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18 May 2022 - OWNER’S STORIES

Discovering the West Indies on board a Dufour 425

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We last heard from SAILING LE GG and her father and son crew as they arrived in the West Indies following a 3,000-mile Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas.

Since then, Guillaume’s father has left his place on onboard to Elisa, who had rejoined Guillaume to continue their discovery of the West Indies aboard their Dufour 425

What’s on the agenda for these four months? Starting out in St Lucia, they’ll stay for a few days as they begin their voyage and their blue water cruise.

Time seems to have stood still; the change of scenery is absolute… 

Making a course for the Grenadines, SAILING LE GG will move to a new anchorage every day to enjoy these paradise-like islets.

If we could keep one memory, the most striking was the time spent in the Tobago Cays. The place is simply incredible: swimming with the turtles, swimming in the lagoon, lobsters on the beach, everything was simply magnificent!

After these few weeks and a stopover on the island of St Vincent, Elisa and Guillaume set sail for Martinique: for the next stage of the adventure, there will be four of them on board and their first port of call will be Guadeloupe.

Even though they spend a lot of time wandering through the local markets, or discovering magnificent waterfalls, visiting distilleries, they don’t forget to sail! Numerous shorter passages, between 40 and 80 miles, set the rhythm for the few weeks they spend in Guadeloupe and their Dufour 425 is perfectly suited to the sailing conditions thanks to her deep draught and large sail area.

Guadeloupe is a paradise for sailing boats: Les Saintes, Marie Galante, Basse Terre and the Cousteau nature reserve. With steady trade winds blowing at 15 to 25 knots, and despite the squalls on the horizon, the sailing is fast. We’re regularly making 6-8 knots, which is really good for a boat of this size.

Next came the magnificent sunsets in Antigua and the heavenly anchorages off Green Island, the discovery of St Barths (the St Tropez of the Caribbean), and 40 knots of wind as they sailed across tot to St Kitts & Nevis!  

The sail began well and then the squalls were upon us… the wind built to 40 knots, as we closed the island in the gloom. Nevertheless, we instantly fall under the spell of this twin-island nation where we were almost the only cruising boat. We had the anchorages to ourselves! It’s a strange feeling to arrive in a deserted anchorage in the Caribbean.

To keep up with their ongoing adventures in the Caribbean islands: Click here!

Follow the Dufour 425 and discover their adventures on Instagram: @sailingleGG

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There are more than 16,000 Dufour yachts sailing on all the seas of the world.

We are delighted to be able to share the adventures of our Dufour owners, their fondest cruising memories, their advice and their experiences.

Would you like to share your adventures on your Dufour yacht? Don’t hesitate to send them to us and we’ll gladly share them on the Dufour Yachts website and with our community of loyal owners!

New adventures will soon be published on a Dufour 520 in Canada…

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