15th Nov 07
Osprey
John Bowering
Thu 15 Nov 2007 23:40
Osprey is berthed stern to Smokes Wharf in St George, Bermuda, courtesy of Bernie. Bernie must be 60 if he is a day and is responsible for the berth allocations in St George harbor. He is a gentleman and has adopted Osprey after our rough trip over from Portland and we are getting the best of everything. Currently we are berthed between something like $15 million of boats, with a 130 ft power yacht on our port side and a 50ft Swan on our starboard side. Outboard of the motor Yacht is Ticonderoga, a 70 ft ketch with is also 70 years old and in imaculate condition. I have to say that Osprey presents very well in this company.
Portland Yacht services have done a wonderful support job for us and have got all the spares into Bermuda overnight. - Then there is Bermuda customs and FEDEX which require very careful massaging to get the goods to the boat. Fascinating really as the packages arrive at St George - but you can't collect them from the airport. They are then sent to Hamilton where again you can't collect them without incurring import duty. The goods are then trucked back to the customs house at St George where they can be collected on paying a nominal wharfage fee - IF you are there when they arrive. Main trouble is that no one knows when the truck will arrive although it is generally between 1400 and 1600. With a bit of help from Andrea at St George customs we now leave her a pool of cash for the wharfage and she pays Fedex when they get there and then sends us a message to collect. Patience is essential as is good humour. We have watched Frenchmen loose their temper with the system and as a result not see there packages for days thereafter, regardless of computerized tracking systems.!
Still have heard nothing from Penguin in respect to crew but have been inundated from both the USA and locally. A great guy called Smitty just dropped by today, as did one of the local nurses who loves sailing - runs the local yacht chartering business and just asked for a ride - been sailing all his life. We cannot really make a decision until we have all the spares on board and have rebuilt the main furling gear. This should take about 4 hours. We now have all the bits for the autopilot control arm and that will be finished tomorrow and Raymarine have nearly finished replacing the chart plotters - so in theory we might be able to sail either Sunday or Monday when the weather forecast is very favorable. I am hoping we can sail with Icini a British yacht from Cheltenham with a husband and wife and two children under 12 on board.