Catamarans

10/25 1200 position 13-32N 61-12W.  Underway for St. Lucia

Last night we dinghied in to Coco's Place, a waterfront restaurant in town.  We all enjoyed fresh mahi and Hairoun.  A good time was had by all. 

Today's passage from Bequia to St. Lucia is our longest yet, fifty miles.  We got an early start at 7AM since we have a long way to go, and were only delayed a few minutes by a starting problem with the starboard engine.  This is the second time it's happened.  We also couldn't get it started leaving Grenada.  It was cranking slowly and we suspected it was a weak battery.  We moved the generator battery from the forward lazarette to the starboard engine compartment, jump started the engine, and we were off.  Both times the failure to start occurred after the engine sat idle for more than a day.  I am thinking that there may be some kind of slow current drain that is discharging the battery when it doesn't get charged daily.   We'll keep working on it.

The wind was just a bit too far aft and too light to sail in the channel between Bequia and St. Vincent this morning.  We knew we'd be powering through the lee of St. Vincent anyway, so we left the engines on until we cleared St. Vincent and hardened up twenty degrees to head for St. Lucia.  The closer angle to the wind allowed us to sail, so we shut the engines down and are romping across the channel at eight knots in flat seas and ten knots of breeze.

The weather is absolutely perfect.  The air temperature is in the mid eighties, water temperature a couple of degrees higher.  The skies are clear with a few cumulus clouds and visibility is forty miles.  There are a parade of sailboats headed both north and south. We just blew by a slightly smaller and apparently less efficient catamaran.  Embarrassing.

I am starting to get comfortable aboard a catamaran now.  At first the lack of heeling and rolling was disconcerting.  On a monohull we roll with every wave and heel with every gust.  It is pretty nice though to always have a level boat.  Drinks don't spill.  You don't go sliding across the deck.  I'm also getting used to the slightly jerky bouncing motion as each hull reacts independently to the waves and fights with the other hull to control Arabella's motion. 

The real attraction of the catamaran though is the massive single level living area in the cabin that opens onto the gigantic open air covered lanai aft of the cabin.  There is lots of room to spread out and get comfortable.  I am typing this on the table in the cabin.  It is cool with the hatches open and air circulating.  Lori Lloyd is napping on the bench next to the table that seats ten out on the lanai, the hard top protecting her from the sun.  Andy is on watch at the covered raised helm station, and he is chatting with Patty who is sitting next to him.  There is room for all four of us on the bench seat behind the helm.

Yes, I think I could definitely get used to the dark side of the force.

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