Tuesday 1st January 2008
A new year and what a start!
I woke up about 1.15 and looked out, had we dragged? I wasn't sure, but if so, it was only a few metres as we were still alongside the same boats, but it looked a little different? I decided it was my imagination and just the chain stretching out or swinging slightly. We had over 30m of chain down in less than 4m of water and she was locked in solid!
After a brief doze, I woke again and looked out, we were definitely dragging now, I could see boats going past!!!! I jumped up, started the engines and motored us forward to hold against the wind. Silke followed me up and took the controls whilst I hauled up the anchor and Silke held us in a gap clear of 2 other boats. We had only dragged maybe 20m or so and were so lucky we had woken and were not fast asleep! We managed to raise the anchor and headed up the bay for a big spot clear of other boats. It was close to the tip of Princess Margaret's beach and in only 2.5m of water, we again dropped 30m plus of chain. It didn't lock in and we were dragging, so immediately pulled it up again and tried another spot. This time we dropped as much chain as we could whilst still staying clear of other boats and had about 40m down and tested it for a while before fixing the bridle. We were locked in and hopefully safe for the night!
I sat up on deck as I wasn't going to sleep with this weather, so Silke went down and I sat reading a book and looking out every other minute!
At 2:30 I heard something which sounded like an alarm but was actually someone using a whistle to attract the attention of another boat. A big Lagoon 570 just below me was dragging and the whistle woke the skipper who came up, started engines and hauled up his anchor. He motored up alongside us, as I watched him drop lots of anchor chain and lock in again, then he settled for the night.
By 3.30 I decided all was well, we definitely weren't moving and the wind had calmed a bit, so I headed for bed and caught up on some sleep!
I woke early and was up checking the boat about 06:30. We hadn't moved and all was well, but i was awake and just sat there reading for an hour or so, watching the other boats gradually stir.
At 07:00 another big Lagoon cat below me started bringing up their anchor, but we had let out so much chain the night before, we were almost over their anchor. I fired up an engine and motored off to the side, allowing them to bring up their anchor. We had a brief chat and they warned me that they had been anchored where I was, but dragged in the night to their new spot! I explained that i had also dragged and moved here, but now had 40m of chain down in 2.5m and was locked solid.
I started wondering about the yacht which i had helped save last night, I could see it in the distance so the boat was safe, but had the crew found it? I could just make out a dinghy on the back, so they must have got back eventually? Or maybe early this morning?
Silke was fast asleep, but i was wide awake and had the urge to do something, so I started on the temporary wiring I had done last night and decided to fit a switch to let me turn the wind generator on and off. I had bought the switch in Gran Canaria, a simple On/Off/On switch that you wire in with a fuse to switch the power cable from the wind generator to earth, which slows the generator to a really slow rotation. Even though I'd had the parts for a long time, I had never had the need to turn off the wind generator before, so had never fitted them! I found the switch, fuse, heavy wiring and connectors, all bagged together ready for use and started making up the connections. It took over an hour to do the job, but I was happy that the end result was neat and had good solid connections throughout. I could now turn on and off the power (and noise) of the wind generator at the flick of a switch!
Silke arose whilst I was finishing off the job and made me my first cup of coffee for the day. We sat and read for a bit, then decided to tackle the task of removing the blades from the wind generator to replace the broken one. I had 2 spare blades, so should be ok, but it is not easy to get to something which is about 12ft above the deck and turning slowly!
We moved the boom across to this side, tied it out wide and Silke climbed onto my back and stood on my shoulders as I pushed her up. Whilst stood there, she could reach but only just, so she climbed onto the boom, where she could sit and reach the generator. She removed the cover and I handed her the allen key to remove the blades. It is a big nut, but you just hold the allen key in the end of the shaft and rotate the blades to undo it. She could not turn the blades, it was obviously pretty tight, so she climbed down and it was my turn! There was absolutely no way I was going to stand on her shoulders, so I crawled along the boom and got to the end. Before I started, I looked at the thread and I had told Silke to turn it the wrong way!! Rotating the blades anticlockwise and they came free really easily! I passed the hub down and Silke swapped the broken blade for a good one and handed it back up. This was a job I had been dreading as it was so hard to reach, but we had found an easy solution and completed the job in less than 20 minutes!
I had already tied the new lure onto the line, confident this time that the knot was solid, so now all three disasters from yesterday were resolved.
By 13:00 we were all tidied up onboard and ready for lunch. We decided to try a bar on the beach at Lower Bay, so off in the dinghy and we pulled her up the beach near "Da Beach" which was packed solid with tourists and locals alike. I grabbed a table and Silke went to get 2 beers and meals, but returned with beers only! They had stopped doing food for some reason, even though everyone else seemed to have plates of food! We drank up, then headed to the Green Boley where we knew they would feed us! For a change, we didn't have chicken roti's, but ordered chicken and chips twice. It was a mistake, it was ok, but nowhere near as good as a roti!
Into town for some provisions, but almost everything was closed, so back to the boat and a decision to move from the nice bay, but with poor holding to another spot which was less pleasant, but good holding and Internet access!
The move proved to be a pain, as we tried 2 spots, but struggled, the water was 10, deep even close to shore, so we returned to an area in the North of the bay which we had used last week. Anchor down in 5m, held immediately and locked in, so bridle on and laptop powered up to check emails. Generally a quiet evening onboard, ended with a game of cards, which Silke won, followed by what seemed like an early night, but was actually 9pm. I was so tired, I slept immediately and deeply till morning!
Wednesday 2nd January 2008
I was up early as usual and spent nearly 3 hours just updating the past couple of days on the website! It takes a lot more time than people think, but I'm glad I'm doing it and will enjoy reading it in the future. It is good getting emails from people as they read the site, so I do know I'm not wasting my time totally!
We're off ashore soon to clear out at customs and do last minute shopping, then heading off to St Vincent and up to St Lucia over the next couple of days. Will hopefully update the site again in 3-4 days!
We went ashore and did the customs thing, visited the supermarket and stocked up on provisions, then faced the vendors at the fruit and veg market, who insisted on us buying something from everyone. We did our best to buy from a few and now were heavily laden with everything we needed to last a few days!
Next stop was a cafe for our last chicken roti in Bequia, then we returned to the boat, unloaded and I set off to get the Diesel delivery guy to visit and top up our tanks. $950EC, is nearly £200 but I hadn't filled up for about a month and I have been doing quite a bit of motoring and generator running, so not too bad.
One last visit to the dock to get some ice, turned into 2 last visits as I had left my wallet onboard when I paid for the diesel! 2 Bags of Ice would help keep the freezer cold, that is, if they had fitted! Half of one went into the fridge as there was no way it could be squeezed into the freezer!
All was sorted, so by 13:45 we upped anchor and set off for St Vincent. There wasn't much wind in Admiralty bay, but it picked up as we got out into clear water and we had a steady 15 knots as we crossed the 16 miles to Cumberland Bay in St Vincent. Boat Speed was good, with us averaging 7-8 knots in 14-15 knots of wind. The new Bimini windows had ruined our game of duck the waves, but definitely made it more comfortable onboard when sailing into the wind!
We trawled the new fishing lure for most of the trip and also the old line on the other hull, but not even a twitch! We now have only the crossing back to St Lucia to catch one, or Silke will miss the delight of cleaning, gutting, cooking and eating, straight from the sea!
We arrived in Cumberland about 16:30 anchored up and had a boat boy take our line ashore and tie it round the tree. Unfortunately, the line was about 10ft too short, so another boat boy took a second line and they tied it up! Helping the local economy cost us with 2 people instead of the one!
