A short history of SV Companion -
In April of 2005, Kim and I signed an agreement to purchase a Leopard Catamaran and place it in the Moorings Charter Program for 5 years.

Buying the last 40' Catamaran built in 2005 by Robinson and Caine of South Africa, the boat was to be chartered in Placencia, Belize. It arrived in Belize in late November, and was used by Moorings Chartering until June of 2010. During that time, we were able to sail our boat many times, and have a few charters in other parts of the world; LaPaz Mexico, Abaco Bahama, British Virgin Islands, Nice France, Gocek Turkey (Turquoise Coast).

Max , our nephew and his dad, Mike will be joining, Kim and I for part of the voyage. We are also looking forward to meeting family and friends along the way.

Our blog is intended to share our journey, memories and information to sailors.

Enjoy, Dale & Kim

PS: 10 years after the start of our voyage, we are living in LaConner with SV Companion and the adventure continues.











Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Waiting for the "Weather Window"

Today, the 3rd of January, we sit in the Charlotte Amalie Bay just 100 yards off shore near the twist in the road leading from downtown to the Cruise Ships. There are 3 Cruise Ships in today – Carnival Victory, Caribbean Princess, and Disney Wonder, which are about a quarter of a mile from Companion. We are anchored in 10 feet of water as our anchor chain strains periodically and the wind generator whirls round and round. The winds are strong out of the northeast, and they have been for about a week. We periodically go ashore to check the internet; passageweather.com and windfinder.com to check on the forecast for the Caribbean weather, so we can make a relatively easy passage to Sint Marteen. This is a part of a Cruiser’s life. (Kim is being very patient!!! - I added this note!)

We have met others waiting for the “Weather Window” – In Rio Dulce which is a hurricane hole (a place to wait out the hurricane season), there were many boats waiting till November or beyond to leave for other destinations. Just before we left a group left for Roatan Honduras and we know of at least one vessel in that group that was demasted as the weather turned bad. They had picked a date and left knowing that the weather was not perfect. There were others in Rio Dulce, who had come to wait out the hurricane seasons and may never leave, because of lack of a sea worthy boat, or other reasons. In French Harbor Roatan we (Mike, Max and I) met a couple from Colorado, who had been in the harbor more than 6 months, they said “waiting for a weather window to go to the Panama”. So the “weather window” seems to be this weekend as the winds and waves calm a bit, but the direction of the wind again will not be perfect.

Captin Dale

Note from "the wife:"
The “Weather Window “ – a time of watching and waiting – hoping for the calm… by all “forecasts” starting Thursday is the best bet to make the crossing – a 20 to 22 hour sail – so Dale and I plan on resting well Wednesday night and taking naps Thursday while each take a turn at the helm – readying ourselves for the overnight – actually I am kind of looking forward to the shooting stars and constellations.  Sint Maarten’s from all research, sounds like a lovely little island – we are heading for the Dutch side  (love those folks!)…. then onto St. Bart for a day, St. Kitt and to Antiqua to collect Andy and Zeph  on the 15th….  Danylle arrives on the 23rd… we are excited to explore with them!!

In preparation:  An afternoon visit to the local “Turkish” restaurant – for some babaganush….. gotta try it in different countries!!!  yummy...just the right amount of garlic!!  


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)