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JANUARY 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 50<br />
MERIDIAN PASSAGE<br />
OF THE MOON<br />
JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2008<br />
Crossing the channels between <strong>Caribbean</strong> islands with a favorable tide will make your<br />
passage faster and more comfortable. The table below, courtesy Don Street, author of<br />
Street’s Guides and compiler of Imray-Iolaire charts, which shows the time of the meridian<br />
passage (or zenith) of the moon for this and next month, will help you calculate the tides.<br />
Water, Don explains, generally tries to run toward the moon. The tide starts running to<br />
the east soon after moonrise, continues to run east until about an hour after the moon<br />
reaches its zenith (see TIME below) and then runs westward. From just after the moon’s<br />
setting to just after its nadir, the tide runs eastward; and from just after its nadir to soon<br />
after its rising, the tide runs westward. Times given are local.<br />
Note: the maximum tide is 3 or 4 days after the new and full moons.<br />
For more information, see “Tides and Currents” on the back of all Imray Iolaire charts.<br />
Fair tides!<br />
January 2008<br />
DATE TIME<br />
1 0629<br />
2 0710<br />
3 0755<br />
4 0841<br />
5 0931<br />
6 1023<br />
7 1116<br />
8 1210 (new)<br />
9 1301<br />
10 1351<br />
11 1438<br />
12 1524<br />
13 1609<br />
14 1655<br />
15 1744<br />
16 1836<br />
17 1932<br />
18 2033<br />
19 2137<br />
20 2241<br />
21 2342<br />
22 0000 (full)<br />
23 0038<br />
24 0921<br />
25 0216<br />
26 0306<br />
27 0342<br />
28 0423<br />
29 0505<br />
30 0548<br />
31 0634<br />
February 2008<br />
DATE TIME<br />
1 0723<br />
2 0814<br />
3 0907<br />
4 1000<br />
5 1053<br />
6 1153 (new)<br />
7 1232<br />
8 1320<br />
9 1406<br />
10 1453<br />
CATAMARANS<br />
11 1541<br />
12 1632<br />
13 1737<br />
14 1825<br />
15 1927<br />
16 2029<br />
17 2130<br />
18 2226<br />
19 2319<br />
20 0000 (full)<br />
21 2342<br />
22 0000<br />
23 0007<br />
24 0057<br />
25 0135<br />
26 0217<br />
27 0259<br />
28 0342<br />
29 0427<br />
30 0514<br />
31 0604<br />
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Yes, Crimes Against<br />
Yachts Are Down, But…<br />
by Melodye Pompa<br />
After some 11 years of increasing numbers of reports to the <strong>Caribbean</strong> Safety and<br />
Security Net, 2007 appears (as I write this) to show a substantial drop in reports of<br />
crimes against yachts: 47 through the end of October as compared to 113 for each<br />
of the years 2005 and 2006. While November and December are traditionally busy<br />
months in terms of reports, it is likely we will end 2007 with less than half the number<br />
of reports of 2006, and the number of crimes involving weapons and/or violence<br />
is down by even more.<br />
Taken as a percentage of the total number of reports received for the year, the BVI is<br />
up, as are Grenada and St. Lucia (while the actual number of reports is down), St.<br />
Vincent & the Grenadines remains constant, and Trinidad and Venezuela have significantly<br />
lower portions of the total. Dominica continues to have few problems since the<br />
start-up of their security patrols in 2006, organized and operated by the private sector.<br />
The Security Net still receives few reports from Trinidad and the Virgin Islands<br />
(both US and British) unless there is a cruising boat with SSB radio making the<br />
report. Casual conversations with crews who spend time in both places indicate that<br />
the level of incidents in Trinidad remains the same as last year, although many are<br />
not reported, and those in the BVI (mostly charter boats with no HF radio capability)<br />
are actually on the rise, and this is reflected in the few reports received.<br />
Some of the perception of increased crime is just that: perception. With the increased<br />
availability of e-mail, the Internet, on-line forums, blogs, and personal websites, rumors<br />
are flowing at a rate that makes crimes appear to be happening at a frequency more like<br />
the early days of the Security Net. For instance, a single boarding in Petit Saint Vincent<br />
last June quickly turned into “five boardings of Moorings charter yachts in the Tobago<br />
Cays”. After a number of days of checking, it turned out that, indeed, there was one single<br />
boarding — someone overheard someone else on the VHF and the rumor spread.<br />
Some of the responsibility for the decrease in reports is directly tied to increased<br />
patrols in Venezuelan and Colombian waters by their Navies and Coast Guards, in<br />
an effort to stop drug traffic and to curtail acts of piracy against Venezuelan and<br />
Colombian citizens who are boatowners, and cruising yachts have been beneficiaries<br />
of these patrols. The commandant of the Colombian Coast Guard has met with<br />
cruisers in Cartagena and presented several suggestions for improved cruiser safety,<br />
and these have obviously paid off. Contrast that with the Eastern <strong>Caribbean</strong><br />
where virtually all yacht-security expenses are borne by the private sector.<br />
Dominica, and particularly Prince Rupert Bay with the inauguration of its nightly<br />
security patrols, has seen reports drop from 15 in 2005, to four in 2006, to a single<br />
incident in 2007. The businesses that support these patrols have every intention of<br />
continuing to provide this service for their yachting guests.<br />
Some of the decrease in reports is also due to increased vigilance by yachtspeople<br />
themselves, both cruisers and charterers. Nearly all the dinghies at any dinghy dock<br />
from Dominica southward are locked. Most yachts now lock or lift their dinghy at<br />
night, even the small wooden ones with two-horsepower outboards. If the crew is<br />
leaving the yacht, the companionway and hatches are locked, especially at night,<br />
although I still see a few left open on unattended boats during the day.<br />
A decreasing rate of reports appears to be good news, but the reports from a given<br />
country or island must be viewed in context of the transient yacht population — a<br />
smaller yacht population means fewer incidents of crime (i.e., fewer opportunities).<br />
—Continued on next page<br />
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WHAT’S ON MY MIND<br />
A nearly empty Reduit Beach (Rodney Bay) anchorage in early April 2007, a time of<br />
year when there used to be lots of boats at anchor
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