We refused all fruit as we had loads, but Silke did buy a nice bracelet for herself from the guy who took our original line.
We'd been there about an hour, when we had neighbours moor up either side. It was a bit cosy, but safe enough as we were all tied to trees and couldn't swing more than a few feet either way.
We both fought our way through fresh Mangos, which tasted great, but we now know which way we should cut and twist them for the future! These ones were all over our faces as we just attacked them and ate out every bit we could!
Another bowl of curry soup for tea, followed by an Apple Crumble to look forward to shortly! Definitely one of the many benefits of having Silke onboard :-)
Thursday 3rd January 2008
We were up early today and I'd cooked the pancakes by 07.30, we had to get going as we had a long sail North to St Lucia planned. The neighbours were all up at a similar time and leaving for the same journey as us. Within half an hour all 4 boats had upped anchor and set off out of Cumberland, heading North. We were the last of the 4 to leave, but had a good breakfast and were ready for the journey.
There was no wind at all, or at least less than 5 knots when we set off, so we hugged the coast of St Vincent until we reached the Northern tip. That gave us a better angle towards St Lucia, rather than just heading straight for our destination. As we neared the tip, the wind had increased to 15-20 knots and with the sails close hauled, we managed to sail on the wind vane at 40' apparent wind and were about on course for the Pitons (St Lucia's twin mountains).
The crossing went well, with us again averaging 8 knots, dropping to 7 and increasing to 9 intermittently. We overtook a few boats and were managing to hold our course pretty well in relation to the monohulls, so all in all, good sailing.
The fishing lures were out from the first half hour, until we nearly reached land 40 miles later. Not a twitch on them all the way, so Silke is unlikely to get treated to freshly caught fish this trip! I guess she'll just have to come back out another time?
As we closed in on the Pitons, I went down to the galley to get some more water and discovered a problem with the floorboards! One of them was higher than the others and had water sloshing out from below! I lifted it and we were full! The water in the port bilges had reached the bottom of the floorboards and pushed this one up! The bilge pumps should have dealt with it, as I have 2 electric ones in each hull and a manual one, but the electric ones had tripped the fuse and now were so underwater that every time I reset the fuse it tripped again. Out with the manual bilge pump handle and start pumping! After a few minutes, it just didn't feel as though it was pumping either, so I tried the starboard one (where there was very little water) and that worked fine.
So the situation is that we have water coming in to the port hull, I think I know where from, but can't stop it whilst we're sailing! We have 3 bilge pumps in this hull and none of them are working now! Easy solution, out with the deep saucepan and start bailing into the sink. Now this should have been relatively easy, as I could reach both the water and sink from the same spot, but it was like emptying a bath with an egg cup! Scoop after scoop went down the sink, but it took half an hour to lower the height by maybe an inch! After a few attempts, I decided we had enough water removed to just get to Souffriere where we were due to clear in at customs, then I'd have a look at it when we were anchored and fix an electric pump.
After we dropped anchor, I was tidying up ropes and getting mooring lines tied ashore. When I returned to the boat, Silke was down below and had found a larger bailer than the saucepan I was using. She was busy emptying the bilges, I tried to wire up another electric pump I had spare, but that too appeared to have failed though lack of use, so I joined silke with another large bailer!
We experimented with Silke bailing into the kitchen sink, whilst I bailed into the bathroom, but in the end, it was easiest for Silke to sit down and fill the jugs, whilst I emptied them in the kitchen sink and handed back the empties. We did a couple of stints like this and eventually had emptied the water down to well below a safe level, I could now check the pumps and wiring to try and find out what went wrong!
After removing one of the offending bilge pumps, I discovered that the wiring had been "waterproofed" with sellotape! Now I want to point out that I hadn't done this, it was old wiring from before I bought the boat. It should never have mattered as the wiring should never go below water level anyway, but with the problems we had today, it was 6 inches underwater! Connectors had corroded, but even when I stripped the wires back to clean areas, I could only measure 1v when it should be 12v getting to the pump. More testing require, but I guess the pump has overheated or something has caused the wiring to overheat maybe? To be checked again later!
We had a quick swim and shower to clean off the bilge water, then for some reason I looked down under the port hull and could clearly see the propeller, but couldn't see the rudder? I looked again, then just knew it wasn't there! One of our rudders had fallen off!!!! I had to dive under and check but sure enough, on the port hull, there was a stub of rudder stock sticking out, but no rudder blade!
Now I know this may sound strange that we hadn't noticed a rudder falling off, but on a catamaran you have two rudders, ours are connected by wire cables over pulleys and the boat was sailing absolutely fine with one rudder!
If you know the history of January 2006, you might remember we ran aground and snapped this rudder off in Halcyon Bay and had it repaired by Simon at Rodney Bay boatyard. The carbon fibre rudder stock had snapped, so he inserted a stainless steel pipe inside the carbon fibre and the blade and bonded it all back together. I suspect that the twisting forces of the boat at sea may have rotated the shaft and weakened the glue, causing the rudder blade to literally just drop out!!
There's nothing I can do now, but find someone who can make a completely new rudder for me, which will mean dropping both rudders out, letting them use the starboard rudder blade as a mould to make the new port one and me just sitting waiting until they return! The good news is that I can do this whilst at anchor, so I can possibly get it done at Rodney Bay and should not need to haul the boat out of the water.
Alternatively, if I can work out how to stop the water coming in, I can just continue sailing with one rudder as it does seem absolutely normal and then get it fixed when it is hauled out in March! This is definitely the contingency option, my preference is 2 rudders!!
We decided the boat was safe, no water coming in now and we had to clear customs, so we set off in the dinghy to find customs. They were at the end of the small pier, with Customs on the left and immigration at the police station on the right, nice and easy, took less than 10 minutes and cost us nothing?
Silke had asked the customs officer for a recommendation to get a roti, but the restaurant was closed for xmas and new year, so we walked the town and eventually asked someone for help. Our guide took us to a door, with no signs, but people inside eating, so we joined the locals and ordered 2 chicken roti's and 2 beers. It was pretty good, so I had another beer to wash it down and when we had to pay, we were shocked as it was $21.50EC, which is about £4 for 2 roti's and 3 beers!!! I have always paid $10-15 for a roti and $4-5 for a beer, so this place was a real bargain, or the guy made a big mistake? We planned to return tomorrow :-)
After the day we'd had, we decided to just watch a movie and have an early night, it had been a long day with 6 hours at sea and too many problems to fix on arrival here .
Friday 4th January 2008
We had both woken during the night and when Silke went to the toilet, she checked the clock. We both said between 4 and 5am, but it was only 3am!!!! I couldn't get back to sleep, so got up and read for an hour or so! I then returned and managed to next wake just before 8am, not a good night!
We had breakfast, then set off on the long treck to Anse Cochon, or Ti Kaye Bay, as it is also known. Only about 7 miles so we decided not to bother lifting the tender, just tow it. Silke motored round the coast and we picked up a mooring in the south of the bay where we knew we could get free internet from the Ti Kaye hotel. We had a quick swim, snorkelling over the reef on the south side, then back to the boat to start work on the bilge pumps!
I first checked the secondary bilge pump in the port hull, having removed it yesterday, I wired it directly to the battery and it spun nicely, no problems there! So having double checked the wiring, it was definitely the 1v not 12v problem to sort there.
Next I moved onto the main port bilge pump, which was just tripping the fuse. This is a high volume (expensive) pump which sits under the aft bed, well above the waterline. I removed the pump and the belt, which showed that the motor was free, but the pump mechanism was seized solid. I gradually stripped all the components, but it was the bearings that weren't moving, so this pump wasn't going to be fixed easily today!
