Cathie heard about a sailing Regatta around Grenada. I also thought it sounded awesome. Sail up west side on Friday and sail back on the east side on Sunday. We would overnight Friday n Saturday at Carriacou.

Thursday evening was a skippers meeting where we went over some details, like the 7:00 AM start time.

Friday morning, Cathie and I were excited just like little kids on Christmas Day, except we were actually allowed to get up at 5:30.

6:00 AM, we lifted the anchor and started heading towards the starting area, about 2NM away. Behind us was half a dozen boats also heading out. From the next bay came another 1/2 dozen or so. There were 7 mono hulls, 7 catamarans and one trawler singed up for the event.

So the way the 7:00 AM start time works, is at 6:55 engines are turned off, and you can’t cross the start line until 7:00. Boats position themselves with sails up so they can hit the line just after 7:00. It can be busy, and I figured it was going to be over 6 hours to Carriacou, so crossing the start line at 7:03 in light traffic would be just fine.

We did cross at about 7:05, with a few others, no problems.

Once on course, we unfurled the Gennaker, (large front sail) and Catnip jumped from five knots to 7 knots. The boats that were with us on the start, started to look smaller, and the boats that nailed the 7:00 start were beginning to look closer. Catnip was doing great 😊.

After rounding the south west corner of Grenada and heading north things got interesting. Our 10 to 20 knot wind had started to evaporate. Our speed had been in the 8s, then 7s…. and tumbled like a bad stock, all the way down to 1 knot. The sea had gone flat, and we were looking for ripples on the water that Catnip could drift towards. A bird flapping, low flying plane, anything that may give us a breath of wind.

With the AIS, we can monitor (spy on) other boats as well, see their speed and course. We would keep a close eye on the boats in front and behind, see who we were gaining on, and who was gaining on us.

Cathie worked the helm diligently eking out the best wind angles. Other boats started to drift in circles but Catnip kept marching forward. Great job Cathie.

Cathie working her magic.

Then, just like it had disappeared for well over an hour, the wind miraculously reappeared. Catnip wasted no time jumping back up to speed and started sprinting towards Carriacou. The distance ticked down, and we crossed the line just after 3:00. We arrived 3rd, about 30 minutes behind the first catamaran and a couple hours before the last, so we did well for our first race. We became a lot more confident furling and trimming our Gennaker sail.

That evening we all had dinner at a beach side restaurant and shared stories of the sail north.

Here’s a track of the trip north, 43 Nm, in 8 hrs.

The last few dots are spaced a long ways apart due to no cell coverage in the area.

Saturday, our rest day, we went to Sandy island, and hung out with other sailors from the regatta. You probably don’t want to hear how amazing the snorkeling was, so I’ll just skip over that part.

Sunday was a 9:00 start, and it was pretty snug on the start line as you can see in the clip below.

On the way back we were on the windward side of Grenada and moved pretty steady.

We covered the 33 Nm. in 5 hours finishing just after 2:00.

Catnip was back safely on anchor by 3:00 when a huge downpour came. The downpours don’t last more than 20 minutes, but this one was like a waterfall. It was nice to have the salt rinsed off the decks.

We had a lovely evening, prizes, delicious dinner and story time. Catnip got third in the Catamaran class, so that felt good. We beat the third place mono hull on Friday and they beat us on Sunday, so the classes are very close, depending on the boat’s design.

Generally the more comfortable the boat is, the slower it will go, less cabin, the boom down low, all help it go faster. The longer boats also go faster, and for Catamarans, keeping the boat light also helps.

Sequoia was quite proud of her 3rd place bandana.

We had live music, great food, and good laughs. Was nice getting to know more cruisers and sharing stories and laughs.

Friday start.

As you can see, the yellow sail has tangled, not ideal, but can happen if you’re not careful, yes we have experienced this on Catnip too, back in the Bahamas.

Thanks for reading.