Departing St Martin - Take 2
Apollonia
Anthony Auger / Nico Philip
Sat 5 May 2012 14:53
Day 8 - Friday 4th May 2012
We had a hectic, but brilliant day yesterday where everything that needed repairing all came together in the space of a couple of hours. Ernst and Nette at the Sail Makers and FKG Engineering really helped us out and turned things around as quickly as they could. As soon as Don rolled out of bed he was on the war-path, working like a man possessed in order to get everything fixed in time. Along with his 3 'dental assistants' (a.k.a Ian, Brett and Jamie to pass him his tools) he achieved a hell of a lot and Nico managed to re wire the new GPS unit amongst a host of other things. It was a great team effort and the boat in the berth behind us couldn't believe how hard we had been working all day. After a 12 hr shift from 07:00hrs we were ship shape and ready to leave for the Atlantic. We celebrated with a dinner at Jimbo's Blues Cafe and a couple of glasses of red wine.
Day 9 - Saturday 5th May 2012
Armed with our repaired hydraulics, Genoa, steering plate and GPS, we waited for the bridge to open at 09:00hrs and left St Martin for the second time. With all due respect to the people of St Martin, hopefully we won't have to return this time. If we average 7 knots/p/h for the next 14 days we will arrive in the Azores on schedule. Very little wind today so the engine is on…we'll keep you posted over the course of the next couple of weeks.