Sea trials complete

04 May 2007

Most things have gone quite well other than a couple of items, one the local manager of The Moorings is a little cranky because it cost his budget a bit of money repairing things the surveyor picked up and he has withheld some items like the BBQ and life raft but the major problem that we are having at the moment is the signing off on the necessary paperwork. We have to have our signatures witnessed for an after davit, this has to be a banker or solicitor or similar position. We went to the bank and inquired, the answer was, “do you have an account with us”? No. “Then no we cannot sign it”.

We have tried Customs the Police no they cannot sign it, we have now got onto a person that will send us by taxi to another person in Castries to get the signature tomorrow, which no doubt will have to be paid for. But if you work it all out this is how they ensure that a few people get paid rather than just the one.

Finally talking to Doreen about our problem, she smiled and said no problem, her cousin is a Barrister and she called him we are to have breakfast with him in the morning and he is bringing it. When he arrived he signed and stamped all documents and when I asked him how much we owed him he replied it was very expensive. He said we have to tell everyone that Marigot Bay was a very nice place and the people are very nice and helpful.

(Our daily sundowners, Doreen the owner of Chateau Mygo on the left)

(Sunset view)

Sea Trials Completed

After a long wait we finally took delivery of our new sails and main sail stacker bag on Thursday, the boys at The Moorings fitted them for us so then we decided it was about time to leave the marina and go out and anchor but first we took her out to sea under engines to find out how the boat rides in a swell and also get our confidence up with a new boat that we had not sailed before.

When we returned to anchor we had to have a couple of goes at it to make sure that we were in the right spot. It can be difficult here because you go from 11 m of water to a sudden depth of 30 to 50 m. Nancy was a little nervous with the first anchoring point so I asked her if she wanted to relocate, so we moved and picked up one of Doreen’s moorings for the evening and Nancy felt a bit safer for that night. The problem is the anchor chain at this stage is not marked; we will get this done in Rodney Bay.

(Our Alana Rose on the mooring)

Friday we put the boat and ourselves through sea trials, working out where everything is, we motored out about 0830 hrs and once out we hoisted the main with a little difficulty to the second reef position. Here you can be near land and the winds are calm because we are on the lee side of the island. When you get away from land you have 20 plus knot winds. We were only covering about 3-4 knots under a 19 knot wind, so we set the main at the first reef position and rolled out the Genoa that lifted us to 7.5 to 8.5 knots through the water. We went out to sea a distance to get the better wind but the mountainous lands still interfered greatly with wind speed and direction so that kept us working at the helm a bit, once we had constant winds it was set the auto helm, sit back with a coffee and enjoy.

(Sailing passed Cannaries )

We sailed up off Rodney Bay then came about and sailed south down to Soufriere where the Piton Mountains are located. The wind died to nothing so we then dropped the sails started the engines came about again and headed back to Marigot Bay set the auto helm again and had a late lunch. When we got back to Marigot Bay we picked up the same mooring for the night tidied up the boat and decided to have a shower and then go and do a little shopping. Just as I was getting the dinghy ready whilst Nancy had her shower I noticed something around the starboard prop. It turned out to be a small section of fishing net, so before having a shower I had to go for a swim with knife an cut it away. Not sure where we picked it up, whilst we were under sail we did notice some bottles tied together like fishing net and we turned away from them we did not appear to drag them when we passed by so I don’t think it was from there.

(The Pitons)

Today is Saturday as I start this update ready for the blog, we have decided to stay at Marigot Bay and sail for Rodney Bay on Monday when the chandlery will be open and then we have to spend some money on safety gear etc.