It's all in the planning
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Wed 11 Nov 2009 15:41
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11:59.911N 61:45.905W
Prickly Bay, Grenada
OK, so Tue went like this (was it Tue?....what
month is this?) Get up in the morning (just like Desmond Dekka really, except I
can't sing [so quite like DD then] go ashore log onto email and start to pursue
new crew. About 1030 amble over to the outboard dealer, yes the bit is in Port
of Spain, it will be at the shop 2pm. Go and buy new pump for the dingy (lshort
story but predictable), go back to the boat, load my outboard, Dicks' pump and
two stroke oil and return same to Moonshiner. 2pm, go to Mercury dealer , the
bit is there and IT'S THE WRONG BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's now
2.15pm
Rush over to outboard repairers, carrying outboard,
18kg, 33 deg C, humidity 937%. They do not have a suitable bit, suggest removing
the carburetor and taking it to a machine shop. They are closing, so I would
have to take off the carb.
Projected time to take off the carb, about 3
mins
PT to pick up the pieces I drop, about 25
mins
PT to machine a new drain screw...2
hours
PT to remember how to re-assemble the
carb......difficult to say really, days rather than hours I should
say
PLAN B
Rush over to the other side of Chagauramas, lugging
outboard in and out of the dingy, 18 kgs etc etc. Go to Honda dealer who is
able to locate a similar , but not an exact fit, screw in his parts draw and he
epoxies in the screw to prevent leaks (nobody knows why Mercury fitted this
drain screw, there is no bowl to separate water.
It is now 3.15pm. I rush over to Immigration &
Customs and clear out. Pick up the outboard and lug it back to the dingy (18kgs
etc etc). Remove Dicks' outboard, fit mine...it works, it doesn't leak....I
could have done this last week!!!
Anyway, return Dicks outboard, return to Trouters,
remove and stow outboard, raise dingy on the davits. Collapse in nervous heap,
great preparation for an overnight single-handed trip. It's now
1615.
Main up 1725, off the buoy 1735 and away we go into
the gathering dark.
All goes well until clear of the Trini coast, then
see lightning in the distance, just East of my track so we're nicely placed to
meet in a few hours. Handheld VHF, spare GPS and Sat phone into the oven. Furl
Gennaker, deploy working gib.
Sail sail sail sail.......past the Hibiscus gas
field, making a good 7 /7.5kts over the ground. This is a bit of a shame because
a) I'm gaining on the light display and b) I'll arrive before first
light.
Roll in a reef in the gib, Trouters refuses
to slow down. After a couple of hours the storm fizzles out just before I reach
it and I arrive at the entrance to prickly Bay exactly as there is a pre-dawn
glow in the eastern sky.
AND THIS WAS ALL DOWN TO PRECISE AND
DETAILED PLANNING (yeah, right!!!)
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