That's more like it. 170 miles in 35 hours, the engine used only to get in and out of the anchorages and the Monitor steering vane drove the whole way. Yeehah!
We slipped the mooring at Georgetown at 7.30 a.m., just as the daily compliment of cruise ships was arriving and by 9.00 we had cleared North West point and picked up 15 to 20 knot south easterly trades that continued unchanged for our whole passage. Altering slightly the trim on the Monitor, trimming sails even less frequently, occasionally putting in a reef if the wind freshened, and logging our position every couple of hours were or only responsibilities. The boat sailed herself and we never saw another vessel until three miles off the Cuban coast. Making better time than we had expected we arrived off Cienfuegos at 8.00 p.m., dropped sails and motored into the entrance looking by moonlight for the channel markers. Looming up out of the dark came a huge Cuban navy patrol boat (probably ex-Russian, circa 1960), belching smoke, engines roaring and its searchlight trained on little Mandy. The crew stood on the foredeck, towering above us as they closed to within a few feet, screaming to be heard over their machine and gesticulating directions up the harbor channel.
By 11.00 p.m. we were secured at a dock in the marina (10 other boats) hosting port captains, agriculture inspectors, customs etc., whom we had been led to believe would be bureaucratically overwhelming, but in fact they were polite, charming and just trying to do their jobs.