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The Guadeloupe Report:

The Guadeloupe Report:

French Caribbean, plus Musical Boats

Bonjour! Welcome to I’dRatherBeSailing. Orca attacks are on the rise, and submarines are disappearing. It’s been a weird week in Water World.

In today’s letter we have for you:

Sea Bass: Musicians go sailing.
The Guadeloupe Report: Part Un (or Une?)
Race Updates: TOR crash, Orca attack, Sail GP winner.
Best Links: Orca explanation, plus Capt. Ron goes surfing.

The Guadeloupe Report: Part I

“Excuse me”,

Said the lady on the dock, in a very thick french accent,

“Do you need some food?”

I was a little taken aback. Did she think we were dock bums? Well, maybe we did look a little like dock bums. Sometimes the difference between a cruiser and a dock bum is an expensive pair of sunglasses.

But we did, in fact, need food. All of our carefully laid sailing plans had overlooked one tiny detail we didn’t even know to check for.

Today was a Bank Holiday.

In France, that means everything is closed. Since we were in Guadeloupe, which is a French territory, everything here was closed too. Nothing was open.

We had arrived on the one day when not a single Marche, Patisserie, Boulongerie, or anything-erie was open. So that left us two options:

Option 1: Set sail today, starve for a day, and provision tomorrow at another anchorage.

Option 2: Spend the day in port till the stores opened the next day, and spend a day not sailing.

Obviously, Option 2 would not do. So starvation was the plan. Untill, that is, our guardian dock angel appeared, and invited us to help ourselves to her galley full of leftover provisions, which she no longer needed, since it was the last day of her charter.

Day 1 was off to a good start. We now had enough food to last a few days, and a box of Rhum to last a whole week. An hour later we slipped lines, chugging with a vengeance towards the first channel marker, and the crystal clear anchorages that teased us from the Raymarine.

Over the next few newsletters we’ll give a report on the cruising grounds, anchorages, and sailing conditions we encountered. If you salty readers want, we’ll drop a cruising guide of our top spots.

Stay Tuned!

Race Updates

SailGP: The next leg of the race took place this past weekend in Chicago at the Navy Pier, with the New Zealand team taking the overall lead in a race plagued with light airs. Watch the official recap here.

The Ocean Race: Collision between 11th Hour Racing and Team GUYOT. No injuries, both boats returned to harbor. Watch the replay of the incident here.

And, Team JAJO and Mirpuri Trifork Racing both had Orca encounters. Watch video of the incident here. The Orca briefly messed with the rudders before losing interest. To be fair, messing with sharp carbon fiber foils and rudders doesn’t seem like that much fun.

Rhythm & Sails

Who needs musical chairs when you can play musical flotilla? This group of musicians chartered a bunch of cats, brought their instruments, and rocked around the Grenadines while jamming out. The event was strummed up by musicians Ashley Hart, Damian Quigley, and Anders Beck.

Hart, who grew up sailing in the Caribbean said “I’ve been sailing through Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for decades. During one trip we spent hours playing music, connecting and laughing with friends in Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau and there was a moment where I realized this is what I wanted to do for years to come – to bring incredible people and musicians together in this utopia.”

The group chartered out of The Moorings base in Grenada, then hopped up to Mayreau and the Tobago Cays and back, playing daily sets from bimini to beaches to bars. Then at night, a rotating boat would host the late night sessions.

Best Links

Orca Explanation: This creator breaks down some of the more plausible theories behind the current Orca attacks, including: revenge, playing, or just a fad. No one knows exactly why they’re attacking sailboats, but one Orca seems to be the ringleader. To date, they’ve never hurt a human. See the Tiktok here.

Yawl must be kidding: video of some mad captains surfing a two masted sailboat down what appear to be overhead waves, in Hawaii. They’re either experts or idiots. Check it out here.

Electric Sails: Hurtigruten, the Norwegian adventure cruise line, unveiled plans for a zero emission cruise ship set to launch in 2030, that uses a hybrid of port charged batteries, solar, and solar-charging wind sails. Read about it, and see the design here.

Whale that’s Crazy: 8 Danes rescued after their ship collides with a Whale, read it here.

That’s all for this week, we’ll ketch ya’ later!