10:42.14N 61:39.77W
If Knot Y Knot
Patricia Day
Mon 1 Oct 2007 19:54
Week ending 30 September 2007
Sunday
There are a few boats I know over at TTSA. The office was closed and I
was concerned about getting back in without a pass, but I was told that I
had to sign in at the office before security would let me out. Good
security, but a little unworkable on a holiday weekend. I said that I was
on Cheetah 2 and they would let me back in.
I walked to Crews Inn for dominoes Blue Water Cat were there and so we
went for the obligatory ice cream shake before returning ? I am being
accused of leading people astray, but they do not seem to need much
persuading.
At TTSA there is a bar and wifi in the gazebo and a pool.
We were all waiting for the weather updates as it was expected to get ugly
if the tropical disturbance closed down. They do a pot luck and a BBQ
here, but I am not going ashore this time.
I may go back round the other side for the rest of my paid mooring, but I
have quite a nice little space here that I would not want to lose.
Whatever I decide I will have to get my fender back from the other
mooring, but someone over there with a dinghy would do that for me.
Monday
As mentioned this is a holiday, Emancipated, Independent and now we have
Republic Day. Again we waited for the bad weather. I put out the rest of
my chain, nearly 200 feet.
I am going to have to charge up my batteries twice a week at the rate I am
going, which means motoring somewhere or just sitting here with the engine
on. I cannot get the revvs up without being in gear, so a new throttle
with a button to take it out of gear is under consideration.
I forgot to say that last week in Chacacatare, before I got there, a boat
caught fire, air conditioning powered by a generator while the people were
having a swim. They only had one fire extinguisher, which did not work.
The boat burnt down to the waterline. That was quite a sobering event.
Tuesday
We have given up on the bad weather, the system fell apart, but there are
always more coming through. There is another hurricane, Karen, but not
threatening land at present.
My batteries are nearly down to 50% and I will have to charge them tomorrow.
I have bought a bag of ice for the fridge, which will give me ice in the
drinks and stop the fridge cutting in as much. I can charge up my Trini
mobile and the computer on shore as these can take the 110v current.
There have been a few bouts of breeze and the wind generator has been
working a bit today.
I am still repairing the genoa, there is a lot of it. I am down to the
bottom strip, but it will take a few more days.
Wednesday
Out and about day. I charged the batteries for an hour and a half and the
batteries only went up 5%. I rowed to shore and could not remember
turning the engine switch off, so rowed back. I had turned off the engine
battery, to stop anyone driving off with my boat and that meant I did not
have to worry about the switch, but it is always best to check.
Off to Crews Inn for some cash and Customs for my cutlass bearing. I have
the poker box and need to get it to Bob for tomorrow and I probably will
not go as it means coming back in the dark on my own. Bob launched
yesterday and is sitting on my YSATT mooring, so he was going to go to
the office to pay, collect the poker box and bring me my fender. He was
about to come and meet me when it rained, serious rain, so I waited. Two
hours later he arrived, too late for the office, so we went for a coffee,
I was very damp and it was too cold to sit in the air conditioning.
Bob dropped me off on the other side and I got a fitting from an
upholsterers for my sprayhood that I have been trying to mend.
I went to the post office and they had my cutlass bearing, 3 weeks, I did
not have my passport. They phoned the TTSA office and got my passport
number from the form I had filled in and I got my bearing, which is very
nice and destined for the spares locker.
The engine people say that my throttle has to work out of gear and the
only alternative I can see is to pull the handle out from the binnacle,
which I have been trying for the last 5 years. I am sure the throttle
will end up in pieces before long, just to find out for certain ? it is
£200 for a new one.
I did have a quick dip in the pool when I got back; the kids were in the
big part, so I went in the kiddie end. My dinghy was half full of
rainwater and I emptied that out and then filled the 5 litre water bottles
that I use to keep the tank full. I can use as much water as I am
prepared to ferry across.
Thursday
I used the engine for an hour to charge the batteries, but this time I put
it in gear. I was in reverse with 1500 rpm and the boat did a nice twirl.
There is a boat next to me that has not spoken to anyone, I got close and
he came up to watch, but still he did not say anything. That was putting
45 amps into my batteries, but after 5 minutes I went down to 1000 rpm and
was getting 26 amps for the rest of the hour. An hour a day and careful
usage, should mean the batteries will charge up over the course of a week
or so, but I would like to motor out to one of the islands if anyone I
know is going.
Today we have a free trip to Trincity a big new mall with the largest
supermarket in Trinidad. I bought some double 12 dominoes and a few t
shirts and spent less than £5 in the supermarket, but it was fun. The
supermarket provided us with free tea, coffee and sandwiches and we get 3%
off, so it is certainly somewhere I will go again.
Friday
This morning was devoted to servicing the toilet, which cannot easily be
done on the hard as I need lots of water and very little clothing. It
took longer than I had anticipated, nothing new there, but it is all
sparkly now and the water inlet is working well. This is a good sign for
the watermaker, which I will try when I have some spare power.
After cleaning up I was going ashore, but we have just had the heads up on
some ugly weather and have been advised not to leave the boat. The wind
generator may provide a few amps, but I shall have to postpone going
ashore to charge up the computer. There are some waves already and we
have had a couple of bouts of rain.
The bad weather did not arrive and we went in for a social evening. Jane
has a ball that makes ice cream, but you have to roll it aroung for 45
minutes. We did double that and it was still molten, but we could not
wait any longer. We added my DIY Baileys and it was good, then we had a
game of Give Us a Clue ? the American version; some of the phrases I have
no idea what they mean.
Saturday
I up anchored and set off for Scotland Bay to charge up the batteries
under power and hopefully get my throttle looked at. The batteries went
up to 70%, but the person I needed did not show, so I read a book. 500
pages of detailed stuff and all I really wanted to know was Who Dunnit and
Why. The finer points of literature seem to have passed me by at the
moment.
Sunday
10 42 141N 061 39 767W. There are Howler Monkeys in these hills and they
do, quite a scary sound if you were alone.
I left the bay and came back to Chaguaramas. On the way I stopped off at
Molasses to pick up a memory stick from Bruce. I came round to TTSA, but
stopped off at the corner to raft up to Loreley to put the info onto
Mike?s computer. Mike solved the riddle with my throttle lever. There is
a button, well there would be if the necessary part had not been missing.
We put a screwdriver in the hole in the middle of the nut and lo the
throttle disengaged the gears. The boat is now 5 years old, a little too
late to ask them for the part. Now we know what the problem is it is only
a matter of time and ingenuity to find a suitable substitute part to do
the job.
I then went and anchored, in time to get to dominoes. I have started to
live in a bikini now I am on the water, but I have to be careful in the
sun, normally the awning is up, but not when motoring and today I
definitely have some very pink patches.
This evening I went to do the twice monthly battery check and I am trying
to establish whether the wind generator is putting any amps in. The dump
resistors are very hot, so the generator is working, but it is all being
wasted. This I will have to investigate in the morning, give me something
to do.