Next option was to swap the pumps over and bring the main bilge pump from the starboard hull, as this hull was not letting in any water and fit it to port. This would give me a good main pump on port and a good secondary pump on starboard. An hour or so later it was all swapped and pumping perfectly. It cleared all the remaining water in a few minutes and was easily pumping out faster than our attempts at baling!
With a temporary solution to the problem, we set off for Marigot bay, which is a very sheltered bay surrounded by mangrove plants. Only 3 miles from Anse Cochon, so not a long run.
On arrival we had the usual boat boy asking if we needed a mooring, which for a change I accepted and we picked up one of his moorings with him. After tying up, he asked for $65EC, which is about £15. I had not paid more than $20EC for a mooring previously, so refused and tried to barter! He claimed they were all $65EC and that was normal, I disagreed and said we would anchor instead! So released the line and headed across the bay to anchor. We had to drop the anchor twice before it locked in, even in 2.5m of water, so we let out a lot of chain again second time and held firmly.
We took a trip ashore, where Silke found some nice bird feeders made from coconuts, so we bought a couple of them, one for her garden and one as a gift! Then we headed for the nearest restaurant serving Roti's! Restaurant Mygo is at the entrance to Marigot on the South side and has a great view of the bay, combined with good food. They weren't the cheapest roti's we'd had, but their flavour was excellent! They have a permanent happy hour here, so all beers are 2 for 1, meaning you order 2 beers and get 4! When the bill arrived, the beers were $8EC each, as opposed to $4 or $5EC, so that accounted for the free one!
Back on the boat, we had a really early night and slept right through to the morning!
Saturday 5th January 2008 (My 40th Birthday!!!!)
I woke up at 7am to no wind whatsoever and went upstairs to look out! The boats at anchor had all swung in different directions and two boats behind me were almost touching, but both skippers were sat up chatting to each other, all nice and calm. The big steel British yacht behind us was side on to our stern and 20ft or so clear, but if she swung further could touch us, so I sat up reading just to keep an eye on it. Eventually the wind picked up slightly and all the boats returned to their natural bow into the wind formation!
When Silke arose, we had a present opening session, with the collection of cards and presents Silke had brought out to me filling her suitcase! Thank you all for the gifts received!!
Then we sat down for breakfast, which Silke made some fresh bread rolls and fried eggs for sandwiches, with the now usual cup of coffee!
After a while just chilling and reading, we decided to set off for Rodney bay and our normal home anchorage here on St Lucia. It was only 7nm so I couldn't be bothered to remove all the sail covers to try and do 7nm into the wind, we would just motor up there!
By 12ish we were anchored back in the bay, our usual spot just off the beach near the free wifi of Bay gardens resort. I powered up the laptop just to check and for some reason, no Bay Gardens wifi????? I could see 3 other wifi connections, but no free ones! We may have to move again later and get a bit closer, but we are closer than we had been a month ago and we had 2 bars then, so maybe they are not switched on??? Time will tell, I will find out later!
We started sorting out our laundry to take ashore to be done, when we had a visit from the Sparkle Laundry boat! Great timing, we were literally finishing it off to bring in, so we handed it over and they said it might be back today or tomorrow!
We lowered the dinghy and headed into the marina for our lunch, I had spent half an hour shopping in the Island Water World catalogue, deciding to spend some money on the boat and fix or replace things that needed it. This included a couple of pumps, some hatch handles, a replacement winch handle, anchor grab hook, possibly a new helmsmans seat, oh and a new cooker! Total bill would be ......... nearly $1500US, or about £750 Not cheap, but it would upgrade or repair a number of things that needed doing! The cooker does account for over half the bill and whilst it still works, it is ready for replacement
First stop was the Bread Basket for our traditional Chicken Roti and bottle of beer! They had run out of chicken, so I had a fish roti instead and Silke ordered a beefburger and chips! Most unusual for her I thought??? The tv was tuned to football, so I managed to watch the second half of Aston Villa v Man Utd in the FA cup. Man U won with goals from Ronaldo and Rooney, so good news for me!
Silke headed off to post some more postcards and I went up to Island Water World for shopping! They were shut, so I strolled down looking for silke, only to get to the tourist office where they sell the stamps and find they were also shut and no Silke! I did a lap round the shops, then back to the chandlery, where Silke was just heading upstairs!
We returned to the boat, and Silke started feeling a bit funny, so she slept for the next 3 hours (at least) whilst I sat out reading.
I checked on Silke later and she wasn't asleep, just lying there not feeling great, so we agreed that we woudl skip the indian we had planned for tonight and try again tomorrow if she was feeling better. I ended up going to Scuttlebutts, the pub in the marina and having a steak and a couple of pints, then returning to the boat. Part of my reason for Scuttlebutts was they have free internet there, but was it working??? No chance! The Steak was really good, but the chips were rock hard oven chips, so not as impressive! Must remember never to get chips there again!
I returned to the boat, chatted to Silke for a bit, then we called it a night!
Sunday 6th January 2008
A fairly quiet day, there was a big swell coming in to the bay overnight and Silke hadn't slept well, so I agreed that we should move the boat over to Pigeon Island.
First we went shopping at the main shopping centre, had a KFC for late breakfast, which helped Silke settle her stomach! I'm sure she wasn't seasick as we were at anchor and she had been on much rougher water over the past few weeks when we were sailing? In the arcade, the two shops Silke wanted to visit were both closed, so we didn't spend much and headed back to the boat.
We upped anchor and crossed the bay to Pigeon island, anchoring as close as we could to the bar in an attempt to connect to their free wifi! Silke checked for signals as I motored around, but no luck, we would have to go ashore for the web!
We locked the anchor in and were just off the beach in a nice spot, then took the tender ashore for a trip up the island to Fort Rodney! This is actually only half way up, but in this heat, it was enough for Silke and she did not want to climb to the top! I had been before and was happy to stop at the fort also!! The views are pretty spectacular up here, with Martinique to the North and a great view of Rodney Bay to the South, with the Pitons in the distance!
The pirate ship in the foreground is the Unicorn, which does day trips today, but did star in the original Pirates of the Caribbean! If you look closely, or zoom in, Blue Dolphin is behind the Unicorn, closest to the beach.
At the bottom, we popped into the bar for a lemonade, then back to the boat for some reading and sunbathing!
At 7pm we headed ashore again to eat in the bar and listen to the jazz band that we could just hear from the boat. I took my laptop and we were finally online and I got a chance to read and reply to my birthday emails! We also took a bag of books as they have a really good book swap service here, one for one swaps and no charge, just a service to the yachties!
It was a good evening with some nice food, but silke wasn't so impressed with the Jazz, which maybe would have been better listening to from outside the bar!
Monday 7th January 2008
It was Silke's last fuyll day, so was there anything she specially wanted to do? Not really, but shopping at mall to get some presents! We set off to the Mall dinghy dock and made our first stop at KFC for breakfast again!
The shops Silke wanted were open today and Silke bought some presents for others and for us! I started struggling and had to sit on a bench as Silke finished one shop!
On our way back to the boat, we stopped at Island Water World, to look at the cooker and collect the other items from my list! They didn't have the cooker i wanted, but they had others in the range and it was obvious that the cheap cooker I had seen was a cheap cooker! They also had a luxury one from the same manufacturer which was a totally different league in terms of quality, but also in terms of price! I couldn't buy the cheap one as it just seemed so cheap, so We bartered for a discount on the expensive one and I agreed and they marked it as sold for me. Now I just had to get enough money from the cashpoint to pay for it, that would take a couple of days at my daily limit of withdrawals! I collected todays maximum withdrawal and paid for the pump, light and anchor chain hook, promising to return tomorrow for the cooker!
