Thursday, 22 December
Strongbowofbosham
Thu 22 Dec 2022 17:52
Just over 21 1/4 days from Las Palmas to St Lucia. We had a problem with our gear change so after we had crossed the finish line we had help from Quincy, in his fast open boat to manoeuvre to a berth in the Marina. I just didn’t hitting a boat if we had a problem with the gears.
We tied up at super yacht jetty, were met by the ARC yellow shirts and a plastic mug of rum punch. Derek shot off to find Elaine, delighted to see her. We then went off for cold beer and a welcome meal at one of the cafe’s at the Marina. Not a bad crossing, albeit with a very slow last 800 miles.
The next morning we opened up the pedestal (well Derek did that) while we sorted out immigration, customs etc. Derek sprayed the cable controls with WD40 and we had it working again. We then moved berth, again helped by the ARC team.
Not a lot done on the Tuesday as we were just a bit knackered. Derek moved into the Hilton with Elaine, air conditioning, clean sheets, not a boat with no loo and no pumped water!
Things then started to come together
1. Helen, superwoman, came and completely moved all the windlass electrics and remote control out of the anchor locker to inside the boat on the forward bulkhead. The anchor locker had taken in a lot of water on our sail from Chichester to Plymouth. Not a problem in itself, but a real problem for any electrics in that locker
2. Rasta Man, Gaza and Pete cleaned the hull and deck. We probably got a bit ripped off
3. We got two guys from the boat yard, Marvin and Andrew, to look at the block loos. Problem - completely blocked pipes with 20 odd years of Calcium build up. 3 days later all discharge pipes removed, new pipes fitted and holding tank commissioned. Fantastic. The same guys also fitted a new electric bilge pump. We had pumps fitted in Vigo but they had blown the wiring. With new wiring the battery monitor system rebooted itself - a real bonus.
Now just working through the maintenance list to get AP ready to head north at the year end. Winches ordered for the roller furling lines as well as a clutch to give us easier control of the mainsail.
Tony and Miyako, our long time tennis chums, come out on New Years Eve to sail to Antigua with us. They are bringing out the winches. Marinas are not our favourite places but it gives us time to organise new passports, get all the niggles sorted and generally get cooked by the Caribbean sun.
Derek and us on the dock in Las Palmas
The windless days and arrival at St Lucia
14:04.44N 60:56.93W
Sent from my iPad