24th December 07

Osprey
John Bowering
Tue 25 Dec 2007 00:21
A hectic but satisfying day. We set out this morning to have the boat cleaned and ready to move before 0900 and then to go to the fuelling berth to top off with diesel and water before heading back to Fort de France to collect our repaired sail and then be back at our now favourite restaurant in time for lunch. We have become a real team in getting the boat underway, with John on the anchor and Anita on the helm. We were clear of the anchorage at 0900 but when we got to the fuelling berth there was an American boat there making a meal of the process. So we had to hover in a very restricted area whilst they completed and eventually moved out. Even at 45,000lbs Osprey is a great boat to manoeuvre with her large feathering propeller which has lots of transverse thrust, so even in the confined area around the fuelling berth and with rocks on either side we were able to hold our position and just sit and wait. We were also able to berth neatly with Anita handling the ropes and the "wizened" Frenchman in charge of the berth was amazingly complimentary about our boat handling - no small compliment I suspect coming from him. Mind you the Americans were not exactly a hard act to follow! One of the interesting things we have noticed here is that a lot of the American boats are not flying their National Flag any longer. In discussing this we have come to the conclusion this is out of self protection as they do not generally receive much of a welcome at present.

Fuelling itself was interesting as the berth ran out of diesel in one tank as were taking it on board. As a result they had an air lock in the system and not only did it take forever to take on 100 Gallons but it kept blowing back so that by the end of it John was pretty well covered in diesel. Anyway we finally got away at about 1030 and motored at maxim speed for Fort de France to anchor again under the walls of the fort. John then took of in the dinghy to get the sail. We had this back on board or 1215 and were underway immediately heading for the restaurant (and of course the adjacent anchorage). We were happily having our aperitifs at 1320 and were ready for our siesta at 1515 in good French Style. At 1700 we had the task of re mounting the mainsail and unfortunately were not lucky enough to have no wind - so it was a bit of an exercise and Anita developed some new muscles working the halyard winch. Took longer than we had hoped with the wind and we finished with all the foredeck and spreader lights on. Dinghy was also hoisted ready for an early start in the morning and subject to an inspection of our work in daylight we are ready for the trip back north and are practising our English in anticipation.

Blog Entries

2013 2012 2010
Dec 2010 Aug 2010 Jul 2010 Jun 2010
2009
Oct 2009 Sep 2009 Jun 2009 May 2009 Apr 2009 Mar 2009 Feb 2009 Jan 2009
2008
Nov 2008 Oct 2008 Aug 2008 Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Jan 2008
2007
Dec 2007 Nov 2007 Oct 2007 Sep 2007 Jul 2007
2006