actually make me eligible to sit my YM Offshore exam (see Stumbling back to Blighty to see why this was important). Moreover, our initial impression of Barbados wasn’t so favourable, so we thought it best to see what else the area had to offer.
We screamed downwind to Young Island anchorage on the southern end of St Vincent, topping 11kts as we surfed down waves. St Vincent itself offered us little, but we were perhaps going to the wrong places. The scenery was stunning, however. A big change from the relative flatness of Barbados, St Vincent is jagged and volcanic, with more natural anchorages to choose from.
Andrew was able to anchor LodeStar with a line ashore for the first time, which I think will be a skill he’ll call upon again in the small anchorages of the Caribbean.
Northbound to St Lucia, we encountered some serious swells which made LodeStar particularly uncomfortable. The first time I’d really felt the limitations of the catamaran. We made landfall in Soufrière, in the shadow of the Petit Piton. Simply an amazing spot! A couple of days later, we made it to Rodney Bay and I was able to climb to the top of Pigeon Island and stand where I had stood as a 7 year old boy on holiday with my parents. What a strange thing to think that I would make my own way back there by boat after 20 years of growing up.
Chris left us in St Lucia, and it was up to Andrew and me to get the boat back to Barbados. Upwind. In a catamaran.
LodeStar had done a lot over the past month to change my view of catamaran sailing, but her ability to punch into the sea while going upwind was… actually pretty good. She was fighting a knot of current the whole way and performed like a champ!
Back in Barbados
Back in Barbados, Andrew and I got the last couple of things ready for the family to arrive, swam with some friendly turtles, and explored the island a little bit. The night before the girls arrived it hit me like a freight train: it’s time to get off.
Man! I did not expect it to hurt like that! Andrew has shown me such kindness during my time aboard, in spite of being the only member of the crew who wasn’t a blood relative I felt completely integrated into the team. I’ve made a friend for life which was not what I was expecting to happen on this trip.
And then I met his family. What a joy!
I was invited to be a part of them returning to cruiser life. Seeing Claudia and the girls relaxing back into the LodeStar way of life was lovely. We swam together, went to the beach together, ate together. I was truly on holiday, for the first time in a long time!
Back in the shire
I’m now finishing this post off back in the UK.
It’s just 3 degrees outside. Quite a change from the high 20s I had just a few hours ago!
Try as I might, I can’t sum this all up in a sentence. I feel extremely proud to have completed this ocean crossing as part of such an awesome, if unlikely, team. There were no heated arguments, no disagreements, no fallings out. We all just gelled and got on with it.
I’ve come away having learned an awful lot; about sailing, about the world, about myself. It was an intense experience which will stay with me for the rest of my life. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity!
***UPDATE***
23/01/2020
This post has been reblogged on the LodeStar Diaries blog. Click here to check it out!
A Briton Abroad 