17:04.45N  61:53.76W

 

Wednesday 14 to Saturday 17 May 2014

 

Wednesday

 

Distance Run  51 nm

 

We got going before 7 am and steered around the reefs and set sail for Antigua.  The wind was from the south east which was a shame as any direction with a bit of south in it is against us.  The strength wasn’t too bad though and we made good progress and reached the northern tip of Antigua around mid-day.  As we came down the west coast the wind dropped in the shelter of the island so we furled away the genoa and put the engine on and motored under mainsail only.

 

 

 

The west coast of Antigua:-

 

 

 

Having made good progress we skipped Jolly Harbour and pressed on in favour of one of the south coast bays.  This would shorten the distance and improve the angles for the next passage to Guadeloupe.  No sooner had we decided to do this then the mainsail tore again – along a different seam to  last time.  We managed to furl the mainsail way quickly preventing further damage and turned around to go back to Jolly Harbour where we cleared in with Customs and Immigration.

 

 

Thursday

 

A couple of telephone calls resulted in our discovering that the 3 sailmakers on the island are all in or near English Harbour on the south coast.  So early Thursday morning we dropped and removed the mainsail before the wind got up and bundled it on the foredeck before raising anchor and motoring the 12 nautical miles to Nelson’s Dockyard Marina in English Harbour.  When we were last here two weeks ago the place was buzzing during Antigua Race Week.  We knew it would be quieter now and but were still shocked to see Nelson’s Dockyard Marina virtually empty.

 

 

Tied up at Nelson’s Dockyard.  The boat behind us seemed to be a permanent resident.  We’ve not done this style of stern-to berthing since the Canary islands:-

 

 

 

 

Around the corner, this area now virtually empty of boats :-

 

 

 

 

We took the mainsail ashore and laid it out on the grass so we could fold it properly and then took it on a trolley to a A&F Sails who were very busy.  One of the guys looked at the damage and professed the repair work as ‘minor’ but said no decision could be made as to when they could attend to the repair until the ‘bossman’, Frank had had a look.  We can’t expect everybody to drop what they are doing just because we popped in but we wanted to find out whether a repair would take 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months so we can decide whether to try elsewhere.  Frank was offsite and the timing of his return was a bit vague.

 

I did eventually meet Frank in the afternoon who confirmed the repair was easy after we looked at the sail together.  The sailcloth was fine but the stitching had weakened through UV damage over the years.  He hoped to get to it either tomorrow or Monday but more probably Monday.  We settled down and assumed Monday or later, this being the Caribbean, and I was concerned to see the sail still on the ground outside the sail loft late in the afternoon still not re-folded and brought safely indoors.  Everything seemed a little bit casual.

 

On Friday afternoon I returned to see whether they might still be able to get to the repair on Monday to be told the work was already done and I could have the sail back at about 3 or 4 pm!  Fantastic news.  After a lot of effusive thanks I collected the sail. 

 

 

The view from the stern to the empty ‘Galley Bar’:-

 

 

 

 

Lin in the Galley Bar checking the weather forecasts:-

 

 

 

We left Nelson’s Dockyard Marina on Saturday and motored around to the free anchorage in nearby Falmouth Harbour when during a calm spell we hoisted the mainsail and furled it away into the mast ready for the next passage to Guadeloupe.