3rd Attempt (successful) to Exit the Inlet (7th voyage)

Peter J MacWilliam

We set out shortly after low tide so that we could go out with the tide. The tidal current is very strong in the channel and I found out during the last attempt that my electric outboard battery will not take me far enough against the tide. When we set out, the wind was blowing north out of the inlet. This is unusual. The wind is usually coming from the south blowing into the inlet. So, we sailed while we could, going with the wind and the tide. Eventually the wind abruptly shifted to blowing into the inlet as normal so we took down the sails and used the electric outboard to head out of the inlet. The channel is very narrow and you have to pay close attention to the channel markers as you go, or you will run aground. We arrived at the mouth of the inlet. There was lots of swell. The North Atlantic was not far off. At this point, we had almost completely drained the battery so we turned around and headed back with the wind. Now we had to rely on the wind to get us back against the tide. Unfortunately, the moment we turned around, the wind dropped dramatically and it was slow going. We were almost immobile though the sails were full just not enough to against the tide. After an hour of being basically motionless, I called for assistance. While I was texting we failed to pay attention to the channel markers and ran into a sand bar. I pulled up the Centre board and was able to get us back on track. Bizarrely, just after this, the wind picked up and we were underway and not really in need of assistance any more. Alas, by this time assistance was already on the way. He did tow us little ways but the wind was quite adequate so that he was able to let us go on our own and we got back into the inlet with no problem. One complicating factor was that when I pulled up the centre board it became stuck in the "up" position due the barnacles that had collected on it and on the inside of the slot in the half keel that it recedes into. We were going with the wind most of the way back and we also found that when the wind was abeam for a short time it did not slide very much on account of the half keel. You can see from the pictures I posted that I cleaned the barnacles off the hull and the centre board quite effectively. We travelled quite far up the inlet and you see from the pics I posted that we were pretty much abreast of Martinique beach. It was a great success in all.