Oh When the Saintes!
Eowyn
Sun 15 Apr 2007 22:00
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This update is sent from Isles
de Saintes in position 15:52.04N 61:35.14W.
 Éowyn with Bourg de Saintes in the
Background
We returned to Éowyn on Tuesday 10th
April and as usual hit the ground running. Arriving at the boatyard at 1530, we
soon had the electrics up and running and removed the lay-up cover to discover a
thick layer of dust on the deck. Chris set about this at the cost of a later
backache, and I fitted 1 or 2 minor improvements such as an aerial splitter to
serve the excellent NASA AIS radar.
The next day, we treated ourselves to
breakfast at Cafe Ole at the marina as I needed some EC$ cash to pay my yard
bill. We then bumped into friends Bob and Kathy Glassman from " Bon Accord".
They had also returned to their yacht on Wednesday, but had a somewhat gentler
timetable than us. The boatyard duly launched Éowyn some 30 minutes early and I
only have praise for their professionalism in the way they handle the yachts.
Their standard of care would put most European yards to shame.
We spent one night in the Marina but
I have to thank the World Cup cricket for our rapid outward clearance. The
Officer I saw did not want to inspect the yacht as is usual after an importation
but was keen not to miss any of the match. Clearance was completed in less than
5 minutes!!!
We had planned a gentle sail
northwards and on Thursday night we put into Schoelcher on Martinique. The next
day, a superb ESE Force 5 took us to Pancho's moorings south of Roseau on
Dominica. Regrettably, Pancho reported their were still some problems with cat
burglars, so we locked ourselves in overnight!
The favourable winds continued to
take us to the Saintes where we are spending a couple of days. We rented a
scooter which just about managed to get us up the hills and enjoyed the superb
scenery away from the day trippers in Bourg de Saintes.
 Master & Commander
One success story I must relate,
concerns my attempts to make a means of powering winches on the cheap. I had
obtained a tool called a "Winchbit" to connect a domestic drill to the winch
socket, but the recommended Milwaukee drill was not man enough for the job. I
managed to acquire a brand new Makita DA4000LR on Ebay and this is easily able
to hoist the dinghy, set and furl sails and hoist people up the mast. It is not
a complete solution as it is mains powered via our inverter and therefore cannot
be used in rain. However, so far it has proved very successful in supplementing
this ageing skipper!
  Makita Drill Adapted to Power our
Winches with a "Winchbit"
Tomorrow, Monday 16th, we sail to
Point a Pitre on Guadeloupe to pick up Joy and Mike who are sailing with us to
Antigua to watch the Classic Regatta.
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