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The Old Magic is Still there

Well and truly Velcro'd into Grenada we're now entering our third week, the boats growing a beard and we are ploughing through books. We do plan to leave by Wednesday but then it's Grenada national day at the weekend so we might just hang on for that.

To stretch our legs, yesterday we joined Julian and Lyn for a walk along Grand Anse beach and take a look at the workboat regatta.

Workboats, traditional, heavy wooden fishing boats sailor Re towed down from neighbouring islands to compete in a two day festival or beer, rum, lobster and sailing.

Most of he boats are held together with cast off cruisers halyards, sheets and cable ties. Sails are recut from whatever is available. Nonetheless, these guys know how to sail. Four or five up with a mass of canvas, moving bags of sand for ballast and bailing furiously. Quite a spectacle.

Further on down the beach we stumbled into the St George's University Match Racing event. Competitors were to race Sunfish in fours through the eliminations, quarters and semis to the grand final.

"I used to be able to do that" I thought. So, twenty minutes later I'd talked my way onto the entrants list. Five hours later, fingers bleeding, sunburnt to a crisp, legs and back aching, not to mention sand rash in some quite uncomfortable places, I'd made it to the final.

Unfortunately owing to a misunderstanding, or maybe they didn't want to be shown up by an old cruiser (in the sailing sense of the word) someone lifted the race marks before the final could get going. Most fun I've had in a sailboat in many a year.

As the blood is up next stop might be Antigua Week or the Heineken regatta.

29 degrees everyday and at last the torrential downpours have eased off or gone away. Consequently, the varnish is out and our crusty handrails are looking a bit better.

Once we get moving its Carriacou, Tobago Cays, Bequia and North.

Half a mile away from us in the Carenage lagoon there is an "ecological" cruise ship. There's also two huge oil burners in the cruise ship dock. That's maybe eight thousand tourists on the island of they all got off. Some are here in the yacht club, brought here by their private our guides.

The "ecological" cruise alternative is basically a cruise ship with some masts, a few furling sails and, well sound proofed, no doubt some thundering great Diesel engines below deck.

How they can position themselves as ecological when the masts are black with diesel exhaust is beyond me.

We can be righteous. The solar panel and our wind generator keep us supplied and, if we ever go anywhere, we will sail.

Come back soon and see if we've left!