One compromise we made by choosing a catamaran over a monohull for our boat life was “comfort over speed.” We have great stability with two hulls, and more area to live, but the angles at which we sail means that we will never get directly to our destination as quickly as we would on a monohull. Especially if that destination happens to be up wind from our current location.
5 days ago, leaving Saba to sail to Marie Galante in Guadeloupe, we found that our final destination was directly into the wind, the current, and 1.5m swell, which meant that instead of sailing directly there, we had to tack back and forth. It also meant the speed of the boat was not always relevant to how quickly we would arrive. Before reaching Riviere-Sans in Basse-Terre Guadeloupe (the larger wing of the butterfly that comprises the main island of Guadeloupe), we were still 25 nautical miles away from Marie-Galante island (our intended destination). We were doing 7 knots of boat speed per hour. If we were able to go directly towards our destination, we would arrive in about 3 hours and 15 min. Although we were sailing quite fast, because we were cutting back and forth, we were only making 2.5 knots of progress toward our final destination per hour. When we did the math, instead of arriving in just over 3 hours it would now take 10 hours, putting us in around 3am.
I never used to think of “Velocity Made Good”, even though it affects everyone who is trying to reach a destination. Most of us cannot point directly at the place we want to go, and then get there in a straight line. We take freeways, go around blocks, stop at lights. We take airplanes to different airports, then taxis, subways, buses in the direction that we want to go, until we get there. You might be flying at 550 miles per hour, but that doesn’t mean you go from your house to your aunt’s house at 550 miles per hour on average.
On the boat, although we have the wide-open ocean to sail through, we usually cannot point our bow at the heading we want and get there straight off. We tune our sails, and re-tune them and watch the wind as it changes throughout the day. We are blown off course by squalls, pushed off course by currents and confounded by changing wind. On top of those dimensions there is the surface of the ocean. For a small boat like ours, large swell and/or close waves slows our speed a lot.
So, what do we do? The answer is that we do our best. For Paul, this can be especially frustrating. When he has a destination he wants to reach, he sets his heart to it. He reefs the sails; he lets the reefs out. He tunes and re-tunes and re-tunes. He turns on one engine to help counteract the current. Then both engines, to help us actually get some extra propulsion forward.
On this last leg of the crossing towards Marie Galante, we couldn’t make our VMG any better than 2.5kts. I said to Paul, why don’t we just go somewhere else then? 25 miles at our current rate would put us in a foreign harbor in the middle of the night. And, the ride was punishing. I had already hit my head pretty hard on the boat, all of our belongings had come un-stowed and were roaming freely and loudly in the lower cabins. I had even been taping up drawers, the fridge, cabinets, anything that was working its was loose under such extreme bouncing. We made our own good velocity by choosing a destination that was helped by our elements, not against.
We spent a lovely night at anchor in Riviere-Sans next to a black sand beach where families spent the sunset playing in gentle waves. We cooked a dinner that wasn’t splashing us with boiling water. We both went to bed (at the same time) and slept soundly the entire night, instead of trading watches back and forth and functioning on caffeine and adrenaline. And in the morning, we chose a half way destination to Marie-Galante that was manageable and magical (more about Fort Josephine’s wild cats in future updates). And another day after that, we finally made it to Marie Galante, a gorgeous hidden gem.
An old sailing motto is “you can’t change the wind, but you can adjust your sails to reach your destination.” Paul likes this quote and tries to apply it to his daily life, but he’ll be the first to forget (and then remember) that it’s also about the ability to choose and change your destination based on what conditions you’ve been dealt. Again, we found it was the journey and not only the destination.
TIBURON MARINO 