Location: Ile Fourchue, St. Barth
This morning, we raised anchor by hand and sailed out of the port of Gustavia. Natty was at the helm and did a great job ducking Victoria of Stratton and then beating to windward in order to clear the isolated danger mark and get us out into open water. While hand ratcheting the anchor up, two links of chains jammed in the hawsepipe. We attached a spare halyard and, with a hammer, worked it free. It was John’s expert touch that finessed the jam-free. The wind was ripping at 25kts, and the seas were big. We beam reached cruising along when about halfway there, Luke took the helm to guide us in. We decided to head towards the windwardmost mooring and proceeded to tack our way up the little bay. After six tacks, we reached the ball when, while furling the jib, it backwinded and threw us off our mark. Luke responded by ordering the sail across, but not before we were on top of another mooring ball. We narrowly escaped entanglement and began tacking back towards our mark. This time, we hooked it with ease. After securing the boat and dropping the main, we debriefed and slapped fives. A morning OCE class was followed by an afternoon dive, windsurfing, and the Rescue Exam. Dinner was bangers and mash, and then a Comm class ended the day. Good day.