Which makes sailing the dinghy very interesting. When the trade winds filled back in on Tuesday (after a few days of very light winds), I officially gave up on rowing the fairly considerable distance (15-20 minute row in calm conditions) to either Marigot or Cole Bay and rigged Katerik for battle.
And, it can be a battle at times. Leaving the big boat, I can see moderate easterly winds (promising a lovely beam reach all the way to Marigot), round the north end of Witch’s Tit and find 20kn on the nose. The most difficult part of preparing for the sail in to town is deciding whether to reef Katerik’s sail or let it all fly. There is no correct choice – it is just a matter of choosing whether to be way underpowered for a significant part of the sail – or way overpowered. Sailing in this lagoon makes mountain lake sailing seem easy.

In this picture, Stephen is sailing Katerik (reefed) around the anchorage for a bit of sailing practice on his last morning in St. Martin. It is clearly true that, if you really want to learn to sail, sailing a dinghy is the best way. In two hours of small boat sailing (particularly in this lagoon) more will become clear to the beginning sailor than in 7 days at sea on the big boat. I had been telling Stephen that since we first me in Bermuda and am glad that he had the opportunity to play with Katerik a bit before heading home.