The sun's been down for a long time. We're sailing along Dominica. We are sailing along the leeward coast. Hidden by the mountains, the wind has left us. A great classic. The small 12 hp Yanmar of our First 35 is moving us quietly on this sea of oil. We head north.
Smooth sailing on a beautiful moonless night
We left Saint-Pierre in Martinique during the day, and after crossing the rather hectic canal with 2 reefs and quite a bit of sea, here we are, as expected, facing calm weather. Guadeloupe will be our goal. We plan to arrive there tomorrow, to pick up some friends who are coming from Metropolitan France to spend the next 15 days with us on board.
I'm alone in the cockpit. Florence has gone to bed, she'll take her watch over the second half of the night. It's very dark, no moon tonight to light the way. But the sky is clear and the stars are shining. The boat's sailing under autopilot. The engine is humming. High beam lights are on. I stay in the cockpit, contemplating. It's almost midnight.
A red rocket rises into the sky
All of a sudden in front of me, a red rocket. I can see it. It's starting its slow descent. There's no way to judge how far away it is. I watch her descend, staring down at it. Right now, I want to move towards her. She's almost on my course, slightly to starboard.
I don't want to lose sight of it, but I am aware that I have to catch my bearing compass and then steer precisely on it. But that compass is at the chart table. By the time I get down, the rocket will be gone. What can I do now?
I'm taking an approximate bearing with the course compass. That'll be first base. But I don't know how far I am from my castaway. It's impossible to estimate it on this dark night.
A second rocket!
And there, a second rocket, fired from the same place... This time there's no doubt there's a problem ahead of me. The adrenaline's pumping, I think I'll wake up Florence and start hunting us. I'm thinking of being as operational as possible. This time I'm grabbing the bearing compass to be efficient and precise.
When a third rocket goes off... and another and... But yes, I understand... Am I being silly, it's the night of January 1st. Those rockets are fired from the boats that are anchored at Les Saintes, just off my course. These sailors are celebrating the change of year in their own way. On board we had hidden this particular change of date. We had planned to celebrate it with the arrival of our friends.
An enriching experience
At this time of night, we were about 25 miles from the Saints. This amazing story allowed me to validate the range of a rocket in the dark of night. There's plenty of time to see it. On the other hand, it is impossible for me to define the distance from which it was fired. It is also necessary to quickly take a reading in order to be able to set the course of the point from where it was fired. Probably this means leaving the compass accessible in the companionway. It was a great experience that gave me some ideas when I was in a real situation..
