Splash and Dash

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 10 Dec 2011 11:04

12:02.65N 61:44.81W

 

Yes, well that was the general idea but sadly it was rather more splash and clunk….

 

All went well preparing Serafina and thank you to all of you who have noticed that we are back in harness and sent us emails.

 

We managed to complete our main tasks in what has been becoming an increasingly oppressive heat with Sarah going up to the top of the mast, not once but twice! (we did this around 6.30am over two days to minimise the heat issues.)

 

Finally Thursday dawned and we said our goodbyes to various new and old friends and the crane crew arrived with various machines to move us and then hoist us back into the water. This all went very well and the staff at Spice Island Marine are to be complemented on their very cheerful and thorough work. They even crawled under the keel to apply the very final bit of antifoul paint prior to the splash.

 

We were lowered carefully into the sea and then when it came to starting the engine…………….nothing but the sad empty click of a buggered starter battery! It was cheerfully showing a full 12 volts but sadly it had no oomph (technical term for power). I dived below and using jump leads coupled one of the domestic batteries up to help, but still nothing at all. The yard lads summoned one of their engineers and he jumped aboard with some proper beefy looking jump leads and after also failing to succeed, he linked one of our new domestic batteries directly to the starter motor. This certainly helped a bit but it was the short squirt of fly spray into the air intake that did the job (don’t ask) and finally the engine roared into life and we were off.

 

Just 12 miles round to St Georges, the capital and a berth in Port Louis marina where we hope to finish the stainless polishing etc. and provision up. Given a good berth at the end of their main quay, which gives us privacy and a clean pontoon to wash some of the canvas parts on. This was the first time we had laid up for a hot summer rather than a cold winter and there have been a number of casualties of the heat and humid air.  We motored all the way, partly due to the lack of wind and partly due to a not altogether irrational fear that the engine might not start again! Having docked the first thing I did was try the starter and of course nothing happened.

 

The plain fact is that the starter battery was knackered and failing to hold any sort of charge and so we bought a new battery today and all is now very well in that department. I did fail to mention in the last posting that the arrangements with changing the domestic batteries ended up rather neatly. We got Jess to do all the hard work but he cost us for his time. So on the morning that we were doing the change over, I went onto the local radio net and under the item “treasures of the bilge” I offered our old batteries to anyone who wanted them for just ECD 100. I got several instant replies on the VHF and a very grateful English chap wheeled them away in a barrow only an hour after we had lifted them down onto the ground. This paid for Jess and enough left over for a round or three of cold beers. (Yes the old batteries were pretty useless, but evidently better than the ones their new owner had, or rather didn’t have – and that was a long story in itself, but not for today.)

 

Sarah is suffering from  a very sore throat and seems a bit over tired, obviously from all her exertions and a lack of proper sleep, so Friday was declared a rest day for her. Well, a sort of rest day at least but sadly life goes on and there are always some things to do, but she did at least get a good sleep last night!

 

Met some very nice Swedes whose Farr 56 (Victory Too) was next to us on the hard and who are also now here in Port Louis. They kindly offered us the use of their hire car for some fetching and carrying, but we can get just about everywhere in the dinghy here in St Georges harbour. The Foodhall has its own dinghy dock (very smart it is too with Christmas lights at moment, as well. Plus today all the staff there were wearing Santa outfits which must have been pretty damn hot), the chandlery has a dock, the customs office has a dock and we can shoot off into the main harbour and moor right in the town for a bit of social shopping and the produce market on Saturday.

 

New pictures at http://www.rhbell.com/photos_2011.html