KEY POINTS:
The northeast trade winds are blowing now in Antigua. Constant, cooling breezes that create an ocean playground for hundreds of mariners.
Soon it will be the hurricane season, and we're not talking Super 14 here. The island is a footprint along the storm trail and if not hit directly each year, usually feels the effects of the wild weather that strikes the region each August and September.
Debby roared in at the turn of the millennium, Jeanne devastated the place in 2004 and the next year Emily caused more damage, the effects of which are still plainly visible wherever you look along the roadside.
Patchwork fences, made with anything available, shells of buildings, scarred vegetation; the 78,000 residents regularly make the most of what they're left with after the assault on their homes, water supply and roading.
So to drive in this place is like competing on one of those 4WD circuits, where drivers have to balance their vehicles on one wheel over a vertical drop before negotiating a series of huge bomb craters.
The point of all of this is that if anyone deserved an uplifting experience from the World Cup it is the Antiguans, and it seems they're not going to get it.
The people who worship their four cricket princes - Viv Richards, Richie Richardson, Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose - have watched numbly as their side has stumbled through the Super Eights, showing no sign of title-winning potential.
The hosts did well to win their group and carry two points through to the second round, but since then have lost to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and are on the cusp of being ousted from their own party.
If they are to mount an inspired turnaround, they'll have to win their next three games, against South Africa, Bangladesh and England, and even then they'll probably need to scrape through on run-rate.
Australia found themselves in a similar position in the 1999 World Cup when they needed to win seven consecutive matches to lift the title, and managed to pull it off - but it's hard to see where this West Indies side could find such inspiration.
Their attack was flayed by the Sri Lankans yesterday in their 113-run loss, and their batsmen were again exposed as being clueless against spin, fragile against swing, and confused when under the slightest pressure.
If they continue to perform with so little intensity their World Cup dream will effectively end next Tuesday when they tackle South Africa in Grenada, even if they win their last two games against Bangladesh and England.
The World Cup has never been a tournament for the home team. England haven't won it despite hosting it four times; Australia couldn't get their hands on it in 1992, Sri Lanka's 1996 win was posted in Lahore, and South Africa bowed out at the Super Six stage in 2003.
The other contenders in danger of dropping out of the semifinal race with the Windies, Bangladesh and Ireland are unconvincing England, who will need to beat one of the tournament favourites to stay on track.
Even if they beat Bangladesh and the West Indies, which is far from assured, they'll still need to knock over one of Sri Lanka, Australia or South Africa to reach the eight points thought to be the starting point for final four consideration.
It's hard to know what the West Indies would hate most: watching their own side fall early, or watching England sneak in at their expense.
* Richard Boock was assisted to the West Indies by New Zealand Cricket.
