Safe and sound in Dominica! A beautiful sail!!

After heading out, this time just ahead of the squall, we make it quickly up the coast of Martinique. As we pass Fort of France, in the early dawn, the lights from the town twinkle almost magically along the hillside. Just as we hit the cut I notice that the Outhaul, the back line securing the mainsail is frayed 3 strings away from failure…Bad News! We quickly reefed the mainsail, and just in time as the winds picked up. With the main secured, we put out the jib wit ha double reef and were soon sailing along at 8 knts. Very bumpy in the cut today, with the winds 18 to 23 knts.

We cleared the south end of Dominica, and found sweet, flat seas in the shadow of the island…ahh, my favorite. We past Roseau near 11:30 am, and decided to push on to Portsmouth, another 3 or so hours. When we arrived, near 3:30pm , there was a boat boy there to guide us in, and we were on a mooring shortly thereafter.

Now to the boat repairs. The outhaul was no problem to fix, and we discovered the rough spot that caused the problem. We used tape to smooth it out as best we could to avoid the problem in the future. And we discovered the reason Dominica is so lush and Green, as it rained nearly all night, and into the morning.