Next stop was Sparkle Laundry to collect our washing. They said they had looked for us, but we had disappeared, which was true as we were now over at Pigeon island! No problems, $40EC lighter and the laundry was ours!
Back to Blue Dolphin and a cold drink, then engines on, anchor up and we moved back to Reduit Beach, my usual spot, near the entrance channel to the marina.
As we had missed out on Saturday, due to silke not feeling 100%, we decided to go for a curry at Razmataz to celebrate my birthday and as our last meal together here! As usual it was a really good meal, the restaurant was full and to accompany the food, Silke had a couple of "Screaming Orgasms" which kept her happy whilst I had my bottles of Piton!!!
Tuesday 8th January 2008
Silke flies home today :-( We had both had a pretty sleepless night, I did sleep, but was awoken by the alarm at 06:30! We were all up and ashore just before 7am, ready to get Silke to the airport for a 9.20 flight. Loads of time, but I wasn't sure if we'd get a taxi or bus at this time, so better early than late!
As it happened, there were no taxis in the marina, but one pulled in just as we were walking out, so we had an easy ride to the airport! Half an hour later, Silke was checking in behind a queue of about 5 people! We had a coffee in the cafe, then I tried to sort out immigration to get her officially released from the boat. I found the immigration officers, but they told me they couldn't do it and I had to go into Castries itself or back to Rodney Bay! That wasn't going to happen, so I just ignored it and will deal with it later when back in Rodney Bay. If Silke has already left, there isn't much they can do about it!
We stayed in the cafe and had toasted cheese sandwiches, so Silke would have eaten something before the flight, then after some goodbye hugs, Silke went through departures!
I walked up the road alongside the runway, it was strange having Silke leave, after having her onboard for 3 weeks, I was certainly going to miss her! Then it started raining! We had sunshine for almost all the 3 weeks, then Silke leaves and it starts raining on me!!! I managed to dodge under trees and miss the worst of the rain, then carried on up to the bus stop for the bus back to Rodney Bay. It had cost us $65EC or about £15 to get to the airport in the taxi, but the bus home was just $2.50EC or 50p. Same route, just mixed in with 10 other people!
Back at the marina, I tried to get money from the cashpoint, but it was out of service, never mind, try later!
I visited customs to sort out the paperwork re Silke, but the immigration officer wasn't there, try again in half hour!
I went to the boatyard to try and find Simon to ask about making me a new rudder, but he wasn't there, try again after 10am.
Sat around for a bit, then back round the same 3 and yet again, cashpoint dead, no immigration and no Simon! Time to go back to the boat for a bit!
Back onboard and I fitted the new anchor hook onto the bridle, not a big job, but passed some time. Then I typed up the website, catching up on the past 3 days or so. a bit of reading then time for the next round of cashpoint, customs and rudder repair attempts!
First the cashpoint and at last it is open! I maxed out my daily allowance and could now afford the cooker!
Next customs and apart from a telling off, it was completed in a few minutes and no charges! Silke was now officially off the boat!
Into Island Water World and counting out the notes, I could now afford my cooker, so with it paid for, they offered the help of one of the guys to get it onboard my boat. We loaded the dinghy with the new cooker, then made our way out to Blue Dolphin and soon it was onboard and out of site. I took the guy back then set off to find Simon the fibreglass man!
At the boatyard bar, I found John the Canadian and chatted for a while, then when I asked if he knew where Simon was, another guy piped in and said he wasn't there today, but what did I want him for? I explained about the rudder and he said he was Simon's partner Robin and they could make a rudder for me no problem! Without seeing the rudder, he said it should be below $1000US, or £500, so I agreed to drop the rudders out of the boat and bring them in!
Things were now going much better, all tasks sorted and i had the new cooker onboard!
Back at the boat, I started disconnecting the rudder control cables, removing the quadrants and autopilot etc, then came the task of lowering the rudders out of the hull! I started with the starboard one as it was just a shaft, with no blade. It was easy and after diving under the boat, I had it out and on deck within 5 minutes! Next the Port one, which was a bit harder, but again came out pretty easily with just a mask and snorkel on and easing it down and out. I had tied a rope onto it as it started to lower, but needn't have bothered as the problem was floating not sinking!
With both rudder parts out, I cleaned myself off of antifoul paint which had got all over me during the removal, then set off for the yard to find Robin. On the way I met Earl and he insisted on coming with me as he said they would give a better price with him around! He has a lot of contacts and said he could get it done cheaper elsewhere if they tried to overcharge, but I wanted to use them as their quality was good, which he agreed with. To be honest, I was happy with the estimate of £500 and wanted a good job done.
Back onboard and I decided to throw some of the fruit that was expiring soon and used up half the pumpkin to make a big pan of pumpkin soup. The other half went for a swim as it wouldn't last much longer anyway!.
Wednesday 9th January 2008
I had a strange night's sleep, no Silke, but a new cooker sat on the bed next to me!! I don't normally sleep with new cookers, but it was one of the only convenient places to put it when i brought it onboard! I got a few texts from Silke as she progressed through New York and eventually to Heathrow, then fell back to sleep pretty quickly!
My main tasks for today were to fit the cooker and find Robin or Simon to confirm about the rudder repairs. I decided to have a coffee first before disconnecting the old cooker, then set about removing the screws that held it in place and hauling it up into the cockpit ready for disposal.
After a quick clean of the old slot, I lifted the new cooker into place and as I suspected, it fitted easily, but was slightly smaller then the old one. I would be best raising it to surface level and having space underneath to stow grill pans or similar! The fitting was easy as the cooker comes with gimbols, which let it pivot if the sea is rolling. 3 screws each side, then lower the cooker in and it is physically installed!
The elctric starter for the flames is a AA battery, so again 1 minute and fitted! The gas is just a push fit with the gas pipe onto the inlet of the cooker. This again is a 1 minute job, then tighten the hose clamps, except I had 1/4" hose and the cooker wanted 3/8". Back to Island Water World and after 10 minutes searching we agreed the best bet was a 1/4" to 3/8" male to male connector and just join a new piece of hose to the old.
Back to the boat and 10 minutes later I was heating up the remains of yesterdays pumpkin soup! I refitted the trim around the edge of the cooker, cleaned all the protection out from inside the oven and lit it up. The manual had said to run it for 10 minutes to remove manufacturing smells, so I let it burn and reach operating heat. You can watch the flame reduce as it reaches temperature, so all was well and working fine. Happy with the new installation, I even cleaned the worktops before rearranging things in a slightly more usable manner.
Thursday 10th January 2008
Today, I spent the whole day on the boat, didn't go ashore and didn't even go for a swim!!!! That is a pretty rare day for me, but I did finish off a few tasks!
I removed the two wooden strips the old cooker had been standing on, giving me a large shelf underneath, big enough to store the frying pans and other stuff on. Just need to make a lip for the front if I'm going to use this shelf when at sea!
Next job was one I have failed to do for 4 years...... emptying the holding tanks! Now for those who don't know, holding tanks are where the toilet is pumped to instead of polluting the sea in a nice bay. The idea is that you fill the holding tanks, then when you are out at sea, allegedly 3 miles out, you pump the tanks out and empty them, ready for filling. Alternatively, you can get the tanks pumped out in some marinas! My problem was that I only ever found 2 marinas able to pump out the tanks and you had to hire a pump out lorry to come and do it, very very expensive!!! I also didn't have any way in the boat to actually pump them out when at sea and there was no way I could fit anything without emptying them! So the result of all this is that I never emptied them!!!
