Antigua

jaba
Basil Panakis
Sat 22 Apr 2017 18:36

Left St Lucia in a hurry. I was getting no propulsion. Terry a friend of Stuart's went on a puddle board and cleared the barnacles from the prop. Apparently they went solid, he could not feel individual blades.The rest of the hull did not look impressive either.

I lost power in Rodney Bay itself. There is wind I sail is my motto. On the approach to Martinique the engine refused to stay on. The wind had piped up already, choice made for me to carry on and fix the engine when I hit a calm patch.

I kept on passing a number of islands without stopping. Domenica looked lovely, then a few outcrops south of Guadaloupe. Winds very flukey. I was on North West and those inshore on North East. I passed the place where they film Death in Paradise at 2.30 in the morning with the moon just rising.

Carried on, the wind and the current refused to let me lay the course. A lot of tacks and only got as close as 4 miles. Engine failure yet again. Did a few tacks in between sleep through the night. At 3 in the morning the wind had changed and threw me down 10 miles on to windward. Tried as an experiment the engine and it cut out after a few seconds, so I sailed into Falmouth Harbour and dropped the hook. Called for taxi service, no luck, called for a berth in Catamaran Resort nd Marina no luck.

I inflated my  own dinghy and rowed ashore, got wet on the way. Had my camera, passport, laptop in a drybag.

Let's hope when I get back the dinghy is still where I left it. No chain, no special identifying marks no boat name. Ideal item to take!!!