You don’t see Guyana as you approach it from the ocean, its low-lying coastline perfectly camouflaged against the hazy tropical horizon as the sun rises. And yet you sense it in so many other ways: the pungent petrichor of South American rainforest, the towering white thunderheads away in the distance, and even in the way the sea itself changes. The deep blue of the Atlantic slowly gives way to beige, then caramel, and finally to rich chocolate-coloured waters. This is your sign that the swirling estuary of the mighty Essequibo River awaits.
SCOUTING FOR ADVENTURE
Sailing on Scout, our 2021 Garcia Exploration 45, we’d spent the last year travelling down from Maine to the Caribbean – taking in the east coast of the US, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos, before putting her through her paces along the Thorny Path towards the Windward Islands. A few months of island hopping later, we found ourselves anchored south of 12°N, sitting out the first part of the 2023 hurricane season.
The eastern Caribbean is famous for its cruising, but sometimes it feels like everyone else knows it too. We’d appreciated the safety of buddy boats, good charts, and well-trodden paths, but by October Grenada’s busy anchorages were starting to feel a little too familiar and we were itching to get back out to the deep blue. So we hatched a plan for a radical change of scene.
This story is from the June 2024 edition of Yachting World.
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This story is from the June 2024 edition of Yachting World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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TAKING OWNERSHIP
WILL BRUTON ON UPSKILLING ON BOARD
SPECIAL REPORT
DAN HOUSTON ON CHANGES TO THE SHIPPING FORECAST
NAVIGATION BRIEFING
TOM CHENEY ON RACING ACROSS THE CHANNEL
NEW YACHTS
SOME EXCITING, AND VERY DIFFERENT, NEW 40-FOOTERS
21ST CENTURY TWINS
RM'S DISTINCTIVE NEW FLAGSHIP OFFERS AN ENTICING COMBINATION OF GOOD SAILING QUALITIES, SPACIOUS ACCOMMODATION AND TWIN KEELS AS STANDARD
UNLIKELY HERO
A CROSS-EUROPE ADVENTURE IN A 10FT DINGHY SEES SANDY MACKINNON NEARLY COME A CROPPER OFF WHITSTABLE’S MUD FLATS
HER OWN WAY
COLE BRAUER IS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO SAIL SOLO NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT HOW SHE’S SHAKING THINGS UP
THE MIGHTY ESSEQUIBO
JAMES AND JAYNE PEARCE DISCOVER THEIRS IS THE ONLY YACHT IN THE COUNTRY CRUISING REMARKABLE GUYANA
CAPE NORTH
CRUISING BEYOND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, JANNEKE KUYSTERS AND WIETZE VAN DER LAAN ENJOY A SURPRISING SUMMER IN NORWAY
DOWN WINDING
WHICH DOWNWIND SAILS ARE THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU? AND HOW DO YOU TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF SAIL HANDLING ON A TRADEWIND PASSAGE? TOBY HODGES QUIZZED MORE THAN 240 SKIPPERS IN LAST YEAR'S ARC TO FIND OUT