August 15-19, 2001 -- Tropical Storm Chantel

Today, we focused on getting the boat back in shape. There is a tropical wave to the east of us that shows promise of forming up. We did this as a precaution in case we need to run for either Trinidad or Margarita. We also reviewed possible hurricane holes where we could move the boat to provide us with additional protection in case the worst occurred. Of course, Grenada hasn't been hit by a hurricane in 55 years so insurance companies consider it a safe place to be. On August 16, the system formed up to close for us to run. We reviewed our options and decided to move the boat around to Clarks Court Bay. This bay offers 360 degree protection. We anchored the boat in a little cove on the western side of the bay since the weather forecasters were calling for 25-35 knots of wind out of the south southwest. Not really a lot of wind, since at times the trades blow 20 to 30 knots. After we anchored the boat, we continued monitoring the weather. The system started curving south! By evening, the system was approximately 60 nautical miles to the east northeast of us. Fortunately, at this point the mid level circulation fell apart and the system was reduced to a tropical wave again. On August 17, since the winds never swung, we relocated the boat to the east side of the bay. This got us off the lee shore we were anchored on for the predominate winds. After getting settled, we removed the NMEA multiplexer which seemed to be having problems. Then we took a look at the apparent transmission problem we were having. It appears to be a sticky valve or a clogged strainer. As we were doing tests though, the problem cleared up. On August 18, we considered moving back to Prickley Bay. However, after watching several boats bouncing along, we decided to give the seas one more day to quiet down. While it is only a 6 mile trip, the deepest water we would be moving in was about 50 feet. Shoal areas and large swells make for an uncomfortable trip! So, we spent the day relaxing and napping. Clarks Court Bay is right on the 'unsettled weather path' for Grenada. Approximately 4 or 5 times each night we would watch the squalls on radar hit Clarks Court, then move north of Prickley Bay and hit St. George's! This made for a fun night! On August 19, we moved the boat back to Prickley Bay. We had had enough of the squalls! It was still a lumpy trip, but it was preferable to spending another miserable night in Clarks Court. Just a little side note. This is the overview of what happened during the period that Tropical Storm Chantel threatened Grenada. We want you to understand though, that when we refer to monitoring the weather, we had our ears glued to the Single Side Band every 6 hours for up to 3 hours at a time in order to get all of the information we could. This is an exhausting process. We have a mini-cassette recorder that we use to record the information because, by the end of day two, we were running on about 2 to 3 hours of unbroken sleep, maximum! Watching the weather is one of the single most difficult things you can do, especially when you are simply waiting for it to hit. This incident would help us to redefine our hurricane plan and to dictate our future actions