Now if you've read the above, you might be wondering what I have done for the past few years when onboard and the answer is simple,, pumped straight to sea!! Yes I know that sounds bad, but the "waste" is macerated as it is pumped and the quantities in relation to the sea are so small, and apart from which, everyone else does the same! The only people who use holding tanks seem to be the charter boats and then only a few of them!
Ok so that was the history, not nice, but honest!! Now to resolve the problem of emptying my tanks! I had bought a new pump a couple of days ago, it fits straight onto hosepipe and I have some old hose available. I made up a lead from a cigarette lighter plug to supply 12v to the pump, then was ready to go. I cleared out the starboard bow cabin, removed mattresses etc and accessed the tank. In all honesty it just looked like sea water in there as when you pump it through, it gets diluted by about 10:1. Window open, hoses out and in the tank, then plugged in the pump! It pumps 5 gallons a minute and took a couple of minutes or so to empty the tank! That was so much easier than I had dreaded, if only I'd done it a few years ago!
Next I looked at the port bow cabin, but there is too much stuff in there to do it today and anyway, what would I do tomorrow if I finished everything!!!
Time to read a book for a bit, and celebrate a job completed with a cold beer!
After a brief rest of an hour or 3, interrupted by some pumpkin soup and maybe another beer, I decided it was time to clean some of the boat interior. Inside the cockpit I have had leaks from where the boat was abandoned for nearly 2 years, most of the marks have been cleaned pretty well, but a few remained that had been missed. I filled a couple of bowls, one with pure bleach and one with water and took 2 brillo sponges from the kitchen and set to on the marks. The bleach worked wonders, removing the worst of the stains with very little effort.
The boat is again looking better, but tomorrow I will tidy up some of the clutter which seems to keep reappearing whenever I am onboard! I tidy up before guests arrive, then whilst they are here, it gets messy, so obviously the guests fault, yet most of it is my clutter not theirs!
Towards the end of the day it started raining, so my planned trip ashore got cancelled and I cooked meatballs and mashed potato. This was another of my attempts to merge new food (potatoes) with leftover stores from the atlantic crossing (Spanish tinned meatballs)! It was ok, but the spanish meatballs were leftover because they didn't taste great 2 years ago! I still have some tinned vegetables and tinned fish from 2005 to use up, but not much left now! I have seperated the old stock into one cupboard and am gradually eating the contents, always checking there before getting a new can of something! It is safe to ignore the dates on tinned food isn't it?
Friday 11th January 2008
Up at the usual 7am or so, cup of tea and spend an hour updating the site again! Yesterday I did nothing, or so I remember, but it still turns into lots of typing when I sit at the keyboard! Must try and really do nothing today!!!
It didn't work, I ended up going ashore, seeing Ian in Island Water World to discuss one of my pumps, which he thought he had a spare part for and also talking fridges, batteries and chargers! He failed on the pump spares, but did find me replacement bearings which would fix mine, $25EC or £5 each from a shop in Castries, that might be a monday trip!
When we started talking fridges, he described my setup as a good one and said the mechanical compressor should freeze the plates in the freezer in less than an hour! Mine doesn't do that after days and never has! I have used the electrical compressor more often, but that takes ages! Ian explained how they work and gave me some ideas to think about, but that would be a job for later, or maybe tomorrow!
I "borrowed" the wifi from Sea Spray again, they really should protect their wifi connection!! And caught up on emails, which resulted in me sitting on the steps for at least an hour!
The rest of the day sort of disappeared, then I was back onboard and reading again! I guess I did manage to do less than normal today?
Saturday 12th January 2008
I spent some time checking over the fridge / freezer setup, reading the manual and combining it with the info in Nigel Calder's "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual" and I began to understand it much better! After running the engine to test the mechanical compressor, I soon discovered the centre of the compressor should spin, which I don't think mine has ever done! Checking out the electrics and the control panel has previously been rewired (before I bought the boat) and the fuse behind the panel had blown! New fuse in and try again......... Centre still not spinning, so the compressor itself isn't turning, more reading required!
I need to go to the boatyard today to see Simon or Robin about my rudder. As I arrive, Robin is in the pub (it is about 12:00) so I start chatting to him and try to order a beer and some food! Claude, John and Jim all arrive independently and soon there is a crowded table and a distinct lack of food! The service was poor, the food took ages and it was way too expensive! I won't be eating here again!!! After lunch, I go with Robin to see "the Chinaman", who runs the metalwork shop in the yard. He has some stainless to make the rudder stock with, but I'm starting to lose confidence in Robin and would really prefer Simon was doing the work. He suggests some ways of doing the repair which I'm not comfortable with, so I suggest my preferred option and his reply is that he hadn't thought of that! It was the obvious solution and a minor variation on what Simon had done before!! I think I might be stuck with Robin at the moment, but if he doesn't get a better solution by Monday i will try and find Simon and see if he will do the job himself. Originally Robin had told me that they work together but I'm not so sure now??
Back to the boat and the manual again, read the section on removing the clutch on the compressor! Take it apart and when I have it in pieces, the compressor itself still refuses to turn! To my non professional eye, the compressor is siezed and may need to be replaced. That'll be a job for monday, just finding the person to get and fit a compressor or service this one! It's now pretty late, I'm not hungry, so after a bit of reading, time for nother movie on the laptop!!
For some reason I decided to try the Rex Resorts wifi connection again, it connected and worked for free!!!! I had tried it before with no luck, but this time I got an IP address and was surfing the web immediately! The result was that I was still awake at 2am and caught up on a lot of emails and other sites I had not looked at for a while!
Sunday 13th January 2008
It's sunday, not much to do, but Earl popped over to say he had the jet rib running and really happy with it. He had only started the engine but it sounded good. We chatted for a while and he offered to take my old cooker, so that helped and saved me having to find someone who wanted it!
I decided it was about time I started using my windsurfer, so out it came, skeg fitted and I setup the rig for the first time in 2 years! I dropped it in the water and hauled up the sail first time and set off! It wasn't really windy enough, but that was fine for today, so I made it across the bay, tried to tack and had a quick swim! Back past the boat and towards the beach, then another tack (swim) and back to Blue Dolphin. Not the longest sail ever, but it felt ok. I left it tied to the back of Blue Dolphin, awaiting a little more wind, which didn't really happen all day! I did go out a few times, but not a lot to be honest!
Lunchtime came round and I had been invited to the yacht club (along with every other yachtie in St Lucia) as they had a race day for J24 yachts. I had watched the racing from Blue Dolphin as they were sailing very close to me as part of the course, then headed ashore to meet up with a few others. The club was pretty crowded, but with a good atmosphere and lots of people to chat to! I was introduced to Steve (All English guys here seem to be called Steve, plus a few Americans!) he had a wifi antenna for sale, which interested me as I was struggling to get web access! We agreed to meet later at the boat to have a look.
A lot of the afternoon passed in the yacht club, followed by a return to the boat and not too much else happening!!! I went to find Steve at about 17:00 but his partner Barbara said he had taken a knock on the head when sailing (head meets boom!) and was haviug a sleep, so we agreed to reschedule for tomorrow!
Back to my boat for chicken in red wine sauce on rice, a film, then bed!
Monday 14th January 2008
Steve and Barbara are due over about 10:00 so I do some tidying up onboard (not much) have a cup of tea and read for a while, surf the web (Rex Resorts is still working well) and generally potter about not doing too much!
