Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Yeah I know, I saw,” I answered quietly. Penny and I were still estranged from my
outburst. I was worried and dared not goof up here; it would be catastrophic if we hit
someone's beautiful yacht. I felt a horrible pain in the pit of my stomach and sent up a si-
lent prayer.
The fleet grew in size at an alarming rate. “OK you guys, get ready to man your stations.
Don't panic or fluster; just be cool and snappy, and we will be fine.”
“I'm sure all the sailors back there are a lot more nervous than you are at the moment,”
chirped Gavin. We all burst out laughing, obviously under a lot of strain.
“OK, we've got about twenty knots of wind on our port beam; by the looks of those cliffs
from the surrounding mountains we'll probably have powerful downdrafts from the Venturi
effect of the wind coming down those slopes and from different directions. Don't get too
alarmed when that happens; we'll just heel over quite a lot.” I tried to sound relaxed. I was
very nervous. “We have to sail through that fleet somehow and then come about upwind
and end up on that dock over to the left of us,” I said, pointing out the small wooden dock
almost at the extreme west of the little L-shaped harbor.
We were almost at the first boat now, and we saw people appearing above decks. Obvi-
ously, word had been received that a sailboat was coming in under sail alone, and boat
owners were getting nervous. The harbor had quite a lot of boats swinging around at anchor
in the freshening southerly wind. It was the busy season; a lot of boats were heading south
to various islands and “hurricane holes.” They were all stocking up at this last commercial
outpost. There was barely sufficient sea room to weave our way about. We would have to
be pretty nifty in our maneuvers. I took a deep breath.
The first boat was passed astern; there appeared to be nobody on-board. We were bearing
down on the left bank of the harbor; it was time to come about. Just then I heard someone
yell out, “Use your bloody engine, show-off asshole!” Obviously, he did not know of our
plight.
I ignored his advice and said to Gavin and Penny, “Get ready to come about.” I waited until
we were well past this first boat and almost up to the bank and then turned the helm smartly
up. Déjà vu responded quickly. She had a long, straight keel, but just below her mast the
keel forefoot was cut away, which gave her great turning speed and maneuverability. We
were now on the starboard tack, cutting across the bows of two or three smart looking boats
straining at their anchors downwind of the strong southerly buster.
There was a man and a woman leaning into the wind on the foredeck of the largest one.
They waved in a friendly gesture. We waved back in turn, I secretly blessed them; they ob-
viously understood. Once past them, I eased the sheets and put us back on a broad reach on
