POSITION : PIRATE'S BAR
SOMEWHERE IN THE GRENADINES
SUNDAY EVENING
ALL QUIET
NO FIGHTING YET
MOOD : WHAT MOOD ?????



Dear Reader,
 this is the second part of the Caribbean history, and this is finally about what some if not most of you associate with this part of the world : 
PIRATES ! 
Jack Sparrow here we come, 
but unfortunately, 
real life is much more complicated, and full of legal minefields , so 
to be a Pirate is not necessarily the same as being a "Pirate". 
Does anybody understand what I am talking about ? 
No ? 
Good ! Because now you have to read on !

Let's go back for the last time ( I promise ! ) to Christopher Columbus (CC ). 
After his first voyage and when it became clear that sailing East ( Portuguese ) and sailing West ( Spanish ) led or would lead to new discoveries, both countries tried to avoid open conflict on these spoils but rather wanted to establish their legal and more importantly 'moral' rights on these new discoveries. 
So they turned to the Pope ! 
Oh dear, always religion when money is involved. 
Or is it the other way around ?

Anyway, Pope Alexander VI  declared 1494 in the 'Treaty of Tordecillas' after lengthy negotiations and considerations 
that the New World that was about to be detected 
( meaning at the time of the treaty nobody knew what they were talking about !!! ) 
should be divided into  "Spheres of Influence" : 
The demarcation line was about halfway between Cape Verde Islands ( Portuguese) and Cuba/Hispaniola, 
meaning all new lands West of that line was Spanish, all East was Portuguese. 
As a result ( modern ) Brazil became Portuguese, as the line ( Meridian) cut through the north-eastern part of South-America, 
all the rest became Spanish, 
from the Lesser Antilles through the Caribbean Sea to what was being called later : 
The Spanish Main, 
land that stretched from Mexico through Central to South West America. 

What a bargain !!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then the "GOLD RUSH" started,
 the occupation, the harsh colonisation, the looting, robbing, stealing, murdering, you name it, the Spanish did it.
 And it was all 'legal and morally justified' ! 
The Conquistadores did know no mercy. And what they ransacked was of course sent home to Spain....by ship, ie big spanish slow-sailing transporters called "Galleons". 

The 'Treasure Fleet' was born.


And 'Convoy Sailing', as re-introduced more successfully by Churchill's Navy during WW II. 

But the fleet had a long way home......and the Spanish had left their 'strategic backyard' open for others to join the forthcoming party.

Let me explain !

Whilst focussing on the larger islands and the mainland to the West and South West, the Spanish saw no possible plunder in the Lesser Antilles. 
Instead of securing these waters that stretch over 400 nautical miles from the North West to the South East , 
by building ports and garrisoned these, 
they only saw them as a replenishing opportunity for food and water. Like the fuel stations on a motorway, these islands were ideal for a stop-over before the long trip either way. 
And in order to have enough food, the Spanish decided to set free boar and cattle to roam around , and if in need hunted them down before the next part of their voyage.

But it only took some few years before the word spread around about the 'Gold Rush' in the West 
and attracted as a result 
all kind of people from the 'left -over" nations : 

 Adventure-seeker, criminals, settlers, you name it, they came, and mostly from Britain, France, and to a lesser extent from Holland, 

The rest that joined over the many years to come was a rag-tag of all nations known on this planet.  
They settled on these islands and basically provided a service now for the passing Spanish ships by selling the boar and the cattle they did not own but had hunted them down regardless, 
preparing the meat by drying it in the sun and then smoking it. 
Again, in a way, compare it with a motorway restaurant. 
In the Arawak language the wooden frame for the smoking is called 'buccan', which the French called 'boucane'  ( hunter=boucanier) 
and in the anglicised format became buccaneer. 


That tells you quite a lot about the intertwining of languages. 