They arrive, so we sit chatting over cups of tea (and fruita's!) New friends discussing background etc. They have brought the wifi booster, which was a bit more than I had expected! The Aerial was much bigger and the Engenius wifi adapter much smaller! We plugged it into my laptop, installed the drivers and immediately connected with a strong signal! It lasted 10-20 seconds then nothing! Reboot laptop, working again, nothing again!! I love computers sometimes :-)
We chatted some more, then they left to go and look at an outboard engine that Steve had agreed to help try and fix, whilst I plugged the laptop into the mains and immediately got full signal connections on the wifi! With my laptop wifi I could see 3 signals from my boat, with only 1 good enough to connect to. With the Engenius and the aerial, I had 28 wifi signals visible and was getting 4-5 bars on Rex Resorts and 54Mb connection. Naturally I decided to test their connection, which proved to be working fine, and using torrent software I tried some downloads......... Soon I was pulling down movies at 120 - 180Kb/s when previously I was struggling to open web pages!!!! No question, I was buying this aerial!!!!
I left the laptop downloading and went ashore to get an update on the rudder and to talk fridge compressors with people!! First the boatyard to find Robin or Simon, but neither of them were around! Over to Regis to talk fridges, but John wasn't there, or anyone else, door locked! Upstairs to Island Water World and Ian was busy with another customer, so I looked for the fuses and bulbs I needed for other jobs, but managed to buy only 1 circuit breaker! Ok Bread Basket for a Chicken Roti, only to discover that they were full and no seats at tables left! Luckily I had brought a book with me, so I just sat out in the sun, waited 20 minutes reading, then managed to get a table at the Bread Basket!
Soon to be disappointed, they had run out of chicken roti's so fish it was! Not so bad, they are pretty good too! After finishing the roti, I spotted Robin walk in, so we chatted for a while about the rudder. He had failed to get stainless tube to fit the rudder stock, but could get solid aluminium bar. This would be 50cm diameter solid bar, which we both agreed should be stron enough, and the price was going to be cheap so I told him to get on and do it! At least that was one job out of the way, I just have to wait and hassle him occasionally for when it would be ready!!
Next I spotted John from Regis, and had a brief chat re the compressor. He doesn't really work on them, but said he could buuy them if needed. He recommended someone, who I phoned, spoke for just over a minute, long enough to confirm I would have to replace the compressor, then my coins ran out!!
Into Island Water World and Ian was free, he suggested using Wayne to fit the compressor and to change from R12 coolant which is old and becoming illegal over to R134 which is the new Ozone friendly stuff! If I find the details on the web, Ian was happy to order it and ship to their shop for collection, Wayne could then fit it for me. We also talked batteries and Solar panels and I went away to think again!!!
Back on Blue Dolphin and I started measuring for panels! I could fit them on the bimini, but as it is cloth, there is a reasonable risk of damage to the bimini from the sharp edges. Alternatively they could go on the cabin roof, above the safety handles and windows. After some measuring, I could get either 2*85 Watt panels or 2*130 Watt. The 85's would probably look better, but if they weren't enough, I'd need more later! Time to think and see if I can bring one of each to the boat to lay them out and see what I thought? That's another question for Ian tomorrow!
Next I heard a ringing from the laptop, it was Silke calling me on Skype! We had a good long chat, she could even hear me clearly, for the first time since I've been here in the caribbean! She agreed, I had to buy this antenna! About this time, Steve and Barbara returned on their way back to their boat, so I had a quick chat, saying I was happy and all working ok, I would be over in a bit to pay them for it!! I finished chatting to Silke, then set off to their boat "Turtle" with a pocket full of cash!
Whilst on Turtle I had a look at a computer problem they had, which turned out to be that it hadn't worked for nearly a year!! It was running XP, but never made it to the login screen on startup. We managed to get into it via safe mode, but I was unable to fix it easily, so we agreed to format the drive and reinstall XP. Now we all know that is a fairly easy task, but after 3 attempts failing during the initial stages of the install of XP, we decided to try windows 2000 instead. This failed twice, at which point we agreed it was a hardware fault, possibly memory, but probably not worth trying to fix further. Instead we just sat and chatted and drunk more beer, so not too bad!!
Time passed quickly and when I returned to Blue Dolphin it was gone 23:00, way past my normal bedtime! I checked the laptop and it was merrily downloading films at 180Kb, so I left it running overnight, then off to bed!
Tuesday 15th January 2008
I was determined to sort out my freezer problems, but have decided to start with a new house battery and some extra solar panels. This will be needed anyway and will give me more charge, so I'm going to buy them and see how they cope before deciding if I'll bother fixing the engine compressor. I visited the cashpoint and withdrew my daily maximum, then went to see Ian at Island Water World. Ian gave me the best discount he could and allowed me to take both panels even though they were not fully paid for!
He didn't have the battery I wanted, but could supply 2*6v batteries that could give me 12v if connected in series and were actually more powerfull than the 12v battery I had wanted! They were also slightly smaller which was a bonus! They put these batteries on charge for me to collect tomorrow.
I took the solar panels back to Blue Dolphin and tried placing them on the saloon roof as i had planned, but they were much bigger than I had realised and even though I had measured it and they do fit, they just don't look right there.
Think about it overnight and decide where to put them tomorrow.
Wednesday 16th January 2008
I went and paid the outstanding for the solar panels and also collected the new house batteries. Those batteries were small, but so heavy!!!
I bumped into the Canadian trio chatting to Jo at the bread basket and ended up passing a pleasurable couple of hours chatting, drinking and eating! They are a bad influence on my work ethics those Canadians!!!
Eventually I returned to the boat and started running wires through the hull to feed the solar power to the batteries. I had to take the inner panels off in my cabin to get access and was half way through this when Earl turned up with a holidaymaker on the back of his jetski. I welcomed them aboard and we had a chat and a drink, then watched the sun go down. It was really nice to chat, but as a result I had not finished the wiring, lost time chatting to Silke on Skype and was now very late to collect Jo from Scuttlebutts (the marina pub!)
Thursday 17th January 2008
I woke up with an attitude that I was going to at least connect the panels today, even if not fully fitted. I ran the wires through the hull, into the aft locker where my generator is and forward into the engine compartment. Easy to type, but not so easy to do!! I guess it took about an hour to get the wires fed through, only to discover that the 30 amp regulator had connectors which would only take one wire the size I was using and I wanted to fit 2. I decided that if they only allowed for one wire that size, it must be enough, so I pulled the wire I had fitted back and connected it into the existing solar panel wiring which took less than 10 minutes.
I connected the panels with them upside down, then turned them over to face the sun. I checked the ammeter on the boat and I was getting 20 amps of charge in from the combined panels. My original panels are 2*70 Watts and I have now added 2* 130 Watts, so I have almost treble the solar power now.
I switched the freezer on, running it from the inverter and even with it drawing 20 amps, I was still getting 2-3 amps of charge! I could now run the freezer compressor all day and really chill the contents down, and not have to worry about power any more! If everything is frozen through the day, the batteries should keep it frozen easily through the night! Just have to give it a couple of days to chill and see how I get on! I should even be able to make my own ice at this rate!
We passed most of the day on the boat, then went ashore to visit the supermarket at the mall, where I collected a pay as you go phone and SIM card. At first they wanted to charge me $200EC for the phone, even though it said $129EC on the sticker. When I queried this, they said it was because I was a visitor, so I replied that I lived there and would be there for over a year! They gave me the phone for $129EC, including $10EC of credit. So I can now be called on St Lucia 5194273, which I think is +1 758 5194273 if you want to ring or text me from the UK?
Friday 18th January 2008
Another day which passed so long ago, too many beers since and I cant remember what I did! Must try to keep up to date more often!!
