Canouan- Bequia 31 January 2024
The anchor alarm went off twice in the night which was annoying as we were not dragging and there was no real chance of doing so and so I turned it off. I woke about 6.30am and had a look at the weather and it was a fairly light day say 10- 12 kts maximum, which was fine. It looked a bit like the reverse from our trip to Canouan but less close hauled.
David went for a swim before breakfast which was cereal and fresh fruit. We decided to get moving and began to pull up the dinghy on the davits. However we got to the top and the davit rope on the starboard side snapped and the dinghy fell engine down into the water. There is a weight on the line which luckily balanced itself on the outboard and which was precariously balanced. We managed to grab it or we would have to dive to the bottom to retrieve it. I knew at some point this would happen as the davit lines had frayed and would need replacing and I had ordered two sets of replacements. However the ends of the lines had spliced lines (where the rope goes through itself and I could not do this) and so we would have to tow the dinghy which is ok for the 20 odd miles passage but is no good for long passages.
We prepared to leave and tried to pull up the anchor but after a few meters it stopped. It seemed the fuse had blown but I knew that some wiring had come loose in the forepeak which is where the underside of the windless (anchor motor) is housed. I could see a few wires were loose and checked them and I thought it was a loose connection. Howver this did not solve the problem so I decided to go back to basics and check the wiring at the electric panel and there is major fuse underneath. The main fuse for the windless had blown- a 150 v fuse. I had spares and once fitted it worked. Apparently fuses will go and I had no idea how old that fuse was. The anchor soon came up and we were off. It was very satisfying that we had identified the problem and solved it.
We slowly motored out of Charlestown Bay and put up the mainsail and the genoa and were sailing in 10-12 kts with no issue and we headed back toward our previous waypoint which avoided the shallow patch we avoided on our way in.
At this point we then turned toward Bequia and were on then on a beam/close reach to Bequia. We then had a great sail to Bequia averaging over 8 kts and at times we were doing 9.6 kts and towing the dinghy which luckily did not come loose. It did not take us more than 2.5 hours to reach the western point of the Island and then we headed back to Admiralty Bay and believe it or not our previous mooring was free. We were soon moored and then headed ashore to see how the Red Baron was. Cari and Stig did a little shopping and the rest of us headed for the sail loft (picking up a replacement windless fuse on the way). The Red Baron was ready and looked well repaired but I wanted to get it out of its sock and make sure it was not twisted. In doing this we saw that there were a few bits around the parachute flap that had ripped as well. Therefore they did not realise these other repairs were required and agreed to do this overnight. The Red Baron could not fly properly without its ailerons being repaired so we had to leave it again and will return tomorrow.
We returned to Stormbird with the bit of shopping and decided to replace the davit lines. This was not easy. We took the back plate off the port davit and could see the winding mechanism but we could not get to it so we had to undo some bolts and we could pull-out the winding system. We had to tie the new line to the old and pull it through ns then re-assemble with Cari having to sow two lines together. The starboard side was more complex as the line had snapped so we had put a wire though the davit to be able to pull the line through. We put it all together again but we will need a splicer to come tomorrow to do the pull up dynema straps. We are at least ready as he should arrive about 8.00am to do this.
We headed off to Mac’s for supper which was very enjoyable and a welcome break. It had been another busy day bit we had made progress, Onwards and upwards tomorrow I hope.
The blog will continue as we explore the Caribbean further and beyond.
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