Trip Update - 31st March 2009 Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
Position: 17:00:89N
61:46:37W In order to get on with a few jobs,
we sailed back round to I bit the bullet and ordered a new
wind generator blade to be Fedex’d out here - £20 for the blade, £80 for the joy
of getting it sent from the I've also ordered a new mainsail
after lots of haggling with Hoods, so I am looking forward to getting that in a
few weeks too – assuming it turns up before we leave to come home! The old main is OK in light airs but is
so baggy now that going upwind is pretty slow, and I think it will tear soon in
a blow as the leech is really strained. We met up with another family with
young kids, on a catamaran called “Brio” and spent an afternoon on We bumped into our friends Sam &
Ed, and ended up stopping for some impromptu beers in the Mad Mongoose, a crew
hangout in Sam flew home the next day, so Ed
sailed “Blue Juice” round from English to Saturday afternoon was spent at the
Yacht Club, where I went out racing in the Lasers against some of the local
lads, whilst Sarah read magazines all afternoon and the kids played with the
toys and books in the clubhouse – a luxurious afternoon for all. The sailing was superb, with close
racing and a fair but shifty breeze to keep us all on our
toes. Sunday family day
out Sunday was spent having a family day
out to Nelson’s Dockyard, where we checked out the museum and shops before
having a great lunch at the Copper and Lumber Store Hotel. This beautiful place is situated within
one of the old buildings of the dockyard, and is, like all the old buildings
here, lovely and breezy with the shutters all open and the wind blowing
through. It looks straight out onto
English harbour, and as we sat, we could see that there was a small crowd
gathering on the quay in front of the hotel. Lunch at the Copper and Lumber Store
Hotel It turned out that there was a
singlehanded rower about to arrive after 88 days at sea, having crossed from the
Canaries. What amazing luck and
coincidence for us to be there when he came in – he was a 25-yr old American
chap called Paul who had rowed the Paul Ridley achieves his goal – 88
days across the Atlantic He was remarkably fit and healthy
considering what he’d just been through and he came ashore and gave a short
speech to the small crowd and cameras, before having a first sip of beer and
spraying a bottle of champagne over everyone. It was absolutely inspirational just to
witness him arrive, and Millie in particular was spellbound. His website is www.rowforhope.com – I would recommend having a look
because it looked like he had put together a very professional campaign and
project. The girls with Paul’s boat in the
background Sarah finds perfect transport for
our Pink Pirates! After the fun of the weekend,
another Monday morning bus ride into I went and bought a new watch so I
can set a timer to beep every 30 mins to remind me to do my drops. Very tedious,
and a damn-awful taste in my mouth where the drops must drain down into my
throat. Yuk! I do enjoy my little bus trips
though. The local buses turn up
every couple of minutes and you just hop on and off wherever you need to. They are very cheap. It gives a great insight into the
character of the local people. Most
of the people getting on the bus (or for that matter, entering a room) say “Good
morning/afternoon” and everyone replies back – how civilized! There is usually someone playing music
through his mobile phone for the benefit of all other passengers, and often some
friendly banter. I don’t miss the
silence and avoidance of eye contact which is so prevalent in the
Our daily routine has extended to a
trip ashore in the late afternoon to let the kids run off some energy. We usually end up doing some rowing
practice in the lovely sheltered dinghy dock while Sarah nips round the adjacent
supermarket, before settling ourselves on the terrace for an ice cream for the
kids. I feel like the luckiest man
in the whole harbour, teaching my kids to row in a place like this. There cannot be many happier than us,
even those in their 150 ft yachts! 31st March was Emilia’s
5th birthday, and we did our best to give her the full works and give
her as “normal” a birthday as possible despite the fact that she did not have
lots of friends to come round for a party, and a limited number of presents
which we’d bought. She was so
excited, and both girls were awake at 0500 but, good girls that they are, stayed
in their room until 0600 when they burst in and the fun started. It was a day of pancakes, party
lunch, ice creams, presents, balloons, phone calls to family in
Birthday girl opening presents
A Pirate set for our pink
pirates! Daddy hoisting the pirate flag;
Jemima searching for treasure Birthday
Lunch Yummy Mummy and her lovely
daughter Happy Birthday kiss from little
sister Emilia on horseriding lesson. Possibly the most expensive half hour I
will ever pay for… Jemima
horseriding Daddy managed to screw up on the
drugs and ran out of his drops, so had to charge back into Well, we’re definitely feeling like
we are getting to the end of this chapter of the trip, with only a short time
until the girls all fly home on April 12th. We’re all starting to think about home
and sorting ourselves out when we get back to For me, I haven’t thought much about
the being back in Jemima filling a water bottle, by
standing on the foot pump with both feet (the only way she can see over the
sink) |