Saturday 19th January 2008
A bit like yesterday! Or maybe exactly like yesterday! I think I'm losing my memory!! Or am I just so busy???
Sunday 20th January 2008
This morning we spent the day around the marina, we met Wizard for the first time, they had arrived that morning after a gruelling 29 days at sea from Cape Town. 5500 miles in 29 days on a 57ft racing yacht, arriving with 3 days to spare before the start of the World Arc!!
Monday 21st January 2008
We spent the morning on Wizard, helping with preparations and I became their local contact helping to get stuff sorted. Jo was keen to join Wizard as crew, but they had some confusion over who was going and she had also agreed to meet Peter from Asolare, who was keen for Jo to join his yacht also. Jo met up with Peter before lunch and confirmed she had a place on Asolare for the World Arc. Gerrie on Wizard was disappointed, but he should have said yes and invited her onboard earlier!! Maybe they will swap boats for one of the legs and she will experience sailing on Wizard?
The rest of the day passed with working on boats and Jo packing her bags getting ready to move onboard Asolare. I think we may have consumed the odd beer in the evening too!
Tuesday 22nd January 2008
I know I spent tuesday working on Wizard and helping prepare for their trip, but I really cant remember what we did! It is Saturday now as I write this, and I have drunk a few beers between now and then! The evening definitely involved beers and some farewells to the crews of other boats!
Jo was joining Asolare today so we thought we shoudl have a photo of us together and her on the boat before she left!
Wednesday 23rd January 2008
World Arc started today, so we went sailing on Wizard, we had an interesting start, delaying the race start time by blocking the channel out of Rodney Bay!!! Ok so maybe the channel isn't 3.3m deep all the way across!!!
After tying a halyard to a rock and heeling Wizard over 30' we came clear and got out into the bay.
Sails up and 3 minutes later we were crossing the start line in mid fleet.
By the first mark, Wizard was second, we had just passed Kealoha 8 an impressive Oyster 72 and all crew had finished their third beer! The only boat ahead of us was Branec IV which is a racing trimaran, better suited to high speed crossings than cruising the world! In all fairness, we didn't stand a chance against them!
As the race headed for Panama, we sailed on to the Pitons, for some sightseeing, then back to Rodney Bay to finish preparations for the run to Panama. It only seems fair to give everyone a head start!
Back to the marina then we removed the sails ready to get them repaired by the local sailmaker. They don't have space for them there, so we are asked to bring them in the morning and they will start work on them then.
Thursday 24th January 2008
I joined Wizard again at 9am and we manouvered the mainsail around the marina and took it to the sail loft. This was an interesting challenge as they had not removed the battens and we had the sail balanced on 2 trolleys and with 6 guys carrying it on straps in between! Why the battens had not been taken out I don't know?
We collected the newly made double threaded bar which would fix the autopilot, and also had the hydraulic pipe brazed where it had been split during removal. The guys from the metalwork shop also came over to the boat to see the old bolt which needed to be replaced for the boom to mast fitting on the gooseneck. Whilst examining the bolt, he also spotted and pointed out that the boom had cracked welds where the brackets fit to the mast. we could see hairline cracks and it was eventually agreed that these would be welded first thing in the morning!
After complaints from Becky about the poor cooker onboard, Gerrie bought a new cooker from Island Water World. I was with him and even though the new 2008 price was $1300 we managed to get it for $850 as that was last years price and still on the sticker! we even got a 5% discount bringing it down to $800. The only problem with buying the new cooker was that someone had to fit it!! (no prizes for guessing who!!)
To my amazement the mainsail repairs were completed by 4.30 and we were able to collect it and return it to the boat for fitting!
Friday 25th January 2008
Wizard are due to leave today, but it will be late as they have lots to finish first! The welder and generator have been brought along the quay to the boat and they are welding the boom to strengthen it where it fits to the mast.
The genoa is still at the sail loft and needs to be collected.
It is now Friday night, the cooker has been replaced, the freezer is now working ok, the boom has been welded, Autopilot fixed, sails repaired and it must be time for a beer!!
The shopping for provisions hasn't been done.
There are still 3 bags of lauindry to be washed!!
Oh, Nearly forgot, They are planning on restocking the fridge with beer and maybe some food, then should be leaving tomorrow for Panama!
Wizard is looking good and the pubs of St Lucia will be sad to see them go!! We had quite a few drinks throughout the day, some people starting at 10am whilst waiting for hydraulic hoses! But we all agreed to go to the jump up at Gros Islet for the evening! I returned to Blue Dolphin at 7, agreeing to come back for everyone at 9.30 and take them to jump up in the dinghy!
I arrived back at Wizard, just as Becky and Chad were returning, somewhat worse for wear! Chad had been drinking all day and Becky did her best to catch up! They demanded half an hours sleep before going to the jumo uo and I knew they would not be going! I loitered on deck watching the world go by and at 10:15 when there was no sign of life and no response to my calls of "Wake up guys time for jump up" I decided to let them sleep it off! To be honest I was glad of an excuse to go back to Blue Dolphin and Sleep also.
Saturday 26th January 2008
Plans don't always come true!
With the intention of leaving Saturday morning, the tide tables showed that Wizard would have to wait until 5.30pm to get out at high tide. This gave a full day to finish preparations, get the sails on and all provisioning completed!
The mainsail was fitted to the mast track and the boom, ready for hoisting.
The autopilot was taken to a hydraulic shop to replace a hose on it and get it refilled with fluid.
There were a few delays and the shopping eventually returned about 6ish, was stowed away, but didn't include any beer! This was easily remedied by a visit to the local shop to use up all surplus Eastern Caribbean Dollars on beer and rum.
When the beer was onboard, the crew finally cast off the lines to leave, only to discover that the tide had dropped at least a foot since high tide and the keel was on the bottom!! Wizard was not leaving tonight!!
A few more beers and some pasta were shared, then an early night with agreement to leave at 4.30am Sunday, almost exactly a week after arriving
Sunday 27th January 2008
I collected Tom and Frank from the jetty at 4am and we went to rouse the crew of Wizard! The crew were sound asleep and showing no signs of leaving at 4.30 as planned! We weren't going to let them get away with that again, so we got them all up, helped prepare and the engine was started ready to leave! At this point, Gerrie went for a shower, whilst the rest waited to set off!!
It actually happened! Lines untied, Wizard motored out of the marina and through the channel without grounding! The mainsail was hoisted and Wizard set off into the darkness! Light winds at the start, but an expected 15-20 knots on their tail for most of the day!
We wished them a happy sail and the new crew on Wizard are:
Gerrie Boshoff - Skipper
Chad Ferreira, John Brownhill, Victor Luiz and Becky from Liverpool as crew.
It is 1150 miles to Panama and they hope to arrive there in about 6-7 days, so ETA is 2nd or 3rd Feb.
After watching them eventually leave, I took Frank and Tom back to Blue Dolphin for a morning coffee and a chat, then returned them to shore sometime just after 6am. Back to the boat and a bit of a sleep on deck!
I did a few chores on the boat, chatted to Silke on Skype for a bit and then headed ashore to collect some canvas for my solar panels, which wasn't ready! I bumped into Ian from Island Water World and passed a nice half hour just chatting about life with him, then headed off to find Robin and collect my rudders.
The rudders were ready and looking good, but I had promised to bring a bolt with me just to check that it cleared a hole! I had forgotten, so just took one rudder back to the boat promising to return in half an hour with the bolt. I hung the rudder on the back of the boat, found the bolt, then Earl arrived on my jet rib, all working fine. We went for a quick spin on the rib before heading into town for something to eat at his girlfriends bar. I wasn't going to be back with Robin in half an hour, or maybe just in a Caribbean half hour!!
