Logbook

Recent Articles in Logbook

In which we tell of our adventures under sail

Cuba, Part III – Cruising the North Coast

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 27th of August 2010 in Logbook • No Comments

Cuban Political Party

Cuba was great. After just one day of partying with the people we were Cuba-philes. Castro was a wonderful guy.
“Well, he must be, to supply all that cut-price beer and rum to the people!”

Then we set off to cruise the north coast of the country – and that was where things started to go wrong.

(more…)

Cuba, Part II – Beer on Tap; Rum by the Rucksack

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 13th of August 2010 in Logbook • 1 Comment

Having given Puerto de Vita and its environs a fairly bad press I am now going to tip the scales the other way, because when we think back to our fortnight in Cuba it is this particular place that we remember with the most affection.

Puerto Vita is a bit of a non event – unless you happen to be there in time for the country’s biggest party.
And when would that be? Would it be the day that Castro and his pals finally overthrew the baddies and came to power? Or would it be Che’s birthday, perhaps?
No, the most important festival in Cuba is May the 1st – the day which is internationally celebrated as Worker’s Day.
Of course. (more…)

Cuba, Part I – Red Tape and Money

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 30th of July 2010 in Logbook • 1 Comment

The old man of the sea predicts a bad year for hurry-canes

When we first arrived in the Caribbean and planned our itinerary amongst the islands Cuba was envisaged as the highlight of the whistle-stop tour; thus we had allowed ourselves four weeks in its waters. But by the time we left Luperon it was the 25th of April and only two weeks remained before the date when we must flee away from this region.
“Two weeks…” moaned Your Correspondent. “It’s not enough.”
“Well, it’s all we’ve got,” said the skipper firmly. “We’re leaving on May 15th, and that’s that.”
“Absolutely,” Johnson agreed. “This hurry-cane season is going to be a bad one. We have to get away from here.”

(more…)

Caribbean, Part VI – If it’s Monday it must be… the Dominican Republic

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 23rd of July 2010 in Logbook • No Comments

Molly sets sail leaving Cherub in her wake

The northern winter was trickling past like sand through an hour glass. Already we were eating into the second week of April.
“June soon” says the weather rhyme; “July nigh”. But the fact of the matter is that by June the Caribbean hurricane season has often already begun. It is true that the “biggies” don’t tend to hit the place until August or September, but for a yacht at sea even a little, gale force Tropical Depression is a major nuisance; it won’t kill you or sink the boat, but it is quite likely to blow out your sails. Thus we were determined to be out of the area before the maroons went up.

In theory, when we moved on from Saba we were left with one week in which to travel north and three – just three – in which to explore the vast island which is Cuba. In practice, however… Well, in practice we just couldn’t bring ourselves to sail straight past Hispaniola without stopping.
“But only for a night or two,” we told each other. (more…)

Caribbean, Part V – If it’s Monday it must be… Saba

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 16th of July 2010 in Logbook • 1 Comment

Having planned to spend only three days in Nevis, we eventually tore ourselves away after a week. Our next stop was Saba, which is only a day-sail away, beyond St Kitts and just beyond Sint Eustatius. When the seeing is good, as astronomers would say, ‘Statia and Saba are both visible from the anchorage off Pinney’s Beach. (more…)

Caribbean, Part IV – If it’s Monday it must be… Nevis

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 2nd of July 2010 in Logbook • 2 Comments

Cherub drifts away from the island

Nevis lies so close to Antigua that the one is clearly visible from the other. Despite this, our passage from Jolly Harbour to Charlestown took more than 24 hours. Perhaps that’s what comes of setting forth on April the 1st.

The first 15 hours of our journey were spent drifting sideways, just a stone’s throw from the anchorage, watching turtles swim past under the boat.

