P.E.I. solo sailor preparing to return home from the Caribbean

His solo around-the-world sail was cut short by a rogue wave, and now the Summerside man is making preparations to leave the Caribbean and return to P.E.I.

Alan Mulholland left P.E.I. in early August and criss-crossed the Atlantic to complete the first leg of his solo circumnavigation, but on his way to the Caribbean a rogue wave flipped his boat — The Wave Rover — onto its side, damaging both it and essential equipment.

The associated delays meant there was no way for him to complete his planned journey.

He was sheltering in Martinique, making enough repairs to get the boat back to Canada, when the pandemic hit. 

There have been 175 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths in the Island nation of about 375,000 people, mostly in the capital city of Fort-de-France, some distance from the small port where Mulholland is. But the country has been in full lockdown for a month, complicating efforts to repair the boat.

"It's tough to do anything because you're very limited where you can go, and in fact we have a curfew that's imposed 24 hours a day," said Mulholland.

"If I leave the marina, just to get a part from my boat from a hardware store, I have to have a note that says my destination, the time I'm leaving, so if the police stop you you have this note that allows you to go out just for that one item."

The whole of the Caribbean is locked down, he said. Travel from one island to another is not allowed, with the waters patrolled by police and navy boats.

Mulholland said he has remained in Martinique despite advice to return to Canada because he wants to get The Wave Rover out of the Caribbean before hurricane season.

Into the Bermuda Triangle

The journey back will start soon. He will leave the marina and go to anchor Thursday, and wait for a good weather picture before departing.

His route will take him through the Bermuda Triangle, straight up to Port Hawkesbury, N.S. Mulholland said he has bigger concerns about the trip than myths surrounding the triangle.

"It's one of those things, it's on the bucket list to go through the Bermuda Triangle. I don't expect any issues at all," he said.

"The real big issue is when I get north of there and I get into the cooler Canadian waters. And it's a challenging area to sail, that last third of the voyage, because the wind can come from any direction and you get pretty big seas when it blows from the north."

Earlier this week Mulholland saw temperatures of just 2 C and six-metre waves off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Long time in self-isolation

The trip will take about a month, and Mulholland said he is prepared to quarantine for two weeks when he arrives if that is still required.

But he noted he has already self-isolated for two weeks in Martinique, because he can't afford to get sick during a solo sail into the North Atlantic, and he will have a further four weeks of quarantine during the trip.

Mulholland said even if the rogue wave had not ended his solo around-the-world effort his trip would be over now. The pandemic has closed the Panama Canal to small boats, and many Pacific islands that would have been stopping points for him are entirely closed to visitors.

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