Eventually I returned to Robin, we redrilled the hole to get clearance for the bolt and I handed over the remainder of the cash for the job. I carried the new rudder back on the tender and having decided I didn't have enough grease, I would have to get some and fit it tomorrow.
I was awoken from a sleep on deck by Earl shouting up from his jetski. Did I mind if he brought a couple of friends out? I agreed as he is a good guy and brings out nice people! So next I know Mikey and his wife are onboard, both soaking wet, as the three of them had fallen off the jetski as they got onboard at the beach!! Out with a few beers and we chatted and passed an hour or so! I am now invited to Rex Resorts to enjoy the benefits of their all inclusive beer supply :-)
Monday 28th January 2008
This morning I went and bought the grease and whilst there bumped into Tom and Frank. They offered to help fit the rudders and came back to Blue Dolphin with me. I started to clean the rudder slots and noticed that the Port bearing was missing from the hole? This was strange as I had removed the starboard one when I removed the rudder (it stuck to the shaft) but the port one had stayed in the hole! Not any more!! This would be a problem as the bearings are effectively a 4" internal diameter collar about 3" long and I wasn't sure where I would get one out here?
We went to find someone who could make the rudder bearing for me. The guys in the boatyard said they couldn't and someone else suggested a machine shop just outside the yard. He gave me a lift there and they were really helpful and promised to sort it out for me. Leave it with them and phone at the end of the day or tomorrow. I explained that I was out all day tomorrow and would aim for collecting it on wednesday. I arranged my hire car for tomorrow, as I had to collect Lesley from Hewanarra airport which is at the other end of the island. The cheapest way is to hire a car and make a day of it sightseeing! Tom and Frank were up for it, so we agreed to spend the day around the island..
Tuesday 29th January 2008
I collected the hire car at 08:30 and met Tom outside. Frank had returned to the guest house as he had inadvertently left his money in his shorts which he had just left to be laundered!! We drove back to their hotel and collected Frank who now had his money, then set off for our round the island tour.
First we went through Castries and headed for Marigot Bay. This is a picturesque bay with a narrow entrance but a much larger bay inside. The mangroves give great protection from hurricanes and people tie their boats into the mangroves if a storm is forecast. It is said that the English hid a whole fleet in here by tying palm leaves to the rigging and the French just sailed past! Nowadays it is the home of the Moorings charter fleet and they have converted part of the bay into a modern European style shopping arcade!
Next we took the coastal road to Souffriere, now this road was an experience all on its own! The whole island is only 24 miles long, but i think we were half way down the island and still 30 miles from the airport at this point! The road is definitely not straight!! We stopped for the obligatory photos of the Pitons (Named after the beer brewed on the island).
In Souffriere, we had a brief walk round, then returned to the restaurant we had parked outside and had lunch. It is a fishing town and we were on the front overlooking the sea in a pirate themed restaurant, yet they had very little fish! I had a tuna steak which was good, but Tom and Frank had fish roti's which were more potato than fish!
We left Souffriere and headed for the Sulphur Springs, where you can drive in and then walk up around the bubbling pools of water rising through the sulphur. Anyone who doesn't know the smell of sulphur, just think of rotten eggs and consider that we were looking over 24 gurgling pools of them!!
The water comes out at over 100'C hence the steam everywhere and gradually cools as it flows down the streams away from the source. Further down, they have built some natural mineral baths, where the water was closer to maybe 60-70'C and meant to be really good for you! I had to give it a go, and even though I turn my jacuzzi up hot at home, this really was very very hot!
After drying off, we set off along the coast road, through a couple more towns and eventually arrived in Vieux Fort, near the airport. We tried to find the brewery but were told it was on a road out of town, so instead found a nice bar by the beach on the East coast, just at the end of the runway.
Lesley's plain was delayed, so we returned to the beach bar, then headed back to the airport and waited on the grass along with the holidaymakers who were going home! Lesley soon came through the arrivals gate and after a chat, we set off on the East coast road towards home. I hadf planned it this way, as the East coast road is much quicker and straighter, but it was soon dark, so we saw very little as we drove. A desire for a rest was agreed upon and we found a nice roadside bar, where we had a couple before continuing on the road to Castries and back to the marina. Dinner was eaten in Gros Islet with Tom and Frank, choosing a bar where they had obviously become locals! Then Lesley and I returned to the marina and took the dinghy back to Blue Dolphin where we were soon off to bed! It had been a long day for both of us, me sightseeing and Lesley flying in from Gatwick, having left Mallorca the previous day!
Wednesday 30th January 2008
We had a relaxed start, with a few pancakes and some reading, sunbathing and chatting, followed by a trip ashore just before lunchtime. We strolled round to the machine shop, but they had not yet managed to get the material for the bearing. We passed some time ashore, then returned to the dinghy and back to Blue Dolphin.
Whilst we had been ashore, the sea had changed and a big swell had built up in the bay. Most of the boats anchored near us had left and we were one of only three boats left in this spot. I would have happily stayed, but Lesley was a bit uncomfortable, so we started the engines and pulled up the anchor. When I went back to the controls, I noticed that the starboard engine had cut out! Normally this would be ok, but with no rudders I needed both engines to be able to steer. I went down and restarted the engine, it lasted 10 seconds then cut out again. My immediate reaction was to dump the anchor down again as with 1 engine I could not control the boat and keep us off the beach if we drifted!
With the anchor back down, I checked the engine and it was an easy fix! When fitting some wiring for the new solar panels last week, I had knocked the diesel stop cock off so there was no diesel going to the engine! switched back on and the engine started and ran smoothly. We raised the anchor again and this time I had control and set off across the bay. I could easily steer by adjusting the power to either engine and we made our way 1 mile across the bay and through to a nice spot near the beach, between Pigeon Island and the Sandals resort. Anchor down, engines off and get sorted again! I went down the rear steps and thought they looked lower in the water than normal, so immediately opened the aft lockers and to my horror they had several feet of water in them!! The holes for the rudders were ok when stationary but as we motored across the bay they had obviously been letting in water at speed and were now under the surface themselves! Now it doesn't take much to realise that a 4" diameter hole in the bottom of a boat is bad news and I had two, one each side! Lesley asked what was wrong and I told her she didn't want to know, as I rushed inside to shut off the drains from these lockers into the main bilges! This stopped the water filling the boat, which could have sunk her! But the port side was already full to the floorboards level again, just like when Silke had been onboard! I blocked the holes with some towels and Lesley bailed out the port aft locker, shilst I started draining the water from the bilges, using 2 electric pumps and the manual bilge pump. I had pumps capable of clearing 10 gallons per minute, yet it still took what seemed like half an hour to clear the water and empty everything!!! Then I could start on the starboard aft locker, which was harder as it has the generator in it, giving less access space. I cleared it below the waterline and then let the water flood into the starboard bilges at a controlled speed and the bilge pumps kept up with the flow and drained the water out as designed. This had not been a good experience and Lesley has threatened to warn all future guests that I try to drown them, so I thought I would put it here anyway! I really need to get those rudders back fitted again very soon!!
After all the excitement, we agreed to go onshore and watch the sunset from the top of Fort Rodney, then have dinner in the Jambe du Bois restaurant at the bottom. We tied up the dinghy and started to walk up the path, only to be told that we could not go up as the park was closed. I explained we wanted to see the sunset, but they said it would not be safe to come down in the dark so we could not! Oh well, straight to the restaurant instead!
Thursday 31st January 2008
I can't really remember what happened today!!!