So these 'land-based' buccaneers had quite a jolly good time I guess, made some good money, having had almost a monopoly on the supply chain. 
But some more criminal elements,  and some being able seamen themselves ,  started an even more lucrative business by taking advantage of one or two unfortunate crews and ships who came by in the wrong place at the wrong time: 
They took over their ships and sailed into the wide wide ocean. 
(or better to the next port from where they attacked more ships)

The ( 'sea-born' ) buccaneer  was created, the name stuck, and it continued to roam the Caribbean Sea for quite some time to come, known as the 
"Era of the Buccaneers". 


The hunt for the Spanish galleons was on. 
And as long as it was against the Spanish, it was or better became legal, which is good news, right ?
Will tell you later more about it. 

But what is important is that all is down to perception of course. 

Take Sir Francis Drake for example. 
He is a hero in England, but in Spain the lowest of the lowest, a simple Pirate.
 
Here you have it, look at issues from a different angle and you get different answers. 
Whether you like them or not...


That is the reason why we need lawyers and pay them a lot of money for things that often are 
'bleedin' obvious in the eye of the beholder !

And with this thought i leave you for the moment until another day...


Yours,
Master Mike

POSITION : 12°02'•6 N and 61°45'4 W
Day / TIme : 20.01.2013 , 16:00h Local TIme
Mood :  Slightly improved !

We took a direct route from Saint Lucia to Grenada, and arrived there sailing through the night, on the 18.01.2013, 
in a new Marina, Port Louis, in the Bay of St.George's, the capital of Grenada. 
We have reached our most southern point of 12° N of our travel, roughly 720 nautical miles north of the Equator. 
 From now on we only go up (and back ) again into higher Latitudes. 

One has the feeling it didn't look much different to when 
Christopher Columbus discovered this place on his third voyage in 1498. 
However he called it "Conception", but Spanish sailors thought it looked with its lush hills more like the green hills of Granada,Spain, and therefore called it Grenada. 
The English kept the name after they colonised it in 1609. However these settlers were not to be a happy lot. Some were eaten by the Caribs, the rest pushed back into the sea. 
Then the French tried, and were slightly more successful. 
They came from Martinique, and bargained for the island with probably a lot of gallic charm and alcohol , I guess, because when the Caribs woke up again some days later they felt cheated and started their normal due again : Fighting and Eating !!!

But the French hung on, fought back, and encircled the last Caribs around the North Eastern part, on a cliff, from where these poor devils jumped to their deaths rather then being enslaved. That spot is named after them
 "Carib's Leap" in Sauteurs ( Jumper ) Bay. 
Go and have a look,....but don't jump !

From that time onwards, the island changed hands between the English and the French like as on many of the other islands, when finally a 
Treaty of Versailles ( where else ! ) in 1783  
gave it to England. 
The view from Grenada's castle must have been like that 200 years ago. 
Is it an English, French or a Pirate ship. Always difficult to say.
 
So better stay in the castle and close the ancient 
Sendal Tunnel, 
built by the French in the 18th century,and  running under the castle/hill to connect the harbour with part of the western town. 
A very unusual feature indeed in the West Indies.
May be it was camouflaged and used as a way to get behind enemy lines in case of an assault ?

 Oh dear , I should have gone to Sandhurst to improve my military skills !
But then maybe I would have ended up 
in the shoe-making and polishing department of the military, or indeed the tailor side of things. 
As you can see, these two "Government Departments" of Grenada, 
situated high up in the castle, 
cater for all 1200 military personnel, 
from the High Commissioner to the Private !

Economically not all is good however.
Since in 2004 Hurricane Ivan devastated part of the infrastructure and 90% of the crops of their best export : Nutmeg and Cinnemon, 
which gave the name to Grenada as the 
Island of Spices ! 
Nutmeg however was only introduced in 1843 when a merchant ship called in on its way to England from the East Indies. 
The ship had a small quantity of nutmeg trees on board which they left in Grenada, and this was the beginning of Grenada's nutmeg industry.

They actually were the second largest Nutmeg producer after Indonesia when this desaster hit the island. 
And the consequences are still visible today. 
But the Grenadians are fighting back in a more peaceful tradition, and the crops after 10 years of cultivating, bring the first harvests again. 
Good luck Grenada !

