Sailing to Le Marin Martinique

Blue Velvet, Yin N Yang and Kealoha V anchored off Pigeon Island waiting for the
right wind and sea to sail north    

Blue Velvet, Yin N Yang and Kealoha V all spent longer than we had originally anticipated anchored off Pigeon Island in St Lucia’s Rodney Bay, waiting for the right wind and sea to sail north. The wind had been northeasterly, directly where we wanted to go, and the sea had been described as ‘very uncomfortable’ by a yacht which had set off a day or so before us. However, the forecast for 25 February was promising so we decided to move on then and arranged the relevant clearances with the authorities. 

Our sail to Martinique was a little different though because I sailed up with James on Yin N Yang whilst Nicky sailed on BV with Anna-Malin. James and Anna-Malin are about to put their yacht up for sale and look for a slightly smaller but heavier-weight yacht. The idea behind the crew swap was to allow Anna-Malin to experience the difference that heavier displacement makes in the way that a yacht behaves.

It was great conditions for Anna-Malin’s ‘test sail’ with forecast winds around 20-25 knots of wind, a close-hauled course and the expectation of some waves and swell when we cleared the protection of St Lucia. Kealoha V set off first and radioed back that they had 25 knots of wind clear of the island, so Nicky reefed BV down to make it a comfortable passage [Ed: having put a couple of reefs in the main and unrolled a similar amount of headsail we had a great sail when we got clear of the lee of St Lucia. However, the pics Reg has taken are from when we were close into St Lucia, in rather less than the 25kts we had north of the island and so BV looks (and was) a little underpowered at the time. Far easier though to put the reefs in early given the known conditions to come. And we raised a bit more sail as we got towards Martinique and the wind eased to keep BV tracking on at speed].   

Anna-Malin at the helm of BV   

The girls zipped off past the boys which gave me a good photo opportunity for capturing some shots of BV and then James and I set about catching them up.

James at the helm of Yin N Yang with Bubbles
 in her favourite sailing position, sat on the
helmsman’s lap    

It was good fast sailing and James was kind enough to let me hog the wheel for most of the passage. Even though she is 43 feet long, Yin N Yang is much lighter than BV and so she was pushed about by the waves far more than BV is. She turns very quickly and the steering is very responsive but for a long sail I think that it would be quite tiring because you have to adjust the heading far more than you need to on BV. Being lighter though, she would most likely be much faster than BV when sailed off the wind and so, as with any choice, there are plusses and minuses and you have to pick a boat that best suits your style of sailing.

Despite sailing for 5 hours, James and I never actually caught BV up. Our excuse was that we were distracted by catching a large Dorado and fell too far behind to close the gap, however, there may be a different ‘Girl Power’ perspective on the day’s cruise in company! [Ed: Oh, I think so!]

Approaching Le Marin (top) and passing the Club Med resort at the narrows (Bottom)   

Approaching Le Marin on Martinique we hoisted our French courtesy ensigns and then navigated through the winding entrance passage. Le Marin [Ed: correctly, ‘Cul de Sac de Le Marin’ which tells you all you need to know!] is a large, very enclosed bay/inlet with lots of shoal patches and a narrow entrance dominated on the right by the palm trees and sandy beach of the Club Med resort.

Kealoha V joining us in one of the hurricane hole anchorages in Le Marin   

Once past the narrow entrance, the channel is very hard to pick out because the whole bay is crammed full of thousands of yachts. There are a couple of marinas at the head of the bay by the town, lots of permanent moorings and, in between them, spaces you can anchor. To shorten the dinghy ride into town we managed to find space tucked up in one of the 2 hurricane holes just south of the marina. James and I anchored Yin N Yang just behind BV and as we settled down Kealoha V, with Mike and Cate on board, also arrived and anchored close by.

James with the Dorado he caught – it made a great dinner   

Drinks and dinner was arranged for all 6 of us on board Yin N Yang with the Dorado that James had caught taking centre stage for the main course. It had been a lovely sail and the evening was a lot of fun too with great company and good food.

Le Marin, Martinique