Sorry for the delay
Cat-man-do
Fri 14 Dec 2007 14:20
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The final day, was, as I said, slow to say the
least, it seemed to go on for ever. We had all hoped to make landfall in the
daylight, but it wasn't to be. As night fell you could sense a change on the
boat as it was obvious that people just wanted to get there. After weeks at sea
and rarely seeing another boat we found ourselves in a convoy of a whole gaggle
of other yachts, all heading the same place. Slowly as we neared the island you
could begin to make out first, the shape of the mountains then large
buildings and the occasional car headlight winding it's way around.
It was probably just an illusion but the shooting
stars seemed to become our guides, frequent and suddenly brighter,
flying across the sky leaving glowing fiery trails behind them, all in the
direction of the finish.
Pete started nervously going back and forth, back
and forth between the saloon navigation area and the cockpit checking and
adjusting course. Howard took the helm whilst Rob took the opportunity to savour
the moment. Personally I began to contemplate the coming challenge of getting
the boat into a strange and unknown marina using one engine. We'd never even
tried simple motoring on one engine, never mind trying to get it into a
berth.
I put that to the back of my mind as we hardened up
to the wind (pointed more towards it) and headed past a lovely huge old square
rigger in the bay, and on towards the finish line. A little boat came out
and took some pictures of us and we bashed to wind, determined not to use any
engine power till we were over the line. And slowly but surely we floated
serenely over the line. Well it wasn't quite that serene, as Howard seemed
intent of introducing himself to locals as soon as possible by heading straight
at the boat that was one end of the finish line. A little adjustment here and
there though and we squeezed through with a little room to spare.
Now the bit I was dreading, we whipped the donkey
(started the engine) and dropped the sails, and, after checking the chart
briefly headed for the Red and Green lights that marked the entry to the
channel.
The boat seemed to behave itself quite nicely, all
things considered and we squeezed ourselves through the narrow cutting and into
the Marina basin. The mooring lines and fenders were made ready and the rally
berthing told us where we were to be berthed. As we approached we could see
people on the pontoon waiting for us, including touchingly Simon, Andrew and
Stephanie from Gertha. We had left Plymouth in May at the same time as them, and
someway over 4000 miles later, arrived within an hour of them in St
Lucia.
With some trepidation I nudged her down into the
line of moorings. The theory with a cat is that you stop more or less next to
where you want to be, then "simply" using the engines, turn it around in it's
own length and reverse it up to the pontoon where you tie it all down plug it
into the shore power and have a drink.
I soon found that cats on one engine a) don't go
where you want them to and b) don't steer at all going backwards.
I attempted to get it onto the berth stern to, but
it just wasn't having it. To add insult to injury a squall picked this moment to
come through and the heavens absolutely opened, drenching everyone within
seconds, proper Tropical rain.
The rain was one thing, the wind that came with it
was the biggest problem. Space is quite tight between pontoons and being
blown towards other boats with little control over where the boat was
going was not where I wanted to be. I gunned the engine as much as I dared and
got us away from the other boats. In that wind I wasn't even going to attempt
it. We looked at taking the simple option of dropping the anchor for the night
within the marina but to be honest couldn't actually find anywhere with enough
space for us to do it. Anyway we "hovered" around for a few minutes and somewhat
reluctantly I agreed to give it another go. Shoving aside any thoughts other
than, lets get this damn thing tied up. We headed back to the berth. Forgetting
any ideas about putting the back of the boat to the pontoon, I simply drove the
thing, nose in between the two concrete posts and into the berth. The best way I
can describe it is like trying to drive a car that has faulty steering and will
only steer in one direction. Possibly mildly amusing
for, oh lets say a second or two until you realise
that it has a mind of it's own.
I'm not going to bore you with details of how we
eventually managed to push and shove it in, but enough to say, we had arrived
!!
I jumped off the boat and gave Andrew a big
"blokey" hug and eagerly took the offered Rum Punch. It was about 3 in the
morning.
Naturally an impromptu party took place and we
drank, played guitar and generally enjoyed watching the sun come up. We had
visitors from other boats that we'd never met and all we're made welcome,
especially the crew that turned up with a metal pouring cradle, enclosing a 3
litre bottle of Vodka !!
We were still drinking at 9 the following morning
when it was decided we really should go and clear immigration/customs, so myself
and Peter headed off to find the office.
Anyone watching would I hope ,find it as amusing as
we did, staggering off down the pontoon, with myself having to stop Peter
actually falling in the dock on several occasions.
How we got through the formalities of customs and
stuff I really have no idea. Neither myself or Peter can actually remember
anything about it. But we have the paperwork to prove we'd been!
Back to the boat and Rob and Howard had already
collapsed into deep sleep and, seeming the sensible thing to do, we followed
suit.
There were some "delicate" heads the following
morning as you imagine. Actually I say morning, clearly we didn't actually see
any more of the morning.
We have since then had a visit from the Volvo
engine man, who has confirmed that the engine will indeed have to be removed and
either completely re built or possibly easier and cheaper put a new engine
in.
Not a job I envy anyone getting this out, it
appears the boat has been built around the engine. I wish them good luck with
that one.
So the parties here commence, but, it has to be
said with some people missing. Rebel T have still to arrive, hopefully some
time later today.
.
Personally I'd like to thank Peter for inviting me
along on this trip and Rob and Howard for being such a pleasure to spend the
time with.
Thanks go to Shawn for keeping us up to date with
events at home and searching out advice when we had the engine problems.
As a crew generally, we'd like to thank the friends
and especially family who've heard nothing but the planning of this trip for so
long and good naturedly tolerated the long hours it's taken.
And especially the friends and family who kept in
touch via E mail along the way.
I've quite enjoyed writing these blogs, it's my
first real attempt at it and hope you've enjoyed a little insight in to our life
on board.
We heard yesterday that John Thompson from
Avocet, has sadly died. Our thoughts are with his family and the crew who are
still on board the boat.
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