CALENDA WHAT'S ON MY MIND Awh -7 6-9 7-11 9 11-14 12 - 19 13 16 15 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 - 30 26 31 31 11-17 11-20 13-16 18 21 21-24 22 23 - 24 24 - 28 24 - 30 27 - 30 28 - 31 30 30-31 DECEMBER 2009 FULL MOON Saba Day. Public holiday in Saba Gustav Wilmerding 19th Annual Memorial Challenge, BVI. West End Yacht Club (WEYC), Tortola, BVI, tel (284) 495-1002, ‘ax (284) 495-4184, mvh@surfovi.com, www.weyc.net St. Maarten Charter Yacht Exhibition. www.mybacaribbeanshow.com 48th Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting. www.antiguayachtshow.com National Heroes Day. Public holiday in Antigua & Barbuda Sir John Compton Memorial Trophy 2009, race from St. Lucia © Martinique and return. St. Lucia Yacht Club (SLYC), tel (758) 452-8350, secretary @stluciayachtclub.com, www.stluciayachtclub.com Chanukah National Day. Public holiday in St. Lucia Lionel Richie live at Pierre Aliker Stadium, Martinique. www.bienglace.com/LIONEL-RICHIE-EN-CONCERT-EN. html 16 - 24 - Nine Mornings Festival, St. Vincent & the Grenadines Kingdom Day. Public holiday in St. Maarten ARC Children’s Christmas Party, St. Lucia. SLYC Lionel Richie live at Baie-Mahault Stadium, Guadeloupe. www.bienglace.com/LIONEL-RICHIE-EN-CONCERT-EN. html Separation Day. Public holiday in Anguilla St. Lucia Yacht Club Fun Day. SLYC Winter Solstice Carols Afloat and Christmas Party, Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia. SLYC Christmas Day. Public holiday in many places Coupe de Nwel Regatta, Guadeloupe. gerard.csbf-guadeloupe@orange fr Boxing Day. Public holiday in many places FULL MOON. Festival Day, Public holiday in Montserrat Nelson’s Pursuit Race, Antigua. AYC. See ad on page 17. JANUARY 2010 New Year’s Day. Public holiday or “recovery day” in many places. Junkanoo parade in Abaco, Bahamas Public holiday in Cuba (Victory of Armed Forces Day), Haiti (Founding Fathers Day), St Kitts & Nevis (Carnival Day), St. Lucia and Grenada (Second New Year’s Day) St. Croix Christmas Festival Parades. www.shfestival.com Three Kings Day. Public holiday in many places World ARC 2010/11 starts in St. Lucia. www.worldcruising.com/worldarc2010 17th Annual Barbados Jazz Festival. www.barbadosjazzfestival.com St. Barts Music Festival. www.stbartsmusicfestival.org Carriacou Sailing Series. www.sailingcarriacou.com Martin Luther King Day. Public holiday in Puerto Rico and USVI Errol Barrow Day. Public holiday in Barbados St.Maarten-St.Martin Classic Yacht Regatta. www.ClassicRegatta.com St. Thomas USVI Blues Festival. http://stevesimonpresents.com Around Antigua Race. Antigua Yacht Club (AYC), tel/fax (268) 460-1799, yachtclub@candw.ag, www.antiguayachtclub.com Alst Spice Island Billfish Tournament, Grenada. www.sibtgrenada.com Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, Montego Bay. www.diramaicajazzandblues.com Antigua Superyacht Cup. AYC 27 - 10 Feb 15th Annual Mustique Blues Festival. www.basilsbar.com Bequia Mount Gay Music Fest. See ad on page 53. 29 -2 Feb Grenada Sailing Festival. See ad on page 12. FULL MOON Budget Marine Women’s Caribbean Championships, St. Maarten. www.smyc.com All information was correct to the best of our knowledge at the time this issue of Compass went to press — but plans change, so please contact event organizers directly for confirmation. If you would like a nautical or tourism event listed FREE in our monthly calendar, please send the name and date(s) of the event and the name and contact information of the organizing body to sally@caribbeancompass.com. FREE Caribbean Compass On-line FREE www.caribbeancompass.com Moorings by Jim Hutchinson “No,” I called to the catamaran. “You can't pick up that mooring.” “Because you will be right on top of me.” They were about to pick up a big red mooring ball about 30 metres ahead of us. That was all that was said. They saw that what I said was true (or didn’t want to be near me) and went elsewhere. If I anchor too close to a mooring for it to be used and someone picks it up anyway, and hits me, who is at fault? Is a person allowed to reserve a piece of unused anchor- age to the exclusion of others? If! fill a bay with moorings, do you have to pay me to be there? But there is more than meets the eye in this particular case. We've been anchored in this spot for some weeks. The mooring was put there yesterday — without a word. Thirty metres ahead may sound okay, presumably what they first thought. But the slack in the mooring plus the length of their bridle would put their bow five or ten metres behind where the ball is now, and their boat is 12 metres long. That would put them way too close, especially if they like running their engine — diesel exhaust. But another interesting aspect was seen when I snorkeled the mooring. The sand screw was about ten metres in front of our anchor, with its heavy chain laid out across the wind. The chain would have fouled our anchor if it had been laid out downwind. Whether the installers gave any thought to what would happen the first time a boat picked it up and pulled it straight is something to wonder. I could have been a good sport and moved, of course. But many of you will see that there is at least one matter of principle here. I told the mooring’s operator that I was there first, and nobody was going to occupy the mooring until I left. And I stayed as long as I wanted. The mooring in question is one of many rental moorings in the bay. There are also many private moorings. Some yachts have moorings in several bays. And I some- times leave our dinghy on a mooring when I do a daysail. There are other excuses for moorings, too. There are places where moorings are mandatory for alleged environmental reasons. One island owned by the super-rich declared all of its surrounding waters ecologi- cally sensitive and prohibits all anchoring — and installed mandatory moorings with big fees in a sand-bottom bay that has been an anchorage for centuries. As environ- mentally chic as that may sound, this same island has been caught dumping its trash in the sea. There are now so many yachts, and so many captains that know or care little where their anchors fall, that there is a good case for protecting corals, grass, and sponges from us. Sigh. Here’s another problem with moorings. In general, I don’t trust them. I've had a high rate of failure on the few I’ve picked up, and I’ve read and heard many mooring horror stories over the years. Even diving a mooring isn’t a guarantee. Backing up a mooring with your own anchor is sometimes a good idea. How do you know? Ask the guy wanting to rent the mooring to you? (Or, sometimes, the next guy collecting on the same mooring?) The real and irresistible inevitability of moorings is convenience. The argument that they are more secure will become increasingly true as yachts come to know less and less about anchoring. And the more yachts there are, many oblivious to where they are dropping their anchors, the greater the environmental justification. And there is this. In many places where moorings are mandatory, high fees effec- tively say “rich people only”. And of more moderate mooring fees, some of us say, “that is almost (or more than) my entire budget!” Paha Be dae sd ecm lela deel ge ae (un =- TOWNHOUSE MEBABRTORE Tel: 481.3200 * Fax: 481.3202 B&B Wy onEWwoo SONY Dp pram BUICK DECKER icosco) (Jsver