We were planning on leaving Barbados toward St. Vincent on Wednesday afternoon and time our overnight passage to arrive at the south-end of St. Vincent in the early morning. However, upon hearing the weather forecast on Tuesday morning we found out that ongoing rain and some squalls were expected on Wednesday night. We decided to set sail on Tuesday afternoon and quickly started getting the boat ready for the passage. It took until 4 PM to get the boat ready, including hauling our dingy out of the water, deflating it and tying it to the stern of Kikuyu. Kikuyu looked great - clean, even though we had had little rain while in Barbados, trim and ready for the trip. We departed under fair weather and clear skies. The trip was to be 96 nautical miles long - 1 nautical mile is equivalent to 1 minute of latitude along any meridian and is approximately equal to 1.15 standard miles. If we averaged 6 knots (nautical miles per hour) we would arrive at around 8AM. The wind was supposed to be around 15-18 knots and from behind us.

The passage was rougher than expected. Even though the waves were no more than 6-8 feet high the seas were "confused". We had rollers coming off our starboard port (behind the boat on the right-hand side) and waves that made Kikuyu sound inside as if in a battleground. Sleeping was impossible - not even resting- because one would be pushed forward & back and then left to right. We put lee clothes on our settees (sofas) to prevent us from falling out and cushion us against the back of the settee, but they did not help. Kim and Maria took turns keeping watches which amounted to lying down, hearing all the rattling, thumps and bumps. To keep the boat a bit more steady and keep the wind from coming directly from behind which created the most unstable point of sail we decided to fall off and change our course toward the wind to. We jibed a few times, making the distance a bit longer than estimated. Fortunately, we were able to sail the entire passage at a decent average speed, accelerating to nearly 8 knots the last 3 hours. We arrived to Young Island Cut in St. Vincent at 8:30 AM, exhausted from lack of sleep and sailing under fairly rough sea conditions. This time the wind was not the challenge, rather the confused seas which we are told were benevolent to us as compared to what they usually are in this area.