IN TORTOLA. TIRED, BROKE (Almost), AND BUSTED
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Fri 29 Apr 2011 22:38
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IN TORTOLA. TIRED, BROKE (Almost), AND
BUSTED
Passepartout, our Wauquiez 43, was in the boatyard
at Wickham's Cay with two fresh coats of anti-fouling and looking sharp
after a topsides polish and a few cosmetic repairs to the gel coat. Nirit
and I were looking somewhat the worse for wear after a hectic two weeks at
home taking care of family and business. Twenty-six hours of air travel had
taken its toll, plus the fact that a few days earlier I had
somersaulted off a bicycle resulting in several bruises and
a black eye. We were looking forward to getting back on the water and retreating
to a quiet anchorage where we could recover from our home
'vacation'.
We reckoned we could afford two days of relaxation
before we needed to get back into full cruising mode. We had registered to
take part World Cruising Club's Atlantic Cup, a rally from Tortola to Bermuda
and beyond, leaving in eight days time. But peace and quiet were not
in the cards that weekend. No sooner had we moored off the beach at Cooper
Island than an almighty explosion shook the boat. It was followed by
a sound like a missile launch and then a scream from Nirit. I rushed
up from below, Nirit was standing ashen faced and frozen near the
helm. "The life raft exploded," she said in shocked disbelief. "Are
you folks okay?" Someone shouted from the yacht moored closest to us, the bang
had also spoiled their lunch. The life raft gas cylinder had discharged
itself, wrecked the raft and blown the door off the stern locker where it
was stored. Further inspection showed three items sharing the
same locker were also badly damaged; our manual bilge pump, the deck shower
and the duct carrying air from an engine room ventilator. Luckily no one
was hurt.
Our two days of relaxation were over almost as soon as
they began. We left Cooper Island and made directly for Nanny Cay,
a popular and busy marina on Tortola where we were reasonably sure we could
find the help needed to make repairs and find a replacement life raft. On
the way to Nanny Cay our autohelm decided to give up the ghost, this
wasn't collateral damage from the explosion but a recurring problem we had
paid to have fixed less than a month before. I was seething with
anger. The life raft had been inspected and serviced less than two months
previously by a qualified company. At the suggestion of the service
technician we had paid extra to have the gas cylinder tested and two safety
valves had been replaced in accordance with a circular from the
manufacturer. The bill came to over eight hundred dollars. The life raft hadn't
'deployed'; there was no sign that something had tugged at the lanyard to
trigger the inflation mechanism. The cylinder had discharged without inflating
the raft. Not only did it seem that a shoddy inspection and re-packing had
ruined our life raft, but our lives had been endangered twice. Once by the fact
that the gas cylinder had blown with enough force to wreck a locker, and once
again because I have to wonder what would have happened if we had needed to
launch the life raft during an emergency? Would it have inflated correctly? I
doubt it.
We arrived at Nanny Cay, checked in and hit the
bunks. Being ready to sail in seven days time as part of the rally fleet
didn't seem like a realistic outcome. In addition to
the formidable list of repairs and purchases, we realized that Easter
Monday and the following Friday, the day of the royal wedding in London,
were both public holidays in the BVI. The following morning Nirit was
up early and soon fell into conversation with Atlantic Cup founder Steve
Black of MADRUGADA, giving him an abridged version of our tale of woe.
Steve suggested, or rather insisted, that we immediately talk to Miles and Anne
Poor of MRP Refit whose KARINA was tied up on the same dock. Being
introduced to Miles and Anne soon restored our hopes that we would be
leaving with the rest of the Atlantic Cup fleet. Anne promptly worked
the phone and located a suitable life raft for sale over in St Thomas. The
purchase was arranged and the raft was dispatched with friends who were
sailing for Nanny Cay. By close of business on Monday we could tick one item off
the list.
Miles was soon on board PASSEPARTOUT with a team of
fiber glass and epoxy artisans. By Tuesday morning Magic Man had restored
the damaged locker interior and door to its original shape, and then went
on to give it a polish that makes the rest of the cockpit look dull. On
Wednesday Miles retrieved a replacement bilge pump from the courier
service and effected a sturdy repair to the deck shower
unit.
Fixing our intermittent autohelm was not so
straight forward. Miles introduced us to Lincoln of AQUADOC Services who
diagnosed worn or faulty brushes in the motor driving the hydraulic pump. The
brushes were replaced but the unit still refused to behave. Several hours
of testing later and he discovered the course computer was also faulty. In fact
the two faults are probably part of the same problem - worn brushes cause the
motor to draw too much current which damages the course computer. Luckily we had
a spare course computer on board which could be installed in place of
the faulty one. During all this bustle of activity Anne and Miles had to
dispense reassurances and common sense in equal doses, "Don't worry.
Worrying is what I'm doing for you," Miles said when he caught up with me
on Thursday and, "Of course you'll be ready to leave on Sunday,
we deal with things like this all the time."
As I write this I can hear the autohelm beeping and
ticking through its second hour of testing. Aaah, it's like to a baby
gently breathing after you spent hours soothing it to sleep. The last
part of our problem was finally solved on Friday evening with less than 36 hours
to go before our scheduled departure for Bermuda. Bob Read on board NEPENTHE
sailed over from St Thomas in the U. S. Virgins and generously agreed to deliver
our replacement life raft.
I can't imagine how we could have accomplished even
one tenth of this without the marvelous assistance of Anne and Miles. I
almost wish we'd come to Nanny Cay earlier and handed them a couple of
other projects we've been mulling over for some
time.
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