Sailing on a Classic Yacht

I’ve never set foot on a classic yacht, much less sailed on one, but I finally checked that box off on the bucket list. After my 2024 deployment we wanted to do something different, lower key, with a bit of luxury. We could have chartered another catamaran in the Caribbean (and loved it), but I can never fully relax when I’m the skipper of the boat. So we chose something that would involve sailing in the Caribbean without the stress of being in charge of anything. Our chosen route started in Martinique, with stops in Dominica, Guadeloupe and ending in Antigua. Seven days under sail on a classic yacht, cruising through the Leeward Islands sounded like an excellent plan to us.

SV Rhea sister ship of the Chronos courtesy of our shipmate Cordula

The sailing vessel Chronos is a classic yacht in every sense of the word: traditional lines, with lots of woodwork and an interesting ketch-rig. Designed and built by a Turkish shipyard, she was launched in 2013. As a ketch, she has two masts, the forward mainmast being taller than the rear-most mizzen. The mizzen carries a triangular Bermudan sail and the mizzen forestay carries a similarly sized sail forward to the mainmast. An interesting wishbone boom extends aloft between the two masts that assists with the so-called fisherman staysail. This type/name of sail would usually be seen flying on a schooner, but here is set from a roller-furler which extends along the length of the main mast. The foresails include an inner staysail and an outer roller-furling jib set at the end of a long bowsprit. She’s nearly one hundred and eighty feet long, with almost eleven thousand square feet of sail and weighs in at three hundred and seventy tons.

Based in the Netherlands, the company that owns the Chronos and her sister ships (Rhea and Kairos) has offices throughout Europe. Once Dana and I finally decided on the Martinique to Antigua passage, we booked through their main office, which generally involves wiring them funds from your bank. I will admit that I hate this part, not because its difficult, but because it seems so shady. I always feel like I’m either being scammed or I’m engaged in some obscure drug trafficking enterprise.

The Chronos generally has ten crew, which include the captain, first mate, second mate/boatswain, deckhand, engineer, chef, stewards and a purser/passenger-wrangler. The ship can also carry twenty-six passengers, though on the sail we did there were only thirteen. A largely European vessel, the crew is drawn mainly from Germany, though there were Swiss, Antiguan, Ghanan, and South African citizens among others. The passengers on our sail were majority German, with five Brits. Dana and I were the only US citizens.

We boarded the vessel on a Sunday evening, had a great dinner, met our fellow passengers and got the safety briefing. The next morning, and everyone thereafter, we had swim call at 0700, coffee at 0730 and breakfast at 0830. We had lunch around 1230, cake and coffee at 1600 and sundowners around 1800. Dinner was late for me, but normal for Europeans, usually being served between 1900 and 2000. The food from the chef was excellent, achieving a degree of culinary delight that I can’t imagine preparing in a ship’s galley. The service as well was excellent, the stewards proving to be excellent hosts and just generally fun to be around.

Setting sun on our night passage between Martinique and Dominica

Sailing occurred every day and about half the days were taken up with long passages between islands. My favorite passage was our night sail between Martinique and Dominica. We had been delayed leaving Martinique waters because the crew had to change out the washing machine, which had failed on the last passage from Grenada. Lucky us, because the wind was fair from the east at twenty to twenty-five knots, with clear skies offering a beautiful view of the stars. Dana and I loved it, though the rolling waves made several of the passengers go down hard with seasickness. My second favorite passage was our last one between Guadeloupe and Antigua. It started in the rain, with twenty-five knots of wind from east northeast. Gusty, variable winds forced the crew to trim the sails quite a bit throughout the sail. The last three hours though were in glorious bright sunshine, with steady winds from the east as we sailed into Falmouth Harbor on the south shore of the island.

Mizzen and staysail with the fore staysail just visible forward

Did we have a favorite island? Absolutely! Guadeloupe … it seemed like such a cool, laid back, beautiful place, without the urban sprawl of Martinique or the raw untamed aspect of Dominica. This may have had something to do with the fact that we have a favorite British TV show that is filmed there: Death in Paradise. It’s a fun murder mystery and after over a decade of murders one wonders why tourists would keep coming to the island. None-the-less, the Brits, the Americans and most importantly the captain were all fans of the show, and we anchored for the night in the bay before the town of Deshaies on the northwest corner of the island. There we had an incredible evening at Catherine’s bar from the show, truly named Le Madras. The passengers and the captain spent several hours in joyful laughter in the moment.

Catherine's Bar (La Madras) from Death in Paradise courtesy of Helen

We did a land tour of Dominica (pronounced DOM-in-E-ca) that is worth mentioning, if for no other reason than my impression is that it is truly one of the few wild islands. The mountainous center of the island is constantly shrouded in clouds and the native descendants of the Carib Indians still occupy territory in the interior. There is both a French patois and English creole that is spoken on opposite sides of the island. It just seemed so very feral in a way that I enjoyed seeing but was wary of.

We didn’t have much time in Antigua, but was able to see Nelson’s Dockyard, which is definitely worth a visit. All in all, it was a great trip and we have nothing but praise for the ship and crew.