EVEN PARADISE CAN TURN UGLY .

Two significant events took place during our visit to the island of Mustique .

Firstly , after having been in existence for 40 years we were able to attend Basil's Bar's final “ Jump Up “ session for which he is famous for which basically amounts to a fine buffet and live music played at his famous old venue over the water down on the beach . This marked the end of an era and although they are going to build a new venue his staff and the locals say it will never be the real deal Basil's again .

Secondly , the second event wasn't half as pleasant . After having been ashore all day trying to find Mick Jagger to hand him my autograph (joke) it was late afternoon and we were back on the boat enjoying a cold beer and taking in the view . Just after sunset l noticed a light breeze had filled in from the west which l thought was quite odd for the Caribbean where the easterly trades blow day in and day out . Two hours later the light breeze was now a stiff breeze and we had a sizable swell rolling into the anchorage effectively creating a dangerous lee shore which was not too far behind us .

Standing on our bowsprit and surveying the surrounding fleet of yachts pitching wildly on their mooring buoys things were getting out of hand . The problem with being moored to a buoy in shallow water is that the swell was fairly steep and with relatively short lines to the buoy , when the boats rise on the swell the heavy mooring gear wrenches the bow down and buries it into the trough of the following wave . At times l was towering above the water and then the next thing l was ankle deep in water . To prevent our bowsprit from coming down and slamming into the large float on the mooring buoy l eased our port and starboard bowlines to create enough room for our bowsprit to plunge between the V formed between the two lines leading from either side . This worked perfectly while the boat lay square to the buoy but now with the increased swell size whenever we were at an angle to the buoy our bowsprit would duck beneath a bowline and pick up the line on the following vertical rise on the next swell . On the end of our bowsprit we have a meaty cap fitting which has two large loops welded on either side which is where we attach the tack gear for our gennaker . They are almost vertically orientated so once the bowlines were snagged that is it . To save the day the trick was to wait for the bow to plunge and then quickly lift and drop the bowlines .

The problem with our bowlines getting fouled on our bowsprit is that when our heavily ladened 13 ton boat rose on the next wave the lines now being vertical from the water to the end of our bowsprit would impose huge loads on the sprit and the forestay which effectively supports the bowsprit when it is being yanked downward .

I spent the next ten minutes on the end of our bowsprit rigging a line on our pulpit to prevent the bowlines from fouling these large loops . Since this evening l have a new respect for rodeo riders on the backs of bucking broncos as that is how it felt on the end of our bowsprit .

All the while l had noticed that there was a lot of activity going on at the dock where the big inter-island ferry was tied stern-to the concrete with her anchor set keeping her off the dock . The captain had decided that he was risking the ship by being attached to the dock and his crew were working feverishly getting her ready to sail . They finally dropped their stern lines , hauled in their anchor and steamed out into the bay where they sat all night on anchor . A couple of yachts that were anchored near the entrance channel got a little frantic when they saw the ferry leaving the dock and there were plenty of torches being flashed to attract attention to their positions .

By far the worst situation that was taking place was a yacht that had broken its mooring chain and was drifting towards the reef . Earlier that day we had met the owners who are fellow OCC members and they own a beautiful new Oyster 48 . With the continuous pitching on the buoy the chain snapped below the float putting them adrift towards the reef until they finally went aground . It was really distressing to see them in this situation but very fortunately after putting out a May-Day call on their radio the resident Mustique Coast Guard launch went to their rescue . After what seemed like ages they managed to secure a line to their halyard ( effectively the top of their mast ) and between the two boats they managed to free her from the reef after heeling her to reduce her draft . We felt a huge sense of relief but l cannot imagine how they must have felt once they were back into deep water . Apparently they suffered some damage to their keel and prop but nothing too severe that prevented them from sailing off the next morning .

Chatting to the Harbourmaster the next morning , he claimed that in all his years of working on the island he had never seen conditions as severe as what had taken place the night before . There were many people who were ashore at the time visiting Basil's Bar and when they returned to the dinghy dock there were scenes of chaos as they tried to clamber onto their tenders while they were being tossed about like paper cups . He mentioned some poor fellow who when he stepped into his dinghy it dropped beneath him and he landed on his face on the dinghy floor . At lunch the same day we met a local guy who's powerboat had climbed up over the police launch and he was forced to rescue his boat and motor around until they could find him a mooring for the night . He also confirmed what the Harbourmaster had said in that over the eight years that he had worked on the island he had never seen anything close to the conditions we had experienced.

Apart from damaging a muscle in my arm from having had the bowlines ripped out of my hands ,we suffered no damage at all and we are grateful .

So while l sit here nursing my painful arm , isn't it strange that after all these years of reading cruising articles and checking out the exotic pics you never seem to hear much about the ugly side of paradise .