Position: 2100 LT at anchor, Basse Terre, St Christopher
Date:Wednesday 11th Januari 2012

Sailing at its best

The Stad Amsterdam only needed one night of sailing to get from Saint Martin to Saint Eustatius, it is not far after all. We spend yesterday at anchor there, giving our travel weary guest the opportunity to adjust after their flights. A stroll to Fort Oranje, some swimming next to the ship, reading in a deckchair or snorkeling along the old city wall seemed to do it for the first day on board.

This morning we pulled up the anchor, floated a little till the bow pointed in the right direction and then set the sails to be on our way. Our destination was Saint Christopher, but to sail this stretch without a detour would be too easy and too short, so we first headed west towards Saba, then we tacked to starboard to sail close to the wind heading north.
After a couple of hours sailing on the other tack we were close enough to the wind to pass Saint Eustatius on the north side and to slide along the south side of Saint Christopher, making use of the cool air gliding of from the volcano. The GPS showed over 11 knots, which didn’t leave our guests unmoved….nor the crew, by the way. It is impossible to get so used to this for it to get boring. An brilliant day of sailing.

Richard Slootweg
Captain Clipper Stad Amsterdam