Great Sale Cay

Approximately 30NM west of Allens-Pensacola across the Little Bahamas Banks lies the uninhabited Great Sale Cay.   Great Sales protected “West Harbor” and position relative to West End, the Lower Abacos, and the Gulf Stream make it a popular spot for traveling vessels seeking an evening’s rest.

The day’s 12 to 18 knot east southeast winds kept us on a lumpy broad reach until we turned into the lee of Little Sale Cay.  The conditions provided a great opportunity to become more familiar with our whisker pole system.

View from the cockpit of C'est la Vie's Whisker Pole

 The Forespar Pole was a gift from Anne’s father.  Paul from Omar Sails installed the mast mounted track and deployment system last summer. Today is the first time we were able to utilize the system over a long period of time.  It certainly made life on the tiller easier as the sail retained its shape on a deep broad run despite 2 foot chop and our wandering about on the helm.

The mast view of C'est la Vie's deployed whisker pole

We still need to work out the finer points of deployment and trim, but hopefully the future will hold plenty of time for practice.

We arrived at Sale Cay’s “Western Harbor” around 16:00.  Knowing that early tomorrow we would lift our anchor from Bahamian waters for the final time on this trip we took some time to play in the 90 degree, pale blue waters.