The night which followed was spent limping along into a light westerly – a westerly, for heaven’s sake! Would the anchorage off Nevis even be tenable in this wind, we wondered, or would we have to go to St Kitts instead? (more…)

Caribbean, Part III – If it’s Monday it must be… Antigua

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 18th of June 2010 in Logbook • No Comments

Cherub leads Molly on the next leg of the journey

From Dominica we limped northwards, borne by the flimsiest of breezes. The Saintes and Marie Galante drifted slowly into view and then began to sidle past. The breeze eventually picked up to about force 2, but the southern shores of Guadaloupe were still a few miles distant when our progress was suddenly arrested altogether.
“Something round the rudder,” I shouted.
From the aft cabin, where I happened at that moment to be working, the sound of graunching was unmistakable.

By the time I hit the deck the boys had already identified the problem. It was a net – yes, another net – but this time the hazard was a waif, carried on the current. Supported by two dented, barnacle-encrusted jerry cans, it had evidently been torn away from some fisherman’s trap – torn, one supposes, by the propellers of a big ship – and now it floated aimlessly about, futile but still deadly, ready to ensnare everything from a medium-sized fish or a careless turtle through to a fifty foot yacht. (more…)

Caribbean, Part II – If it’s Monday it must be… Dominica

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 11th of June 2010 in Logbook • 1 Comment

Rox enjoys the company of Marie's son, Ludo

Two days were all that we had allowed ourselves for our visit to St Pierre – extra time spent here must necessarily be deducted from that available for visiting the other isles – but the anchorage was pleasant and the company was of the very best sort, so that we reckoned we were doing pretty well when we finally got underway again on the evening of the fifth day.

As we ambled out of the anchorage and away from the bright lights of the town, Gigi and Marie and their children came racing after us in their rubber dinghy to offer one last farewell. Quite a daring feat when one considers that their dinghy didn’t even have a floor…
“See you in Cuba!”
“Mais non! But we are not going to Cuba! See you in Quebec!”
Then they fell astern, and we were on our own, slipping off into the inky night. (more…)

Caribbean, Part I – If it’s Monday it must be Martinique

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 4th of June 2010 in Logbook • No Comments

Coconut palms, warm sea, and sand on the island of Dominica

The Caribbean. To the land-dweller, cocooned in his bricks and mortar, the name probably means a brief escape. It conjures up images of white beaches lined with coconut palms and lapped by turquoise waters. Honeymoon couples come here, breaking out of their old routine like butterflies released into a new but very brief life of colour and freedom. Traversing the sky at impossible height and speed, they enjoy a fortnight in paradise. And then they hop back into the jumbo, and hurtle back through time and space, to resume the steady munch and crawl of everyday existence; to take up residence in their old familiar nest.

To the cruising sailor, carried along like the paper nautilus in his floating shell, the Caribbean means something more than a holiday, for we have already escaped from suburbia, TV, Tescos, and the tarmac-ed rut. But if the world is the sailor’s oyster, the Caribbean is probably the pearl, for no other place throughout the seven seas seems so perfectly designed to meet our requirements. Here, laid out for our enjoyment, is a long necklace of beautiful islands, each one conveniently spaced about a day’s sail from the next. The whole area is bathed in perpetual sunshine and – throughout the winter, at any rate – is caressed by a reliable wind of the ideal strength and the perfect direction. Like a conveyor belt, it stands ready to woosh us north or south, all the way from Trinidad right up to the Bahamas. (more…)

Racing Across the Atlantic (Two’s Company – or is it?)

by Jill Dickin Schinas • Published on the 12th of March 2010 in Logbook • 1 Comment

For the past twenty years now we’ve been on our way south to Patagonia. Well we’re still on our way – make no mistake about that – but we’ve slotted in another little detour. (Yes, another one…)

Heading south we will commit ourselves to a journey into the Pacific – a journey lasting thousands of miles and several years. We’re more than ready for the adventure, but at the same time we felt that there was one other thing we ought to do first. It seemed to us that, since Caesar and Xoë were born there, and since we tore them away at so young an age, it was high time we took the kids to visit the sunny Caribbean Sea. Thus it is that the dream has once again been put on hold… and thus it was that on February 8th we left the Cape Verdes and set off across the pond. (more…)