Simpson Bay, Saint Martin (Dutch West Indies).

We have had an eventful forty eight hours!

Ian and Christian have been taking part in the Heineken Regatta (on different yachts) and the yacht Ian is crewing on had two first places in the Commadore's Cup on Thursday and so the crew were on the podium on Thursday night, draped on the glamorous 'promo girls'. I spoke with the owners of the Swan 65, Alan and Jenny, and Ian seems to have fitted in well. The Swan seems to have done well yesterday as well and so there may be more podium appearances on Sunday night.

The boat Christian was on suffered a broken rudder but they were able to retrieve it and make repairs during Thursday night to enable the yacht to continue racing.

Meanwhile, Andy and I had our quiet time disrupted on Thursday. I was reading in the cockpit when a fierce gust blew through and I heard a noise where the inflatable dinghy was. On looking over the side, the dinghy had flipped over 180 degrees and so instead of looking at the outboard engine, I was looking at the propeller and its shaft. Andy and I quickly turned the boat over, brought the outboard inboard (!) and tried starting it, without any success. I was of the opinion that the engine would need a strip-down but Andy was a bit more determined and within two hours he had the engine running. Well done Andy!

As a consequence, we now bring the outboard off the dinghy at night and we have started to use the water taxi which has some vey  helpful and professional female crew.

Yesterday, Andy and I took the bus to Philipsburg and had an enjoyable day there and today we went to the head of the runway at Juliana Airport to experience the jet-blast on the beach as the planes take off. Very painful it was to, with the sand being blown onto us!

Mike White

Mob: 07825925838/Sat Phone:+881631528694

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