We know this because we are now at the Catamaran Marina in Falmouth Harbour where Les and his daughter on the boat next to us were crewing on one of the racing boats. When we arrived at Jolly Harbour we needed to re-mouse the topping lift that had become detached from the boom and worked its way up and back into the mast. The riggers we were recommended came over from Falmouth Harbour, re-moused (threaded) the topping lift and carried out a rig check. This is the rig that was renewed 15 months ago in Thailand and that I have been concerned about ever since. Four of the six lower shrouds have at least one broken wire strand and wiring that should look shiny and new is brown with rust. Not a rig to be coming back across the North Atlantic with and so here we are in Falmouth Harbour, mast removed, new rig being made up, some fittings for the wiring on the way from the USA and Oliver flying out on Saturday!

While we have been here I have been speaking with the rigger in Thailand and the company that used him to fit their new rig. He and Shawn, our rigger in Antigua, have also been in discussion and exchanging information about the rig. Despite very reassuring feedback coming from the rigger in Thailand I have no confirmation as yet from Precision Engineering that the work will be covered as a warranty claim. Furthermore the wire manufacturer is refusing to acknowledge rust and is apparently claiming it is “staining” and sending detailed cleaning and maintenance instructions, so not it’s not boding too well at the moment.

As ever with anything yachting, companies and technicians are positive on initial cost estimates and timescales but slow on delivery and way over on final cost. We are used to this and so we took the estimated timescale of mast off last Monday week and back on the following day with glee but scepticism, soon to be borne out. The mast didn’t come off until the Wednesday and has been off ever since, two weeks later. In the meantime Shawn has been racing and maintaining Sir Hugh Bailey’s yacht during Antigua week, finding that his (and any other) supplier of Selden rigging parts in the US doesn’t have the right ones in stock, that Selden are only making some of the parts to go with new masts. At the same time I have befriended Stan, owner of Antigua Rigging here at the marina, who it turns out is the Selden agent for Antigua and has most of the parts we need. He added the bits he doesn’t have to an order that has now been delivered. He is too busy to make up the wiring himself (as suggested by Shawn) but is keen to help as much as he can. What he is less keen to do is speak with Shawn direct (and vice verca). Shawn used to be Stan’s right hand man until Shawn left a few years ago. Stan is a forthright antipodean and when I asked him why on earth Shawn hadn’t spoken to him about our rig in the first place replied “because he’s a dick”. You get the gist.

Now, you may have been wondering who Sir Hugh Bailey is. Sir Hugh is a local Antiguan, knighted after setting up the Catamaran Marina and being instrumental in promoting the development of the yachting facilities on the island. His wife Helen runs the marina with a rod of iron and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She is a lot of fun though and every year at this time has a box of young Mexican Red Spot (or something like that) tortoises that have hatched in her garden and that she gives away in pairs to “suitable” homes. She seems to think our bilges would be a suitable home - at least for long enough to get them past UK customs. Much as we love them we aren’t prepared to smuggle two tortoises home with us. They will apparently grow to round two feet long after 30 years.

We are enjoying Antigua more than we did seven years ago. Possibly because we are spending longer here and getting to know it and the locals better. There is still obvious poverty and limited job opportunities beyond tourism and service industries but it is also clearer how important yachting is for local business and we are now a prime example of this. It has a very end of season feel in the yacht havens with boats being lifted out or sailing away from the hurricane zone. Nevertheless the summer is when major refits are undertaken and, hurricanes permitting, work in the supporting services will continue.

Vega has been re-fuelled. The gas bottles have been serviced and refilled. We have retrieved the new Duogen parts from customs and fitted them. We have a new engine compartment blower fan and a new cable from the mast to the cockpit wind instrument reader. I have serviced the engine that initially wouldn’t turn over and then cut out after a few seconds of running. There was an air lock caused by not filling the second fuel filter before attaching. I have been shown how to bleed the system by closing the the seawater intake, turning the engine over and undoing each fuel injector in turn to release the air in the cylinders. Still learning after all these years. We have some electrical issues including four saloon lights that normally don’t work (a dimmer switch issue) but that came on when we were operating the freshwater pump (and switched on and off when the pump was activated or stopped!). Unfortunately this failed to repeat for the electricians who can find no fault with the wiring. This has coincided with what seems to be excessive corrosion of the prop anode and also pitting of our through hull fittings. I replaced the brass fittings with bronze not long after buying the boat - maybe plastic ones are now in order. so I have looked at and discussed the the wiring and earthing arrangements on board. I could write a whole post or more about this but job for when we are in Blighty and when we will have all the wiring checked over.

We will do food provisioning, pick up Oliver from the airport and check out of Antigua over the weekend. The mast goes back on Monday morning followed by a sail with the rigger for fine tuning of the rig. We plan to head off on Tuesday with Annie flying home on Wednesday. Seems a bit tight/optimistic?