One of the hazards of visiting Uproar for our cruise is that you get written about in a blog. Jim and I worked together about 20 years ago for INA. We had a lot of fun going on training trips together in the US, Switzerland, Germany and France. We only worked together for 4 years but sure became friends. Jim brought his wife and kids with him on one of the Germany trips. It was great to have family around, even if it wasn't my family.

I spent the night at Jim's house in Orange County on that fateful day, September 11, 2001. We were working on a project for some robotics for a customer in Madison, WI. I haven't seen much of Jim over the past 10 years but good friendships endure. One would think he knew better than to accept my invitation for an adventure under a spread of canvas.

Most who visit Uproar are seasoned sailors. Jim has been around boats a lot but had never been cruising. It's fun to introduce someone to this way of life. We just hope it is fun for them. I'm sure Jim would agree that some of it wasn't exactly fun!

Jim's visit corresponded with a visit from Hurricane Matthew. We were in Grenada for most of the first week, then sailed to Carriacou to visit this remote and beautiful island. We did a lot of the fun sailing, fishing and touring stuff in both places. But Matthew threatened our anchorage in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou.

Our options were to hole up in the mangroves in Tyrrel Bay and swat mosquitos, sail back to a deep harbor in Grenada or head further south to Tobago. Keith and Linda on Euan Mora made a firm decision to sail to Tobago. So did we. It gave us another island to visit and a night passage for Jim to experience.

Wind was expected to be NE which was ideal for the passage. Then it was to turn N, NW, W and South as the storm passed. That's exactly what it did but sooner than we expected. The first half of the passage was beautiful and fast sailing on a beam reach. I just got done explaining to Jim that tropical squalls aren't much to worry about and brief. Not 10 minutes later we got clobbered with a strong pre-frontal squall from Matthew that lasted for about 30 minutes, 30 knots of wind and lots of rain. Uproar whistled along at 10 knots at times. Jim was pretty quiet!

Then the wind quit and the sails slatted and jerked in the swell. This is annoying and not making any progress. Lisa turned on the engine and noticed the sound wasn't quite right. No cooling water was coming out. We just sat for awhile and the wind came back. The rest of the sail to Tobago went just fine.

Scarborough is the port of entry and was most protected in the west winds. The anchorage has nothing to recommend it, especially when the wind and swells switched to the south. We rolled all night!

Next day we sailed to Store Bay which made up for any discomfort on the passage and night in Scarborough. We sure enjoyed the bay and little town surrounding it.

Tobago was also convenient for Jim to catch his Trinidad flight back to California. The ferry to Trinidad was $7.50. Jim was able to give a blow-by-blow account of the trip to Angie and his kids with his T-Mobile phone. It works everywhere. He even took a customer call about 25 miles from shore.

I wonder if Angie and the kids will let Jim come back after hearing about the harrowing tales. Sure hope so, Jim, you are a sailor now.