The last thing to mention for this quite beautiful and now by the end of January blossoming island are the various waterfalls. 
I prefer the " Seven SIsters" . 
One can visit them within a private estate of 200 Hectares, 
owned funnily enough by.....seven sisters. 
Now you know ! 
But the best is when i tell you where they all live ........
Now where do people who take 5 EC Dollar ( Eastern Caribbean Dollar, 2.5 EC for 1 USD ) from every visitor live ? Have a guess !
 Of course in .....New York, Brooklyn actually.

POSITION : 12°02'•7 N and 061°44'•9 W
DAY/TIME : 20.01.2013 , 16:30 UTC
MOOD : It's OK.

What is interesting is that he was more interested in the western part of this large sea area, ie he didn't go north- west, so he might have discovered Florida, he also did not go due south, no , he travelled seemingly "by ear" ! 

He was looking for something, and it was "loot" ,

 ie he tortured the locals until he heard what he wanted to hear : 
Where did the Gold and Silver and Precious Stones come from that he sometimes saw the local women wearing? 
Forgotten about the spices of Asia, the pepper, curry, and here , locally , the nutmeg and cinnamon. 
Small fries. 
No, he I believe had "the bigger picture" on the agenda, and therefore travelled towards the direction the locals had told him : 
Go West and South West !!! 
And so he focussed more on the larger islands like Cuba and Hispaniola ( today Haiti and Dominican Republic ), and further on to South (-West ) America , consequently 
making Spain (and Portugal)  rich beyond belief . 
In today's values
 billions of Dollars of Gold and Silver were taken by Spain in the post CC era
via the conquest of the Atzteks ( 1521 ), the Mayas ( 1537 ) and the Incas ( 1546 ). 

So in that respect whilst CC left his legacy in the Caribbean by the discovery and naming of the many islands, such as Dominica ( found it on a Sunday ) , Guadaloupe ( Monastery of Guadaloupe,Spain ) , 
Saint Kitts (for St Christopher, patron of sailors , or did he mean himself ?? ), 
Nevis ( clouds over the island looked like snow ), etc etc. , 
 he was nothing but "passing through" the arc of eastern islands 
which is stretching for about 400 nautical miles North-West to South-East.. 

As a result, he left a huge logistical nightmare for the future Gold and Silver Galleons.

But let's take it step by step and get our bearings right by using another map :

The 'Caribbean'  with more than 7000 islands,  together with Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and countries such as Belize and Guyana (as they are culturally close to this region),  form the somewhat larger ' West Indies' . The 'Caribbean Sea'  is subsequently defined by its surrounding islands, 
ie the Greater Antilles in the North and the Lesser Antilles in the East , South East, and South,  
comprising again of the Leeward and  WIndward Islands in the East and South East, 
and the Leeward Antilles in the South.

Complicated ? Well, most of the names as the ones mentioned before make sense, others don't.

But as CC noted in his diary from 12.10.1492, 
these people were under threat from nearby islands by another tribe, 
originating most likely from the River Orinoco.
 Fearsome, aggressive bullies,
 killing the men and taking their women as wives and for pleasure. 

However their seemingly good taste for beauty was somehow deranged on the palate. They were called 
Caribs ( or Kalinas ) , 
which meant ferocious people, and the word 'Kalinas' transpires via its Spanish equivalent  into the word.........
CANNIBAL ! 
Yack ! 

But that's exactly what they did : 
They ate their Arawak enemies in their own pots, literally.
Some later settlers should learn that  the hard way ( or should I rather say " the slow cooking way ")  ! 
In any case, neither survived, the Arawaks nor the Caribs.
 Whilst the first were decimated and became extinct due to european diseases and finally 
by the harsh Spanish colonisation programs, 
the Caribs held out longer by putting up a long fight , 
and some instead of finally facing slavery and deportation, 
rather preferred to commit suicide 
by jumping off cliffs ( Grenada , Caribs Leap in Sauteurs Bay in 1651 ). 
So as the Caribs obviously made a larger impression on the invading Europeans, no wonder their name stuck : 

THE CARIBBEANS !

