A PATH BETWEEN THORNS

JAMES AND JAYNE PEARCE BRAVE THE THORNY PATH' WINDWARD ROUTE FROM THE BAHAMAS TO THE WINDWARD ISLES

- JAMES AND JAYNE PEARCE

"You'll never make it." Our conversation with fellow cruisers about our plans suddenly ground to a halt.

We were in Annapolis, on the east coast of the US, enjoying the city's famous October boat show. We'd spent the last few months sailing from Boston to Maine, and were now in the Chesapeake shaking down Scout, our new Garcia Exploration 45. We were feeling pretty good about our progress so far.

At dinner one evening, we were chatting to some experienced fellow cruisers and the topic turned to our plans for the coming season. "Well," we said, with bright-eyed enthusiasm as we imagined the island-hopping paradise ahead of us, "we're heading south to Grenada." Their concerned response didn't relate to an enjoyable few months in the Windward Islands, however, nor the beautiful Bahamas. Instead, with a glimmer of fear in their eyes, our friends were thinking of the section in between, the infamous 'Thorny Path.

First named as such by Christopher Columbus, this is a notorious sailing route that leads from the Bahamas, by way of the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands, to the Windward Islands. As you cross the Tropic of Cancer and hit the northern edge of the tradewind belt, inexorable 15-25 knot winds blow from the east, day in and day out. To reach the West Indies, you have at least 1,000 miles of sailing almost directly into them, together with the unpredictable currents and island effects that Columbus himself faced.

It's a route that still proves a challenge to modern sailors. Hundreds of cruisers come down from Canada and the US to the Bahamas every winter, hoping to make the jump to the Caribbean in the spring, but you only have to look at the sprawling anchorages in George Town to realise that many soon get dissuaded or turn back, treating the Exumas as their terminus.