I just love the cut of this beauty’s jib
‘ARE you sailing with us?’ asked a group of new arrivals as they boarded their vast cruise liner in Barbados. ‘Not this time. That’s mine over there,’ I replied, pointing proudly across the harbour to an elegant windjammer, quite the most beautiful ship I’d ever seen.
Alas, I hadn’t miraculously joined the oligarchs’ club. I was on a package deal but I knew from the start I was going to feel very possessive about the Royal Clipper as the world’s largest sailing vessel took me on a week-long voyage around the Windward Islands.
She has the sweeping lines of 19th Century clippers such as the Cutty Sark, but the Royal Clipper is half as long again, and has five masts instead of three, with a whopping 42 sails.
When I first saw all 5,500 yards of sail being unfurled to the stirring sound of the Vangelis theme Conquest Of Paradise, shivers ran down my spine. You’re not expected to haul on the ropes (the hard work is done by the 17-man deck crew), but you can climb up to the crow’s nest and sunbathe in the netting. In the old days, the netting caught any sailor who fell from the bowsprit, thus depriving that long pole of its ‘widow-maker’ nickname.
Our personable captain Sergey Tunikov, a 46-year-old Russian, has just clocked up a million miles under sail. ‘Everyone on board senses the spirit of the sails,’ he told me. ‘They create a special kind of happiness. Without sails she is like the branches of a Christmas tree without decorations.’
Well over half the 170 passengers on board (she can accommodate 227) had been on the Royal Clipper before. It was easy to see why they had been captivated. The majesty of the masts is matched by the high level of refinement below decks – it’s all varnished teak and mahogany, polished brass, and a spiral staircase leading down to the splendid dining room.
We glided from one Caribbean island to another, going by tenders to deserted beaches. One day, all the cooks came ashore too and served up the best barbecue ever.
At Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua, where our greatest ever sailor was based more than 200 years ago, I happened upon a great celebration. Four English rowers had just landed after coming second in a 3,000mile transatlantic race and were enjoying burgers and chips, their first proper meal for 48 gruelling days. Horatio would have been proud of them.
On St Kitts, we boarded an open-topped narrow-gauge train that trundled for 18 miles along the lovely west coast, and, although it was only 9am, the jolly conductress plied us with complimentary pina coladas.
My favourite island was tiny Les Saintes, just off Guadeloupe, where TV’s Death In Paradise is filmed – pastel-coloured houses, welcoming people, a glorious bay… and not a baddie in sight!
Talking of which, a fellow passenger checked all was well back home in Cambridgeshire by flicking on his iPad and linking to the security cameras around his house. I’m pleased to say there weren’t any intruders but it was raining. With that in mind, I settled back in my deckchair as the sails came down to take us back to Barbados.
For seven days we had travelled back in time to the great days of ocean clippers while enjoying all the comforts of a cruise ship or, as I like to think, a luxury yacht.
We were under sail for more than half our 900-mile voyage, the two powerful diesel engines only kicking in to ensure we kept to our schedule.
The Royal Clipper cruises to the Grenadines as well the Windward Islands during the winter months, and in summer she heads for the Mediterranean. I must catch up with her there one day – I really like the cut of her jib.
Virgin Holidays Cruises (virginholidayscruises.co.uk) offers three nights all-inclusive at the Sugar Cane Club Hotel & Spa in Barbados, and seven nights full-board on Royal Clipper from £1,999 per person for departures on December 3. This includes return flights from Gatwick and transfers. For further information, visit starclippers.co.uk.