Newton Ferrers                                                                                                                                                7th May 2014

After suffering the predations of the marauding ferry and the visicitudes of the passage to Trinidad with poor wounded Oriole and our initial Gestapo reception at Crews Inn Marina life has taken a frenetic but productive turn for the better.

Our loyal crew Dan worked really hard for the few days he was marooned in Trinidad and we managed to get Oriole in a state to haul ashore after the Easter break.  Work was immediately started on stripping off all the damaged stainless steel fittings on deck, which eventually amounted to almost everything.  The only things left will be a few mooring cleats and the bases for the few lightly or undamaged stanchions.  Everything else has now been removed for rebedding or reconstruction. The mast was lifted and together with the sail furling gear was moved to the rigging workshop.

                                                                                                                    The crane comes to lift the remains of the mast.

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                                                                                                   The hull looks pristine as Oriole is edged into her summer quarters.

                                                                                               Even the massively strong stemhead fitting had to be removed for rebedding.                                                                                                                                  

Peakes were meanwhile hard at work making a wood framed shelter to house Oriole during the Hurricane Season.  Quotations for proposed work have been rapidly produced and almost equally rapidly approved by our insurers.  I have been determined not to load anything onto the insurance company which could possibly be construed as unrelated to the accident or costs that I would normally have paid during our laid up period.  The result so far has been that they in their turn have been extremely co-operative.  In order to facilitate the work much of which requires access under the deck we have removed most of the contents of the boat to a store.  Our ever supportive Trinidad friends lent us a pick-up truck, without which the task would have been much nigh on impossible.  When we ran out of booked time in our little appartment in the boat yard they housed and fed us and on two weekends invited us to their lovely island paradise "down the islands" to recuperate. 

While we are at home the new stainless steel fittings will be fabricated and the new mast and rigging sent from Selden in the US.  Our original mast profile is no longer available and so there will be a few changes in the appearance of the new rig, but functionally it should be the same.  The sails have been carefully examined and were all undamaged except for a mysterious red stain which has appeared on the foot of the staysail.  When we return all should be ready and there will be another frenetic period of activity while all the new equipment is installed and all the gear returned from the store. 

However helpful the insurance company and the many people who have already contibuted to Oriole's resuscitation nothing can compensate for the sense of fury over the needless damage to Oriole and our close brush with the grim reaper.  There is still a long road ahead. 

We are now back home and there will continue to be many transatlantic emails and telephone calls to check on the work.  We had never planned to return to Trinidad until January 2015 and we hope that we might manage to get some sailing before the next winter season ends.  By the end of January we hope to be able to report that Oriole is ready to be launched.