The charter must go on.
Oriole
Sat 27 Jan 2007 22:07
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Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. 17:00.9N
61:46.4W
The forecast of heavy north westerly swells, which
would probably have made our anchorage in the Saintes pretty
uncomfortable, persuaded us to sail up to a lovely anchorage behind
Isle Gozier on the south side of Guadaloupe where the swells would not
bother us.
While en route, John made the discovery of a
mysterious pile of what looked like sawdust in the engine compartment.
Closer inspection suggested that this was coming from the engine flywheel
housing! A phone call to Saint Tony Dunn, an engineer of note in
Newton Ferrers, well after working hours, confirmed our suspicions that the
thrust plate between flywheel and gearbox was disintegrating and the
"sawdust" was in fact chewed up bits of it. As this had been a recommended
spare part that we had been carrying around for 11 years the problem could
have been worse. Betamarine, the engine makers, confirmed that we had the
correct parts and having repaired to the safety of the nearby marina in Point a
Pitre, John set about removing the gearbox to access the trouble spot.
Once this had been achieved the disintegrating bits fell into his lap. How
the engine had continued to drive the propellor is somewhat of a mystery!
While Fran and Erik toured Guadaloupe in a hire car for the day, John
re-assembled the engine which included machining the new plate to fit. An
extremely friendly but impossibly busy engineer gave him the run of his workshop
to do it, all for the price of a few drinks.
 John tightens the last bolt before
replacing the gearbox
This little detour gave us the ideal opportunity to
traverse the Riviere Sallee which separates the two halves of Guadaloupe.
It is more a canal than a river and runs through mangroves with two bridges
which lift to allow yachts to pass, but only at 0500 when of course it is still
dark. The channel is winding and shallow but fairly well marked but
at times we were stirring up the mud with a few inches beneath the keel.
Miraculously (we are in France) the bridges lifted precisely on time and
after a fryup breakfast we continued on our way to Antigua through the reef
protected entry of the river, a magnificent wildlife haven. The winter
winds have failed for the moment and we motored across a glassy calm for most of
the way only managing to sail for the last few miles.
 North Guadaloupe. The Caribbean just
cannot be so quiet in the winter.
It was fortunate that we had escaped the
marina by Friday as it was Erik's birthday which we celebrated glutinously chez
Oriole on arrival in English Harbour.
 Rum punch to celebrate Erik's
birthday.
Fran and Erik leave us on Monday for New Zealand
and we will be very sorry to see them go. We have had a great time and
they have been great NPCGs (non paying charter guests). In spite of their non paying status they are taking us for
lunch at Harmony Hall on Sunday which, for the non-cogniscenti, is not for the
financially faint hearted.
As we entered Falmouth Harbour this morning
Mirabella V which had sailed up from Martinique overnight greeted us with two
loud blasts on her siren and a wave from the mate. We had been talking to
Andrew during the week while the engine was in bits, and it was his comment to
John that "The charter must go on, so get on with it
Dad"
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