Cruising to Far-Away Places -- Mostly Warm!

Anguilla has been a wonderful find. A scant 10 miles from St Martin, Anguilla ia a world away. Much less developed...although that is probably changing. Mostly what we have found are extremely friendly and engaging people. We met Smitty, the self-proclaimed mayor, who runs an auto repair shop that sells beer. He claims he is "not rich, but is famous." While we waited for a taxi, we watched him repair someone's tire for $10 and put air in a kid's basketball for a nickel. We met Smitty on the way home from a Sea Festival in Shoal Bay. It was a happy Saturday afternoon ocassion where all things fish were sold and eaten.. along wiht a lot of beer and rum. What was immediately apparent to us was how quick people were to initiate conversations with us....a congenial mingling of people of all ages and races, tourists and locals alike.

We rented a car to tour the island... one fantastic beach after another. We all rated Maunday Beach as the most beautiful, though the high marks may have something to do with the lighting from the late afternoon sun.

Back at Road Harbor, we watched the start of a boat race... nine brightly colored wooden boats of local origin, manned with about 15 people, mostly rail meat. The boats are 28 ft long with unstayed masts 45 feet high and booms that about doubled the length of the cockpit. 3-4 foot full keels. Tiller-steered. Hugh main, small jib, few controls, all manual. No hiking boards like the Bahamian boats, though.

This was the BIG Easter Monday event...about 20 miles long. Names like Sonic, Da Tree, Light and Peace, NWO, Bluebird, Star Power...we saw a couple of these boats at the Sea Festival, all named after bad weather...Hurricane, Cyclone, and Storm. The boats In today's race started from a beached position but were soon screaming along wing-on-wing in 20-25 knots of wind and out of sight. Soon after the start, one of the boats, Bluebird, limped back to port towed by the committee boat... a mast broken in two. Before it was over, there were five DNFs with a variety of rigging and sail problems. Amid whoops, cheers, and whistles, Sonic crossed the line first....well ahead of the Number Two finisher NWO.