We’re Back in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Saturday provided us a beautiful sail after waiting for weeks for lighter winds and lower waves. Most of the way we traveled around 6+ knots, with wind on the beam and almost no salty water on deck. We got in by 1 pm, and after a lunch, we made it legal at the customs office. This beauty of a monohull followed us and then passed us on the way from Martinique to St. Lucia.

We had last written from Grande Anse D’Arlet, where we were absolutely happy and enjoying the ambiance. However, it was not to last. An official boat came by on our tenth day and gave us an hour to push on. The nearest legal anchorage, they said, was the south wall of Les Anses D’Arlet, just south of Grande Anse D’Arlet, and carrying on to Anse Chaudiere. We followed Clarity out of the bay and went south to Chaudiere. There we stayed a few days, using the Les Anses D’Arlet dock to get ashore for lunches and hikes. Rick and Deb were with us all four days, and were very enjoyable company. I think we all could draft a reasonable map of the area by memory. There was a minor letup in the wind, and we both took it in the early hours to run around by Diamond Rock Lookout and head back to Ste Anne. Sadly, after a couple more days, Clarity up-anchored for a quick run back down to Grenada to meet with a potential buyer for their beautiful Hylas. Their absence was filled with Fred of Dakota Dream; and shortly Steve and Maria abandoned the flat waters of Marin and were alongside as well. We carried on with long walks and lunches. We also got together for a couple of suppers – one pot-luck on Fred’s boat and another wonderful supper on s/v Aquarelle, with Evelyn and Terry. A great surprise was the arrival of s/v Tahona, another 1996 Tobago 35, with young Dutch sailors Waldemar and Vivian. We had some excitement and learning as we toured each other’s boats. Wally and Vivian have a plan to continue fixing up Tahona and heading for the Pacific; where they hope to do some serious exploring before selling her on the far side. Here is a photo of Wally and Vivian aboard their Tobago 35 Tahona.

Back in Rodney, we are awaiting our new mainsail, which waybill-tracking tells us arrived on the Island on Friday. Today, apparently, our customs-clearing agent has been contacted. We will give it a day, get a better lock on the timetable, and possibly move into the marina on Wednesday to take delivery and ‘bend’ her on. Of course, we’ll live an extroverted life along the boardwalk bars and restaurants. Here we are hiking in Rodney Bay with Steve and Maria on s/v Aspen. The hike took us to the battery at Cap Saline, complete with lunch at the Golf Club.

We hope all is well with you and yours. Here is a list of all the places our new sail has visited since leaving South Africa on February 14th! Amazing!

TECHNICAL The big technical issue remains the mainsail renewal. We will have to get into the marina, take down the old sail, remove the battens and see if the fit properly in the new sail. The ‘supposed’ worst case scenario is that I’ll have to move all battens up, cut to fit, and buy a new batten for the bottom. Besides an outlay of money and finding a supplier, I’m going to have some fibreglass splinters just like my Hobie Cat days. We had to change out a starter with a spare, and that means I have both a starter and an alternator going to a Grenada repair shop. Worst case is a new or rebuilt starter for the spare. I was able to purchase for an outrageously low sum an almost new 55 ampere Hitachi alternator that fits on and works great, so the alternator is less of an issue. At the urging of our insurance surveyor, I am educating myself about marine electrical codes, and purchasing some equipment to modernize and make more safe our core electrical system. It primarily means using positive and negative bus bars to collect the wires and making just a couple of connections to the battery banks. It will clean up the wiring and make the addition of more fuses a lot simpler. Besides fusing my positive alternator wires, I’ll also install switches on each to allow me to totally shut off the current during checking and changing alternators. One false move with a live wire, and the alternator is back to the repair shop for new diodes. I am already ahead on some things – all my inputs: two alternators, solar and wind; have their own shunts and ampmeters to allow me to troubleshoot problems. I am getting a quote on a list of electrical parts that is already over $750 US. The tour of the other Tobago, “Tahona”, did not provide much in the ideas of improvements aboard Cat Tales. It appears that there may have been different grades of Tobago sold, with Cat Tales having some superior finishes inside. One of the previous owners of Tahona had repowered with 3-cylinder Yanmars. I am not about to do that, and think it may be the cause of some troubles aboard the boat. A bulkhead had to be moved, and I would suggest construction is not yet completed. I would need to see if the extra 18 horsepower made a significant difference in the boatspeed under power. Peak boatspeed is a pretty hard characteristic in a non-planing hull, and it would take a lot to change that.