Walkabout - It Ain't Over 'til the Fat Lady Sings - Day15 Mindelo to Grenada
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Sat 4 Dec 2021 09:32
Just when you think you are cruising in to the finish, and everything is good in the world. Having a bit of a chat with Morgane of Sark on the VHF - and it all goes to rats. The Blue Water Runner that has been driving us towards Grenada for the last 30 hours decide to separate itself from the top furler. The whole thing slid down the torsion rope and very nearly into the drink. Luckily Traci noticed the problem very quickly, and we dashed on deck to try to sort the mess out. The sail is unusable without getting the torsion rope back in place - looks like we will need a tennis court or something to lay it all out and get it put back together - so no more BWR on this trip. The cause of the problem - our old friend, and jogger’s nemesis - chafe. The attachment line worn right through over the last 30 hours.
So we are rather plodding to the finish, it feels. We are underpowered, with poled out Genoa, wing on wing with the stay sail (first time out of the bag for this sail, so good to be able to use it on this trip). But the wind has dropped and we have only been able to make 5 knots for a very extended time - we will be lucky to get in during daylight hours. But the main thing is to get there safely. It was fortunate that the problem happened during the day, rather than overnight, and it doesn’t appear that there is any damage to the sail.
Then, as we were settling in to a 24 hour tootle to the finish, at about 2100 (Walkabout Time), I investigated a strange noise. Tricky to pin point where it was coming from. I hunted around and found that the bottom bracket on the Hydrovane was moving side to side by about 1cm. Not good news, but really good to find it now before it became a bigger problem. So I got Traci up, emptied the lazarette locker and got to the backing plates. Everything looked ok, but the bolts had obviously come loose. So we tightened them up and all seems ok - the noise has gone. But the prudent thing seems to be not to use the Hydrovane for the rest of the journey, and have a close look at it when we arrive.
The Cookery Club was in overdrive yesterday. A fantastic loaf, big pot of chilli and coleslaw. Making good use of the remaining fresh stocks (thanks for the suggestions). It was Chilli for dinner last night.
The fishing club had one last throw of the dice - zip.
Looks like the Repair and Maintenance Club is going to have a few busy days when we get to Grenada - hopefully nothing is too difficult to fix, but we have a list of boxes to tick. (We do like a list…)
The Adult Education Club has learnt a lot during this trip. We will arrive knowing that we have used a lot of the skills that we have acquired over the last few years, and learnt some more skills and lessons along the way. All of which make for greater confidence the next time…
Light is appearing in the sky for the final time on this ocean crossing. We have passed Barbados (about 60NM to our north) and Tobago (about 40NM to our south). We have about 65NM to run. We have sailed 2285NM so far since we left Mindelo, and it is 15 days since we last saw land! Since we left Plymouth on 15 August we have sailed over 5000NM.
The Fitness Club has some work to do when we arrive - not sure how good my walking will be, let alone running or cycling.
Looking forward to that ‘Land Ahoy’ moment in the next few hours….
A&Tx