51. At World's End

I had an OK sail to Curacao. Somehow I didn’t really enjoy it, I hope it wasn’t my last. In the morning I saw s/v Ouma reefing sail and looking ready to go. I asked if they were going to Curacao, and they were. ‘I’ll follow you I shouted’, thinking this would make life much easier. However, twenty minutes later I was racing past them and they were following me.

Spanish Waters, Curacao

A huge rainstorm was also behind me. I used its winds to keep ahead of it, and then headed south a bit to let it past. I got one or two sprinkles, but nothing much. S/v Ouma disappeared behind a grey block of rain. I was doing about 7 knots and managed to keep ahead all the way, but all the time I could see this wall of rain a few hundred yards behind chasing me, so it was a fairly tense sail. S/v Ouma on the other hand, looked like they got sucked in and spent most of their day getting rained on.

Arriving in Spanish Waters with my main sail in tatters felt a bit like the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean, where Captain Sparrow arrives at Port Royal, climbing his mast as his boat sinks, eventually casually stepping off onto the dock. My boat’s got no sails, my dinghy’s only got one oar, and I’m down to my last $150.