16:10.4N 61:46.8W

Having waxed lyrical about Vybration getting our outboard motor going again after the Barbudan debacle and with the benefit of our new raising and lowering technique, we arrived at Charlestown, Nevis, full of confidence for the mile or so from the mooring buoy to the town jetty. Ominously the outboard was difficult to start but it did get going and off we went. After about fifty meters it spluttered to a halt and refused to start again. "Oh dear, how frustrating” we gently murmured as we paddled back against the wind. On the boat the cockpit was converted into an outboard motor workshop. Annie was rightly convinced that if we worked on the motor whilst it was fixed to the rail then most of the nuts, bolts and so-on would end up on the sea bed. She suggested we could mount the motor on the front of the binnacle over the folded table and we found that this works so well it could have been designed for the purpose! Nuts, bolts, gaskets and such like rained harmlessly down onto the cockpit floor - itself protected by the large sheets of plastic she had hoarded for just such an occasion. Furthermore we and the outboard were protected from the watery rain by the sun canopy. Perfect!! The amount of oil, water and fine sand we got out of the carburettor and fuel system was amazing. 

The following day with the motor once more back on the dinghy it started first time (I know, unbelievable). However, in the process of starting it we noticed that the pull cord had almost frayed through. We toyed with the idea of taking replacement cord and some tools with us into town but our new found sang froid prevailed and the outboard workshop was back in action. Another highly productive team effort had a new cord in place with tension still in the return spring mechanism. To celebrate we motored across to a nearby beach bar for a sundowner. The fact that we found, when time came to pay, that we had left our money on board wasn’t going to dampen the occasion and we joyously motored back for it.

After an abandoned attempt to motorsail across to Montserrat into the wind and waves, which did at least give us the amazing spectacle of breeching humpback whales, the next day a successful but still horrible motorsail got us there. Motorsailing into wind and waves means a couple of lurches forward, acceleration over a brief smooth patch and then bang, falling off a wave and shuddering almost to halt. A couple more waves slam into the bow to keep the speed down and then it begins to pick up again and the sequence is repeated. Hateful and in this case relieved only when the wind backed - later than forecast - and we were able to sail properly without the engine for a couple of hours. And then on to Guadeloupe (Deshaies) and the set of Death in Paradise. Or so it is claimed - we have taken pictures and you can judge for yourselves. The major feature of the anchorage there is the gusty wind blowing down the valleys in the surrounding hills and across the bay. With the associated swinging these gusts can be terrifying! We left the anchor alarm on the whole time although Annie did snorkel over the anchor to see that the head was fully buried with the shaft lying partially buried horizontally which was reassuring. We noticed the same thing in Montserrat but on previous occasions when we have looked, the anchor (a Bruce you may recall) had fallen onto one side and only one of the outer flukes was dug in. We thought this might be as intended but in fact by applying more reverse when lowering the anchor all three flukes dig in. What is of interest now is the fact that we were lying in the opposite direction to that when Annie looked at the anchor for much of the time. We don’t know whether the anchor was still in its original position or whether it had been pulled around to align with the new direction of pull from the chain. Presumably if the anchor does realign the shaft could be lifted and/or it could flip onto one side. A topic for more snorkelling research.

Back to the outboard and dinghy. Our dinghy is a small Seago with a flat bottom. This means it is light but does not plane over the waves. It is very wet when going into the waves in a strong wind. In fact so wet that Annie and I had to turn back the other day as we were soaked and the dinghy was filling up! After we had got back to Vega it was too windy to lift it out so we tied the dingy onto the back of the boat and retired below for a cup of tea. On re-emerging I saw that the dinghy, with the outboard still attached, had been flipped right over in the wind and was upside down. Now, I have reached the point on this trip where I realise that the only way forward is with a smile, deep breath and a resigned application to dealing with each new adversity. Maybe this is part and parcel of cruising. Maybe we just don’t think ahead enough, maybe we are not sufficiently competent or maybe the Gods really are conspiring against us. Whatever, there wasn’t much light left and we needed to retrieve what we could from the dinghy, try and get it upright and secure it for the night. One oar was poking out from underneath and could be reached from the boat. The other floated away from the dinghy but fortunately the water is so warm here that you don’t need to think twice about jumping in. After a short swim it was back on board. Nothing else had been left in so after a struggle and getting the wind to do much of the work we managed to get it upright and shorten the securing lines so that it was more sheltered by the boat and could not be flipped over again. The following day was spent back in the workshop. Having drained the remaining oil and petrol, I washed the motor down with a mixture of fresh water and Bilgex (it was covered in a thick layer of oil) for which the garden spray came into its own again. New oil, fuel and half a tin of WD40 later the motor was back on the dinghy and started second pull. Really unbelievable and a testament to the Mariner submersible outboard. It got us into town and back but will only run with the choke permanently out a little so some more tweaking is required.

We occasionally see people with smaller dinghies than ours but, for the most part, they are larger and with bigger engines (ours is 2.5hp). Larger means heavier and this would not suit us for launching and retrieving. What I think would be better would be a slightly larger HonWave that has a high pressure V shaped planing floor and for which our motor would be suitable, but could be replaced with a larger one. We’ll see what the Caribbean mark up is when we get to the marina at Point-a-Pitre.