st martin transit

As I said before I made it to St Martin after a stimulating 31 hour trip.  The models I was using to predict wind direction, or the subtle variations thereof, were pretty on the mark, however, I made some tactical errors which didn't help.  I took off immediately after the soccer match between Germany and Brazil and left through the narrow channel through the barrier reef at the end of Virgin Gorda.  There were some seas, but nothing that was too crazy so I rigged up my high tech auto pilot (read: two bungee cords) and settled in with my book.  I figured sail as far north east as possible in anticipation of the east northeast wind later in the evening, then tack and hopefully have a straight shot for St Mart.  At one point I was laying on the windward, or "high' side of the boat reading and dozing.  Well I muxt have dozed more than read, because I woke with a start at the sound of waves breaking.  Less than a hunded yards away, big breakers were foaming on a major reef.  I cleared it easily but looking at the breakers a mile off covering almost half of the horizon, I realized that I was about to run into Horseshoe Reef on the eastern end of Anagada.  Checking the charts I was forced to sail almost directly south, skirting the reef till I was clear.  This took up a couple of hours and took me way out of my way.  A somewhat inauspicious start to the passage. 

What lay ahead was clear open ocean all the way to St Mart and of course the wind was on the nose. 

The passage itself, except for the tacking and waves was pretty much manageable, though not the most comfortable.  I am so looking when I can take the friggin trades on the beam for a change though I expect a good share of south east winds with all these tropical waves coming through as of late. 

The night sailing was only marred by the occasional, rather than continuous, waves over the bow, though a couple took me by surprised.  As the Sombrero passage is heavily traveled by commercial boats including tugs and barges, I frequently stuck my head out around the dodger to check for traffic.  In the middle of night I crawled up out of my reclined position in the cockpit and stuck my head out on the weather side, just at the precise moment that a nice slap of black water hit the side of the boat drenched me.  I was so startled by the water up the nose and in my mouth, I had to laugh.  The rest of the evening went ok though it was too rough to cook. 

The next morning I could see the greyish outling of my destination.  The wind was moderate through dawn and I thought I would not have to beat directly into the wind so eased the sheets a bit making for a more comfortable heel.  Unfortunately the trades had something else in mind and around mid morning picked up in the 15 kt range and of course veered right onto the nose.  What does this wind have against me.  Between the waves that were picking up and the tacking it took me 4 hours to make the last 5 miles to the anchorage at Fort St Louis near M