EPILOGUE
So, my sailing trip got terminated early. I suspected that it might happen, mainly because of my unseaworthiness, and had a Plan B. My destination was Europe regardless of the transportation means with the final stop in Bulgaria. It did not matter how soon or late I would get there or by what route. The idea was to make that route an exciting adventure as much as possible and stay in one piece along the way. Although I did not get to Europe by boat, the time spent on board of the catamaran Eli Di did not lack in the excitement department.
It all began when I responded to a Facebook post that crews were needed to reposition 2 boats from the Caribbean to Gibraltar. Crew members were required to pay for the passage €500 per two weeks plus ongoing expenses like food, fuel, etc. A number of people wanted to sign up but in the end, due to COVID travel restrictions, only a handful was able to make it to the starting point. My readers contacted me with messages that they planned to be there too and could not buy tickets or something else prevented them from going.
The catamaran crew consisted of 4 members, all of us are ethnic Russians. Skipper Konstantin, originally from Sevastopol, Crimea, moved to the Canary Islands 10 years ago. Dmitry was also from Sevastopol; Anna from St. Petersburg, Russia, and me too, but I left it 30 years ago and live permanently in Colorado, USA. Although the men and women of the crew came from the same places we did not know each other before. I was the only person with no boating experience whatsoever.
It might look reckless to embark on a serious trip with the people who you never met. I received comments that said it was a crazy or even stupid idea. A few years ago, I would agree with that. Something changed in me once I began traveling on a short notice, with no detailed plan and prebooked accommodation. It was scary at first, and then I felt free ‒ free to be on my own schedule, to make connections with people whom fate threw into my path and it was amazing!
Of course, a boat is an enclosed area where compatibility is a serious issue, especially when the boat is at sea with no contact with anyone else. As one inmate put it, “After a while, you began divide all people into two categories – the ones with whom you can share a cell and the others with whom you cannot.” Another example is Hell as it is envisioned by Jean-Paul Sartre in his play “No Exit” where three incompatible people (or rather their souls sent to Hell) are locked up together for eternity. Of course, one must make themselves compatible for such trips. I hope my presence on board was not a nuisance for the crew.
Both boats, the catamaran Elli Di and the monohull Grace, spent the winter of 2020-21 in Martinique. Having finished the repairs, Konstantin and Dmitry picked up Anna and me in Dominica. From there, we sailed to Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, and Saint Martin. It was wonderful to visit these islands and to swim in the warm Caribbean waters when this area was largely not accessible to tourists due to the pandemic. The entire trip is covered in my blog posts, here is the first of them.
When we reached Saint Martin, Anna and I decided not to go farther. I had more than one reason for that: rocking in the Atlantic was going to be a lot worse; unlike in the Caribbean, the weather would be cold and it would not be possible to sit in the cockpit to get fresh air; the leaks and screeching in my cabin did not make it a cozy place to hide away; the cabin would be damp most of the time; there was little to do at sea to keep oneself occupied, the food would be boring and limited; the organizational skills of skipper left much to be desired, and I was not sure that I could trust him with my life. All in all, the only benefit of doing the crossing in such conditions was that I would have something to brag about for the rest of my life provided that I survived it but the risks and hardship outweighed this benefit.
Anna, an experienced seafarer, dreamed about the Atlantic crossing for years. For her, it was a far more difficult decision than for me. Her reasons for not going were basically the same as mine.
The other yacht Grace initially had two people on board: skipper Valentin who is Konstantin’s son and a crew member Alyona. In Saint Martin, they were joined by two more people, Vladimir and Dmitry, who flew in from Moscow. The new people spent only 4 days on the yacht before leaving her. They were asked to help with the crossing and assumed that the sailing for them would be free except for the ongoing costs. When they arrived, Vladimir and Dmitry learned that they had to pay the same way as the catamaran crew and they refused to do so.
The day after I flew to Paris, Anna, Vladimir and Dmitry were told to vacate their cabins and to move to a hotel. The guys left Saint Martin 3 days later and returned to Russia. This means that they had an unplanned one-week vacation at their own expense. Anna stayed in Saint Martin a little longer before she also went to Europe.
Contrary to Konstantin’s assurances, the catamaran did not sail right after Anna and I were gone. According to his Facebook posts, they left in 3 days on May, 2nd and safely reached the Azores on May, 26th which was a good time.
The Grace with Valentin and Alyona left Saint Martin one week later and got to the Azores on May, 27th.
Considering that Konstantin spent thousands of dollars of preparing both yachts for this crossing ‒ a new catamaran engine, new sails and so on ‒ this enterprise looked like a financial disaster from a business point of view. I am not sure if Alyona paid for her presence on board given her status there. It is quite possible that Dmitry on the catamaran was the only paying crew member. If it is the case, his payments did not cover all expenses, let alone making any profit from the trip. It is not surprising that Konstantin recently put his monohull yacht up for sale.
Now, the main question is if these 2 weeks in the Caribbean were worth my time and money. Yes, absolutely! The world of yachting was a totally new environment for me. My time on the catamaran was enough just to scratch the surface of that fascinating world. A few of my misconceptions got debunked. One of them that the sea folk are loners could not be farther from the truth. They are family people who choose to spend their lives at sea.
The other thing was that I realized how starved I was for raw feelings and emotions. I got used to controlled words and actions so much that I forgot how it is to be natural. One reader commented on my Facebook copy of a blog post that it is filled with human interactions to the point that it is like the TV series Santa Barbara. Perhaps so, however my blog is an honest account of what was happening. Sightseeing is always on my mind but it is people who make a trip interesting and worth taking.
Now, when I see a yacht gliding past I can say that I know something about the life on board.
Great, thanks a lot for sharing this exciting story! I guess we are all hungry for raw emotions after 500 days of lockdowns and restrictions. However, some emotions are better than others, and I hope that in the end the balance for you was a positive one:)