Frenchies invade the Grenadines

Monday April 7^th 2008 10 AM After a fast and stormy ride down from Bequia , dropped the hook in Salt Whistle Bay on Mayerau. I have been here many times. We went into the NE corner to minimize the waves sneaking around the point. Almost all the boats were French.

The evening entertainment started early. A big Moorings cat sped into the anchorage..he was a yank....he decides the best place to anchor is up in front of me. After an hour and a half and maybe 15 tries he drags back and into this cruiser anchored way out. He snags the cruisers anchor rode and they slam together.

BY now everyone on every boat is up on deck watching the entertainment. The skipper, with no place to hide decides to motor over to the Tobago Cays and try again.

About this time in comes another Frenchie Cat. He decides he wants to anchor in the same spot as the last cat. I spy his anchor...it’s called a “Brittany”. Totally useless unless you and anchoring in a lake with no wind. He drags back till I waved him off. After 2-3 more tries a Frenchie on a cruising boat directs them to a good spot out of ever ones way. Typical Frenchie thinking. They send out these clueless charters with no anchoring skills with a USELESS anchor. Want to bet that the Brittany is a Frenchie anchor….then of course it must be the best. IF I was the charter company I would have the biggest and best anchor on every boat. You might then have a chance.Then around the point comes another cat…yep another Frenchie with another Brittany anchor. He too decides the best spot is up in front of me. Again clueless on how to anchor…he drops his useless piece of iron and proceeds to let out chain till I run up in the foredeck yelling to move off. He was maybe 3 ft from snagging my anchor chain. After 3-4 more tries he finally gets it down where he will not bother me or anyone else. Then proceeds to put out a 2^nd anchor…..which tells anyone that he doesn’t know what he is doing. It’s now about 6pm and starting to get dark. This has been going nonstop for over 2 and ½ hrs. You don’t dare go below, someone will bang into you. When there was a lull in the action I would run down below and make a G&T’s for happy hour. About 6:15 here comes another boat in..Yep another Frenchie. This was a “Switch.FR” charter…all their canvas is bright yellow. You know “Caution, Frenchie behind the wheel”. And yep he too has a Brittany anchor. He tries once up in front of me but then moves out and back and gets the hook down. To date this has been the best evening entertainment. We make pizza and watch a few TV shows and call it a night.
Joyce was up first and had the tea going about 7:30. The sun was up, still had some wind but better than yesterday. Some of the boats started to leave around 9. We were below when we here this crash….we run up to see the Frenchie cat behind us has t-boned the Frenchie cruiser beside him.

My guess is that he had started his port engine to charge the batteries and that the engine was in gear which powered him into the other Frenchie. The cruiser took a real hit. Screwed up his toe rail and teak decking. Again everyone is up on deck watching the whole thing. So now one of us is up in the cockpit making sure one of these Frenchies doesn’t plow into us.

So you say why is Capt Paul picking on the Frenchies again. In the last 7-10 yrs there has been a proliferation of French charter companies in the Caribbean. Guadeloupe and Martinique both have Air France Airbuses flying all these so called Frenchie sailors over to charter boats in the warm Caribbean waters. They have no clue on how to anchor…why you say…well France at least on the Atlantic side has 20+ foot tides. It’s almost impossible to anchor overnight with tides like that. So they never get the chance to develop their anchoring skills, they stay in marinas at night when cruising over there. I do have the solution….bar any Frenchie aircraft from landing on any island on this side of the Atlantic. Now you say…what about the American….I think we cruisers should video these idiots and let the owners of said charter boats see what Moorings is letting idiots do to their boats. OR….make them anchor the boat before they leave the base. Something has to be done….it’s funny till some cruiser gets wacked.….charter boat whacking a charter boat is still entertainment…but we cruisers…well some do not have insurance or are under insured…in most cases, their boat is everything they own. If the boat is damaged, then you have to take your home (boat) someplace to get it fixed. In this case, he will have to take his boat to Trinidad, the closest place where you can get quality repairs. Nobody comes to you.OR…move all of the charter companies to Antarctica and let them play with each other down there.