The trip to Montserrat

28 04, 17
They were calling for NE winds. That didn't happen at all. So we started sailing from St. Kitts at a nice close reach with east winds and small seas. Once we passed the lee of St. Kitts the winds shifted to 112 deg and the seas got to 4ft on average some over 6ft all from the east-south-east. At that point we motor sailed keeping enough wind on port to power the boat through the waves with the help of the engine and 1600 RPMs. The a squall hit us, that allowed us to head up to our line better as it clocked the winds more eastwards with winds up to 28kts. But squalls only last so long and then we were back to 112 deg to 123 deg of wind. At time the wind would even go to 138 deg, 8 deg past or planned line. I tacked but when I did that the waves were only 2 deg to starboard off the nose and they would come in short intervals and stop the boat dead in the water (1kts of speed). So we tacked back to port and then tried to fall off, this was working well but it would put us 20miles off Montserrat and would add another 4 hours to our trip (putting us in well after dark). After a couple of attempts to head up or tack, I decide we would motor in with just the reefed main up. This worked well once I kicked the engine up to 2200RPMs. There were still bursts of waves that were 3 to 4ft in height at very short periods that would stall the boat down to 1.2kts then she would recover back to 3.5kts. Once we got into the lee of Redonda then the wave pattern settled down and we were make 4+kts of speed. The another squall, this one backing us, so we took advantage of it to motor sail closer to our line. After 30 min it died and we were back to slogging it out against the waves. About an hour later the waves changed and another squall to our west was building. This clocked the wind to the east and we were making 5 to 6kts of speed motor sailing. This was nice and comfortable. About 5 miles from Montserrat, the wave pattern changed again and we were being slowed by the seas. About 2 miles from Montserrat the seas calmed and then we were making 6kts to the anchorage.
I need to find a better way to tie the new dink to the deck, she shifted on her tie down in the splashing waves. I also need the check by staysail furler as she gave me problems pulling her in. Otherwise save and sound in Montserrat.
As luck would have it, now that I'm at anchor the wind has shifted to the NE, just one day late from the forecast.