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.











Monday, April 11, 2011

Another day........

Leaving Bequia was gorgeous – a little wind, short waves, blue sky, turquoise water …. I’m at the helm – Dale hoisting the main sail ,,,, out goes the jib …. and we are sailing along….. Nice, peaceful and really enjoying the time – only 20 miles to go and we would be in Canouan ….

About 8 miles into the journey we looked up at the sky, there was big and I mean BIG black clouds …. nasty, is the best word to describe … we had no idea where they came from…. most of you know … I don’t do storms!  Dale gave instructions … to make sure everything was secured and not going to bounce around… we  decreased the size of the jib to the second reef point ... watch out and get ready…. hold on!!
Grey skies and waves starting to build

We hit a pretty good size squall …. Dale eased the main sheet, therefore the winds did not toss us around too much, and he fell off a little to put the waves at our hind quarter…. 31 knots of wind …. 5-foot waves – rain, rain and more rain… Dale had control of Companion  … when I calmed down and really took a good look – the gray mist that hugged the waves was beautiful…. a serene somber glow …. winds settled and rain eventually stopped  …. Arriving into Canouan 3 and half hours later – none worse for the wear.  Just had to know that this is part of the experience...

I think Dale actually enjoyed using his sailing skills ... he is a good captain!
Dale soaking wet!!!  A good captain doesn't mind!

Anchoring in the bay – we settled in for the night – more rain... at least six games of Rummikub ... sleep was calling us .....

We woke this morning to more rain .... the rain smelled so sweet – we turned on the local radio station .. the report , a “tropical depression”  - the announcer says – “I don’t know why but we are having one!”  Apparently unusual for this time of year... more rain ... I think, we got the same idea at the same time .... collect the water -  Dale plugged up the dinghy – gathered the buckets, wash basin and collected water –

This is when the dinghy is more than a dinghy!

buckets and buckets of fresh water

delicous for drinking as well!!!

Enough water to do three “loads of wash” with fresh water for suds and two for rinsing – heavenly!!!  Nothing better than line dried sheets!!

Laundry is more fun on the boat!!  (says the Captain!) 

The skies are back to blue for the afternoon and we are off to play in the village...
life is good!!
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. UnknownApril 11, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    Whew! So glad all is well. And look at you, Kim, a sailor! Way to go girl!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)