Linda from Ohio

Yeah...Everyone thinks the Caribbean is great. I just got back from a delivery job. First, the fuel and water tanks were contaminated. The engine stopped and responded to filter change and bleeding only the first time; after that we were on sails only. Not so bad? Only the main blew out followed shortly by the genoa halyard snapping. I nearly died; for real, we were about 15 hours from the rocks. Fortunately the cold front produced such strong winds that we made it to Colon, Panama, on bare poles.

Between June and December the danger is hurricanes and afterwards the problem is the cold front that come down from the states. The fact is that cold and wet is cold and wet anywhere.

As to my time "before the mast" yeah, I'm English (please don't hold that against me.)