A number of years ago, Russ and I were invited (along with 20 others) to attend a production of By Jeeves at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT. We enjoyed the zany musical so much that we bought the CD. One of the songs is entitled Travel Hopefully and I’ve altered it slightly to Sail Hopefully.

One person who’s got the word “sail” as part of her name is Patti of s/v Lutra. Patti, if you read this please be only tickled that you set the bar so high for the rest of us “sailors”.

S/V Lutra and crew heading into Nassau Harbor

Since our first meeting and tossing of food stuffs back in North Carolina, I’ve had many opps to photograph Patti as she sails through, in and around anchorages in the Bahamas.

Otter plays with cat bird- guess who was not under sail?

Friends of hers in GT exchanged these words that I confess to overhearing: “Is she sailing?” Reply, “What do you think?” Of course I snapped a few shots of that maneuver through the anchorage.

S/V Lutra leaves Monument Beach anchorage … for another close to a beach spot.

Early on Lutra was anchored close in off Volleyball Beach; the dogs need to be rowed to shore remember.

Row, row, row those doggies.

After we’d been anchored at Monument Beach about a day, who comes in and drops the hook in a sweet spot near shore?  Perfect timing. Frank and Cort were already visiting us and when I invited Patti to join us, she immediately agreed. Wish I was more like that. This was Cathy’s third night and her second one filled with impromptu cruiser get-togethers. We all told our various stories and we got to hear why Patti chose us for the egg request; proximity, passing and provisioned!

So Patti, here’s to you and may you sail on hopefully for years to come!

We love a calm sail, anywhere in the 60 – 120 degree zone is fine and boy we sure nailed one for the 7 hour trip to Thompson Bay, Long Island. We exited Elizabeth Harbor via the south “cut” which is wide enough to be relatively benign and noticed several boats ahead of us and a blue-hulled Nordic Tug behind- yep was Northstar headed for Conception Island. So far this was a one engine motor trip, but when the wind got up to 7kts we raised the main, unfurled the jib and before long were enjoying the ideal sail.  About this same time we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and officially entered the Tropics! No wonder the temp gauge reached 85!   For a while we slid along at 5kts in water calm enough to easily see bottom in 12-15ft.

We notice sails behind us which turn into being a catamaran which turns out to be Déjà Vu.

Sailing slowly, Deja Vu catches up.

Before I realized who it was, the camera was out and I was poised to hail the boat. Why?  For that elusive photo of us under sail and what a great opportunity; a beautiful, calm, sunny day in the tropics!  Now that we KNEW the boat I was all smiles as I hailed them; Helen answered and said we’d inspired them to get that minor engine repair done and head to Long Island.

We are probably doing about 3kts now.

We took pictures of each other and of course by the time they caught up, the wind died down and soon after we resorted to motor-sailing.

By 3pm we’d dropped the Rocna in Thompson Bay which is a large anchorage on Long Island’s western shore about mid-island and the place where most boats spend at least a few days. Russ enjoyed a kayak tour of the north section where we’d joined 6 other boats, mostly cats. Saturday we’d join Déjà Vu and Yvonne of Options III for a walk to the beach and some serious beach combing.

Long Island’s northernmost point is Cape Santa Maria, named for Christopher Columbus’ ship. The island is roughly 80 miles long and no wider than 4 miles. “The most beautiful island in the world”, according to Chris’s log book- but then again this was only his third New World stop. It is perhaps one of the most dramatic islands of The Bahamas in natural beauty, with bold headlands, towering cliffs along with rolling hills- not to mention miles and miles of beaches. The prettiest sit on the west (banks) side. Those with the most to offer a beach comber sit on the east (ocean side) where the wind and waves move “you name it” on to shore in a never-ending refill of treasures. With a large population of 3,500 the island was/is fairly prosperous. The settlements are spread out, many with long stretches of “not much” in between.

Driftwood beach “art” at nearby mangrove flats

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