Wow, now we have sorted this one out, let's move on to the next name : 
The Antilles .  
Now this is a funny one. 
There is no reference that I could find that states who came up with this name for some of the area in the first place. 
Was it CC ? May be. May be not. 
May be some poor sailor who was later eaten by the Caribs, but who previously might have had 
the fantasy of being in paradise. 


Because 
the name Antilles is a product of fantasy, 
originating from ancient cartographers who placed 
"paradise" as the "Isle of Antilia" at the edges of the "ocean" . 
And now we not only have the Greater Antilles, we also have the Lesser Antilles. 


Which finally brings me exactly to the area that we will be sailing in , and consequently I will be covering in my forthcoming stories: 
The Lesser Antilles, comprising of the Leeward and WIndward Islands.

And this distinction came from the British, who in later years had to reach the southern islands of the eastern arc from their major possessions towards the wind ( to windward ), 
which in other words is 'beating against the wind', 
and was with the old sailplans of square riggers , quite difficult. 
So much better the the islands made a curve to the west, so that it was easier to go there, 
to the Leeward Islands.

Makes all sense, doesn't it ?

Ok, that took me a while, but now it's over , the ( movie) scene is set for the many adventure tales, novels, children and Pirate books with treasures,beautiful women, Pirates and Privateers, courage and treason,
 war and death.
 
But all in beautiful sunshine.

And finally with growing Palm trees.
Because at the time of CC's arrival there weren't any !!!!


 They only came later ,mainly from coconuts taken as nutricious food on board from Africa for the long journey and then thrown over board after arrival. 

And now what ? 
Well, I need a rest now in my hammock, and will continue with the adventure stories another day.
 
Until then: 
Aye Aye, Master Mike.

POSITION : 14°00'•39 N 060°49'•27 W
DAY / TIME : 12.01.2013 , 12.00h Local TIme
MOOD : could be better

When have you been to the market lately ? Here you are, time to go again. 
The best day is Satur-day, the 'Dies Saturni', because the planet Saturn controls the first hours of this day.
SATUR-DAY IS MARKET-DAY

The funny thing about markets is that they are basically occupied by the same people all over the world. No matter where you are, whether here in Saint Lucia, in Venice, or in London, the sellers are usually BIG BIG WOMEN, chatting , laughing, giggling, gossiping and shouting, but always very friendly, always very funny and nice. 
And mostly honest.



Am I right ? 
You don't think so, because I dared to mentioned London with the same breath than the Carbbean ? 
You think London is different ?
Dear World Traveller, you have no idea : 

The whole Caribbean is like half of London !
Wow !!!!!! What ?????? Where ????? How come ??????


Well, it is simple, and in case you have even never seen the Caribbean, go to London and you'll have it..... if you can look beyond the sun, the sea and the palm trees.

Take off from Paddington Station and go west through Bayswater along Westbourne Grove  and you come to
.....Notting Hill. 


And there you have the largest West Indies community outside the West Indies, the largest Caribbean Street Carnival outside the Carribean - every year at the last weekend in August - and you have every Satur-Day the market 
 ........Portobello Road . 

Now of course there are subtle differences, if for example you specifically compare the market in Castries, the Capital of Saint Lucia, with the Portobello Market in London, the Capital of the United Kingdom . 


The people however are the same, the litter and garbage on the streets is the same, 
the pick-pocketing, the friendly policemen acting as tourist guides, 
all is the same besides one thing : 

The "sign - language" !

Gosh it took me a long time to get here. 
But really , the sign-language is important. 
And I find that in Saint Lucia it is much better organised than in Portobello Road, 
almost with a germanic touch ! 
Let me explain:

Of course everyone needs a drink after a while, so where else to go than to the most exciting place in town, 
which happens to be in the middle of the market : 

In London however there is no sign anywhere, meaning it is allowed everywhere ? or not ? 
......and the Romanian street tricksters take full advantage and put up their "search the pea under the cup"  
when there is no policeman in sight. 
But then, there are no policemen in Portobello Road, only Tourist Guides !

