Repairs and another remarkable coincidence.

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 22 Feb 2012 02:11

17:01.23N 61:46.57W

 

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 19th, 20th & 21st Feb

Slow start to Sunday and did a few jobs:  Rob fitted our fourth starboard Lopo navigation light since 2007  (who knows why this keeps deciding to give up the ghost) and I polished the transom and the red lines around the cockpit – these are definitely getting UV damage despite coats of polish.

Not much displacement activity going on with the racing fleet either.   We decided that it was probably going to be pretty busy in town so didn’t bother to launch the dinghy.   Early night ready for a quick getaway to the marina for the rigging work in the morning.

Set the alarm so that we are all ready to go at 0800 when we were to ring Antigua Rigging to tell us where to put Serafina for the work.   They didn’t respond to the VHF but eventually answer the mobile:  they won’t be able to start till 1300 and can we organise a berth in the Cat Club?  Rob pointed out that they had offered to do this originally and perhaps they could do so.

So a bit of an anti-climax and so instead we settle down to watch the entire racing fleet (RORC Caribbean 600 Race)  fly out of the harbour.   The weather is not great – cloudy and some heavy downfalls, not exactly what the photographers would wish for.   At 1100 the staggered race starts begin and the wind drops away completely!   Unfortunately we couldn’t see the start-line from where we were anchored, but we could just make out Shirley Heights, where the crowds had gathered to watch, through the pouring rain! Some incredible yachts taking part ranging from 200ft super yachts, to 40ft open race boats and just about everything in between. Some of the world’s finest racing yachts are part of the 40 boat fleet undertaking this 600 mile annual race.

Finally get to the pontoon and the riggers turn up at 1430.  We are lucky enough to have their star-turn, Sean working on replacing the tangs.   It takes him almost all afternoon just to get the old forestay tang out but joy of joys, we will not have to have the mast lifted out.   Meanwhile Arougoo from Marionics comes to check out the SSB again.   Weirdly the system now seems to be producing full transmit and receiving power, but he does find that the backstay aerial cable is knackered.

So unfortunately we are going to have to stay another day in this exorbitant marina (and it doesn’t even have showers – presumably it’s another case of the type of clientele, ie huge yachts, has no need for facilities ashore!) for the rigging work to be completed.   Arougoo is very hopeful that our new Mastervolt combi-invertor/charger will arrive tomorrow morning and he can fit that.

We decide to treat ourselves to a meal at the Italian restaurant on site as the boat is upside down ready for work to continue tomorrow.   Very nice supper but with that added trick of tax not included in the prices let alone service…..!

Lots of activity in the morning:   Sean completes the job and does a rigging check.   Arougoo fits the Mastervolt charger and then returns after lunch to replace the aerial much to my great relief as this means I don’t get to spend another couple of hours suspended from the backstay.   Presumably he is more adept (it would be hard to be otherwise) at using the tools than me, and finishes far quicker than I would manage.   We have another test of the SSB radio and Arougoo deems it fixed – Rob and I are yet to be convinced.

I decided to walk into Falmouth in the morning to get some essentials.   It is far further than I anticipated, three-quarters of an hour in blazing sun.   I arrive to discover that there is a traffic jam!   The road off to Antigua Yacht Club has been dug up and the diversion is through the gas station forecourt.   Judging by the dozens of grand taxis (10 seater air-conditioned jobs) there are quite a few cruise ships in, but this doesn’t prevent cars stopping to collect their lunch snacks made beside the road here, at which point all traffic stops whilst each meal is individually concocted!

I caught the bus back and finished the shopping at Baileys.   When I am walking down the narrow lane to the marina, a car stops to ask the way.   And it is Ben Charny!   Ben is the son of friends of ours at home who is out here working on a yacht called Mariette and we had been told to look out for him somewhere in the Caribbean.   It really is a small world and it seems that everyone converges on Antigua;  last year we bumped into friends from home on a four day holiday.   His yacht is here for five weeks on Nelson’s Dockyard so Ben rashly asked us to come and see her.

We have suddenly worked out that to get our money’s worth out of a stay in Simpson Bay Lagoon on St Maarten, we should really arrive on Thursday – my friend Jo joins us the following Wednesday and the least amount of time you can pay for in the Lagoon is one week.   We have discovered that our draft is too deep to enter more cheaply on the French side of the Lagoon via Marigot, although it isn’t a huge difference if you end up staying for a week.  It is about 90 miles to Simpson Bay from Jolly Harbour where we will check out with customs from Antigua, so we will sail overnight tomorrow to St Maarten.   And so to take advantage of Ben’s kind offer, once Arougoo had left we rushed off to catch a bus to English Harbour.   As we were waiting at the bus stop we were very kindly offered a lift from a Mum and her three young children – they will be leaving Antigua to live in Kingsbridge after 25 years living out here so that their children can go to senior school in the UK.   Heaven knows how they will cope with the change from here and the changes in lifestyle in the UK.

We found Mariette with the crew still washing down as the local lads left from preparing a varnishing job.   At this point my camera chose to run out of battery so we only have two very poor photos which do not do justice to this utterly beautiful yacht.   But if you are interested, google her.

Ben showed us round the whole boat.   She was built in 1915 and the present owner gets to use her only eight weeks a year, meanwhile she is sailed between the Med, the UK and the Caribbean with lay-ups for major maintenance.   This really is a labour of love;  she is immaculate.   Rob felt positively giddy when Ben described how the sails are set by crew going aloft, and everything is on such a huge scale, with great spars to be lifted into the rigging.  We spotted a newish looking winch in stainless rather than the traditional bronze in keeping with the rest of the boat and Ben explained that when they renewed it, the price for the same thing in bronze was €44,000!   It gives you an idea of the up-keep of a yacht such as this.   Down below it is very much a gentleman’s yacht with a stove for the colder climates, a bath, really elegant saloon panelled in beautiful walnut (with all the chairs secured to the deck with bronze hooks) and as at present there are no guests on board, everything, including all the carpets are covered in canvas to keep her smart.   It is just a completely different world to our sailing!

It was lovely to hear Ben enthuse about the boat.   He has been working on her as one of usually about eight crew members, for 3 ½ years.   He told us that they, unlike many of the more modern yachts we have come across, will try and sail her everywhere they go, particularly as she is far faster under sail than under engine.

We finally dragged ourselves away and caught the bus back to the marina in the dark.   We then put our foresails back up, sorted out all the emptied lockers from the work earlier in the day and got ready to go sailing tomorrow.   Probably not the perfect preparation for an overnight sail the next night, but it was such a special opportunity to see a legendary yacht!