As they were leaving Montserrat the yacht’s captain received an extreme weather warning from the local coastguard. He searched for confirmation and conveyed his alert to Khan and Olympia.
“The news is limited, but I am hearing that the floods are due to uplifts of humid and unstable air produced jointly by a south-easterly flow on the Atlantic side and a south-westerly flow on the Caribbean side, linked to an area of low pressure deepening south of Hispaniola. The island of Saint Lucia is experiencing massive flooding after a period of intense rain since Saturday.” said the Captain. “For the present, at least, we should not progress as planned, because it is highly likely that the unstable weather will affect the whole chain of islands.” he continued and pointed to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadaloupe as the best place to wait out the weather.
“The Route du Rhum started today from St Malo in France and that means an armada of 138 solo skippers racing to the island right now!” Both Khan and Lymp looked blankly at the Captain, who was appalled at their lack of knowledge of maritime races. It is the most famous cross Atlantic race in the world, so he tutted loudly and quickly found news items to show them online:
https://www.sailingworld.com/racing/route-du-rhum-rescheduled-start/
https://www.yachtingworld.com/races/how-to-follow-the-route-du-rhum-2022-141255
“Generally, the first craft arrive in Guadaloupe on the 7th day of the race.” explained the Captain, “so we could hang out in safe harbour, to take part in the party, if you want! It is usually an epic week-long event.” It was clear that the Captain and probably the whole crew were keen to be there.
“Fair enough!” laughed Olympia and patted the Captain’s shoulder. “Cinderella shall go to the ball!” To which he almost screwed up his charts as he ran to tell his crew the good news.
They had plenty of time to skirt and visit the 12 islands which comprise the Guadaloupe archipelago before they moored in Pointe-à-Pitre safe from the weather and in place for the exciting race termination party. The crew were abuzz constantly checking for updates from the dedicated race You Tube channel and Yachting World online.
Olympia checked a report from Lonely Planet and was distinctly unimpressed. It said “Pointe-à-Pitre is a fairly uninviting place – a graffiti-sprayed concrete jungle of art-deco and socialist-style architecture, decaying traditional houses and terrible traffic – but it's the main town on Grande-Terre and, due to its central location between Guadeloupe's two biggest islands, it serves as the de facto capital. It's well worth getting off the beach for half a day to visit, if only to see the superb Mémorial ACTe, a world-class museum dedicated to the history of slavery and colonialism. The first of its kind in the world, Mémorial ACTe has quickly become the closest Guadeloupe has to a national museum and it's an absolute must-see for anyone interested in the history and culture of these islands.” She also observed a note “Pointe-à-Pitre is a ghost town on Sunday, on national holidays and after dark, and is best avoided at these times.”
Local weather reports were calm for now, but given the risk of imminent inclement weather from St Lucia, the marina, tucked between two major landmasses, certainly looked like the best place to moor for a few days, even if it was close to one of the busiest container ports in the entire Caribbean, with a local population of at least 250,000 people living in or near the city.
Khan was more interested in viewing some of the smaller islands, the wildlife and the beaches. As usual, he found a film for Olympia about the history, culture and economics, especially the creole food, music and the famous rum made from sugar cane.
At sundown on that epic day, the crew broke out the local rum and created some unusual cocktails served with a fantastic traditional creole buffet. Then they all danced until dawn to the local music…. as you do!
Chapter 1 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-daily-grind-of-lymp-duhdashyan
Chapter 2 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashyan-at-the-spa
Chapter 3 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashian-kerching
Chapter 4 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashian-disappears
Chapter 5 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashians-reality-shock
Chapter 6 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-olympians
Chapter 7 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashians-education
Chapter 8 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-goes-down-the-rabbit-hole
Chapter 9 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/all-the-world-is-a-mine
Chapter 10 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-olympian-population-reduction
Chapter 11 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/awol-in-the-caribbean
Chapter 12 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/frying-big-fish-in-the-caribbean
Chapter 13 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/why-look-at-grey-when-you-can-choose
and here is Chapter 15 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/khan-kilkennys-brain-itch
Enjoyed the videos, especially about the Irish history.