So you see, it should be understood by now : 
Everything in Saint Lucia, and to a larger extent in the Caribbean, makes sense.
 Nothing does in London.

Which leaves me with the obvious question : 
Where and what is the "Caribbean" ?

And that, dear Reader, I will cover in my next blog. Until then : 

Come see ya, Rasta Mon !
Mas Mike

POSITION : 14°32'•7 N AND 60°12'•4 W
DATE / TIME : 21.12.2012 , 20:00 LOCAL TIME
MOOD : PROUD

AND THE WINNER IS...

Have we won anything ?

Well, surely not on the sailing side. But there are so many prizes, on Safety, on Youngest Skipper, Youngest Participant, Oldest Participant ( I almost won that I believe ! ), but no, nothing for us.

And then ......for the best WALL PAINTING, and the Winner is
 " Champagne ", 
Hey Hurray, that is us !!!!!! 
and the artist's name is : 
FATI

WE HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN. 


The 3 days work of her, hanging on the ridge of the port wall, and painting her heart out. And when her work was finished, we said already that somebody might brake out the bricks, because it is really a very good and probably expensive painting. 
And then with all the excitement we had forgotten about it.  

Anyway, her prize was a dinner for 4 in a nice restaurant in Saint Lucia.
We are still waiting for our invitation, and it is January already.

Here we are, there are 2 mysteries in my life left : 
DIESEL ENGINES AND WOMEN.
I think I am on the brink of a major break-through to understand the first. 

Yours, Master Mike.

ps : Fati also takes on commissions varying from restaurants to private homes, be it abstract or portraits, or else. If anybody wants to consider some work to be done by her, pls get in touch. I will forward it.

....that's what one says in football. 
And at sea as well. 
Because yes, we are approaching Saint Lucia fairly quickly now, it is only a step. But an important one, of course. From here my thoughts are already thinking about the return and its forthcoming challenges......Oh dear....
Anyway, let's not think about it now. We are finally enjoying our sailing :

""""""
Subject:  Final Approach of Champagne

From:  champagne
Date:  12 December 2012 13:06:18 WET
To: @worldcruisingevent.com

We can see the end of the tunnel, the light that might be hitting you because it is the train coming towards you ? Well, probably not. 
We had it all, but mostly wind of the strength BF 7, 8 and 9. 
We could have been faster, but with the cut in the Genoa that was difficult. 
And we were not lucky with the wind direction. 
Can't stand anymore the banging of the sails and the shuddering of the rig. 
Happy to still have a rig, and a rudder !

But since yesterday all is really going our way. Finally the NE wind, finally with the right strength BF 7-8, and the boat towards the right direction ( S Lucia ), with a speed of 9-10 kts. 
Wonderful .
 During the night we had some scary moments, particularly with one squall that hit us, but we were prepared and had reefed early. 
Anyway, even that does not bother us anymore.
 It is now lunch time on the 12.12.2012, 100 miles still to go, and we will be there soon, safe and sound. 
ETA is tonight after midnight. 
That is all that matters. 
Some are there already, some others way behind. 
Don't care, today is a beautiful sailing day, as it should be in the Caribbean : Hot, sunny, trade winds, G&T or a beer, good food, freshly baked bread, who wants to sit behind a desk. All pain, efforts, sleepless nights , almost all forgotten already.
 But many stories to tell.

Life is beautiful ( again ).

Master Mike / Champagne
""""""""

So now you know. 

And whilst sailing into the sun-set, we can see already Saint Lucia. We will make the 
12.12.2012,
local time though, we are sure of it , but it will be shortly before midnight.
It's getting tight.


AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN:


5 MILES OFF PIGEON ISLAND, THE NE CORNER OF SAINT LUCIA, AND THE CORNER TO PASS FOR GOING INTO RODNEY BAY, OUR FINAL DESTINATION, AND EXACTLY, BUT REALLY EXACTLY WHEN THE FOLLOWING PICTURE WAS TAKEN ( OR MAY BE BECAUSE OF IT ? ) :

WHEN I CALLED THE FINISH LINE TO ANNOUNCE OUR IMMINENT ARRIVAL :
"""
ARC CONTROL, ARC CONTROL, THIS IS S/Y CHAMPAGNE CALLING, 
WE ARE APPROACHING !
""""
BOTH PLOTTERS WENT DOWN AGAIN !!!!

THE CREW WENT INTO SHOCK !!! 
Pitch-dark, and a lot of lights at the coast, but none as a guidance for sailors.

But this is where the Skipper comes into :
"Don't touch anything" I said,
 and disappeared again for the navigation table.
This is the moment, where old skills are required. And I grew up with no GPS, no plotter, just good charts, instincts, good eyesight ( at least when I was young ), and a good portion of self assurance 
combined with ( by now ) a lot of experience.

And so we sailed into Rodney Bay, with reefed sails, and wonderful speed, 
" in the old style "
like
Gangnam Style !

PASSING THE FINISH LINE
ARRIVED !!!
OVERALL 57TH PLACE OUT OF 185.

NOT BAD !!!!!

And for the moment we are immensely relieved and happy. But probably only for a day or so.
Because the return trip is looming. 
As the headline says .....
AFTER THE GAME IS BEFORE THE GAME !
But let's leave that for another day .
Let's first enjoy the Caribbean .
 
Master Mike.

POSITION : 16°15'•5 N 042°23'•3 W
DATE /TIME : 9.12.2012 , 23:50 UTC
MOOD : RELIEVED

We are now almost two weeks into our crossing, and what a crossing it is. It will go down in history , I am convinced, as one of the fastest for a large number of boats, ours included. 
Probably 15, may be 16 days.

 But that is besides the point. 

The point is first and foremost the weather :


"""""""
Date:  9 December 2012 23:58:25 WET
To:          @WorldCruisingEvents.
Subject : Things to come ?

We have been now at sea for almost 2 weeks. ANd the weather is still freaky, to say the least. Since our departure we had not more than one day a wind that was less than BF 7, in fact we probably had more BF 8 than BF 6.
Unfortunately we couldn'tt take advantage of this due to our slightly damaged genoa and the vanished genoa pole. Nevertheless, no complaints here about the spped of the crossing. But the fact remains:
 
This ARC 2012 will probably go down in history as one with the freakiest weather ever. 
I am convinced.
 
Not only did we have a delay with the start of 2 days, but the conditions during the trip were and still are so different than to any other year that it will have an impact on future crossings. 

I mean believe in climate change or not, but we sailors realise a change in velocity and unpredictability of the wind, no doubt about it. We are now around 16 degrees North, meaning in Caribbean territory, and the sky is covered, at
 night we wear foul weather gear, no or little exposed sunshine during the day, and little sky watching due to clouds during the night.

Instead, it should be worm, if not hot, may be humid, yes, may be some thunderstorms and rain showers, but generally warmer and less windy. So I wonder about all the stories to come up after arrival. 
How have the smaller boats been doing in these conditions, the families with young children , etc. 
Many questions remain, whatever the outcome.
SY Champagne
"""""""

I THINK THE ABOVE PICTURES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES AND NEED NO FURTHER COMMENT !

Besides this we had some scary moments last night. 
I woke up int he middle of the night and smelt "burnt rubber" . 
So for the very first time in my sailing life I called the crew into the cockpit with their life-jackets on. 
We investigated for 2 hours and finally think we know what it is. 
Some problems with the rudder, where metal goes on metal, becomes hot, and starts smelling. 
That of course does not explain yet the reason. 
But most likely the bearings have worn out, and the rudder shaft has started moving. 
Not good ! 
But to S Lucia we will make it, we believe.