To close out the new year and celebrate my wife's 50th and her recent captain's license, we chartered a sailboat to sail around Antigua. We had been to Antigua two years ago and were looking forward to being back on the island. Patrick from Windsurf Antigua delivered a nice 116l Starboard and 6.9m and 5.4m sails for us to rent.
We sailed the catamaran up to the windward side of the island and had a two night visit planned at Green Island close to the mouth of Nonsuch Bay. There the waves coming in from the Atlantic break on the reefs, and the trade winds are steady. The spot is really quite idyllic, with other sailboats moored nearby and a few mega yachts downwind in the deeper water.
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| Green Island Antigua windsurf session |
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| An idyllic spot |
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| Blasting |
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| Smiling |
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| Waving! |
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| Sailed until dark |
The next day my son had an introductory kite lesson scheduled and I had some rental kite gear arranged through 40 Knots Kiteboarding. After more rain in the morning the trades picked up again, just in time for our kite sessions. The wind was just 14 knots, so I moved from the 14m to 18m kite and had a good time going back and forth and keeping upwind decently. Phillip also did well, getting going regularly in both directions and scoring a jump. The team at 40 Knots run a great operation.
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| Got going right away... |
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| Sliding downwind a bit |
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| Bigger kite now - 19m |
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| Phillip heading out |
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| Phillip flying the kit from the boat |
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| Control! |
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| More control! |
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| Dad having fun. |
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| I think Mom caught the other beginner.. |
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| Phillip coming back from his kite lesson / session |
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| My windsurf gear ready to go on deck! |
Later that afternoon (new years eve) and the next morning (new years morning) I had some light wind freestyle runs but the wind never picked up again.
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| Freestyle Dad! |
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| Happy kids |
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| Instagram that! |
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| First session of 2018! |
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| Not enough wind but fun anyway |
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| Chilling on deck. |
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| Leaving Nonsuch Bay - I want to go back someday! |
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| The crew! |
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| Superyachts in Falmouth Harbour |
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| Anchored! |
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| Seadream |
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| 5 Spiesses having breakfast on Jen's 50th |
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| Sleepy kitty on a beginner board at AYC. |
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| Looking out for turtles |
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| Turtle! |
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| Dive! |
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| Another sunset. |
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| Morning hike |
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| Up at Fort Barrington |
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| Our anchorage in Deep Bay looking down from Fort Barrington |
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| Sweet Chill |
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| Snorkelling the wreck |
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| Another good way to see Antigua - Adventure Antigua tours |
The real highlight of those days was spending new years with my wife and kids together. The photos above share some of the fun. The wind and kite surfing was just the icing on the cake!
Amazingly the day after we left the +29c weather I was up north near our cottage on a snowmobile at -29c. Quite the weather change!
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| Leaving cold Toronto |
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| Arriving in Antigua +29c |
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| Back in Toronto -29c |
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