MUTUAL FUN - A SAILING ODYSSEY

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FIRST MATE'S LOG - March 2001

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March 1, 2001

Sometimes it takes many days of trials and tribulations to figure out one small problem. Our dinghy motor was one such problem. The first thing we did was to begin eliminating possibilities. We thought maybe our fuel was dirty so we emptied out about 4 gallons of (good, it turns out) gasoline. We then emptied our new supply from our stowed tank into the dinghy tank. No help. Then, we emptied out all of that fuel and bought new. No help. Then, Bob changed the spark plugs. No help. Now we are stymied and we have to see a mechanic. He determines the carburetor is full of water from water in the fuel and cleans out the carburetor. No help. When I say, no help, I mean that we will be going along at half speed and all of the sudden the motor starts working right and we zoom ahead at full speed, me holding my back and experiencing whiplash. This happens sporadically and then we think we're all better. So, OK, the mechanic takes another look, finds more water in the carburetor, the fuel dock is closed for Carnival so he gives us his fuel tank and hoses. The motor works for a couple of minutes and then goes back to half speed. Now we have to wait till the next day, which by now is day 4 of trying to fix the problem. After explaining all of this to the mechanic, Luke, who speaks fairly good English, he explains it to the mechanic who is actually doing the work, who speaks no English. Together they determine the problem now to be an electrical one. They tell Bob to come back in 4 hours; they have the part we need, they just have to find it. We come back at 2:00pm and the non-English speaking mechanic walks down to the dock with us. Bob is asking him questions and the mechanic answers in French, not knowing what Bob is asking, of course. Bob is shouting to him to try to make him understand and I am laughing. I finally say, "Bob, he doesn't understand English." Bob knows this; he just can't fathom someone not knowing English. Like they're stupid or something. Bob forgets that we're in a French country and we are the stupid ones. Before the mechanic installs the part, I kiss my finger and put it to the part he is installing and the mechanic understands this and smiles. Voila! It starts right up and is purring. We have been testing it for the last 2 days and it has been working fine. Tomorrow we'll go back and pay for the part. Whew!

We saw Jodi Foster at the big parade and Jimmy Buffet is here for Carnival. He has a dark blue trawler (big) named, "Continental Drifter." We haven't seen him around but maybe tonight. We went in to get our laundry, which was supposed to be done today, after waiting for 4 days. In broken English, the gal told us the city has shut off the water and she doesn't know when she'll have it again. Swell. We now have 3 bags of dirty laundry and almost running out of clothes. This morning we borrowed 4 jerry cans for diesel from "Passagio" to fill our tanks (the dock's water is too shallow for us) but there was a freighter there filling up their tanks. We'll let it settle overnight. Sometimes we spend more time getting absolutely nothing done. Since our generator is not working, the hot water tank doesn't work so we are reduced to cold showers. Not the end of the world since it's hot here. I decided it might be warmer to take a shower in the cockpit. Unfortunately, I was wrong. As I was just getting my head all wet, a big cloud came over and the wind picked up and I ended up shaving goosebumps off my legs. Everything is weather-related out here. Then, after I was all clean and gelled my hair, I decided I needed a haircut so I set about giving myself one. Could I have had the foresight to do it in the opposite order? Of course not. I did a whole haircut, not just a trim. The sides and top were easy. The back and bottom were a little trickier. I guess I'm lucky to have thick, unruly hair. It hides many mistakes. Actually, once I re-gelled it, it looks pretty good. We'll stay a few more days in St. Barth's. It's just so pretty here. Then, we'll sail to St. Kitt's and Nevis, then Antigua.

March 6, 2001

We heard big weather was coming, gale conditions, so we had to make a decision. The anchorage we were in was open to the SW, where the winds were coming from. Our 2 choices were not attractive. #1 was to sail back to St. Maarten (yuk) and #2 was to sail early to Antigua. St. Kitt's and Nevis were out of the question, unprotected. We decided to sail to Antigua. We battened down and were going to head out at 5:00pm for an overnight to Antigua, when we heard there was a mooring ball available in the inner harbour, here at Gustavia. "Passagio" found it but they weren't ready to move yet so we went in and got it. The mooring situation here in the inner harbour is different than anyplace we've moored. First, there are bow and stern balls and second, there are no lines to pick up. Trying to do it by ourselves will surely result in disaster. Randy on "Passagio" and John (pronounced "Shon") on "Windsway" were ready and waiting for us in their dinghies. We had our lines ready and threw them to each of them, one on the bow and the other on the stern. They tied us up without much problem and we were all set to wait out any weather. Randy and Patti on "Passagio" followed us in the next morning and we helped them tie up. Since, we've heard the east coast, and probably all of you got hit pretty good with a winter storm, but our conditions down here should only bring 15-20k with higher gusts. I'm so glad we didn't take drastic measures. We're still here on the mooring balls for one more night.

One of the perks for paying a little extra for the balls (50 francs per day, about $7) is a shower facility. I went to check it out yesterday and Bob told me it is coed. As Bob was coming out of the toilet stall, a woman was going in right next to him. Everyone showers together, as well. These French! The women wear very skimpy outfits on the streets and the beaches are all nude or topless. Anything goes. I remember in the Bahamas, Staniel Cay, I went ashore and was walking the streets when a woman came out from her house and told me I needed to put a shirt on over my bathing suit top. I was embarrassed because I had brought one but forgot to put it on. Every country is different and we have to be mindful, considerate and respectful of their ways.

Yesterday I saw a chartered boat come in and attempt to pick up a mooring ball. They had a crewmember in a dinghy but he got one of the lines fouled in the prop and everything was falling apart. The boat was heading sideways into another and we were right behind. I jumped into our dinghy and Randy into his, and went over and got their stern line secured. It took some time and some doing but we got them all safe and secured. They thanked us and offered beer (10:30am) but we declined. Later, as I was polishing the stainless, they came over with 2 bottles of wine, 1 for me and 1 for "Passagio." We invited "Passagio" over for happy hour as they have been washing and waxing their topsides for 2 days straight and were exhausted. We put that wine to good use.

We ran into one of the boats that we sailed with from Bermuda to the V.I.'s. He told us a sad story of how his girlfriend tried to commit suicide in Antigua. He had to rush her to a hospital and was in their care for 4 days. She has flown home and is seeking professional help. Very sad. Meanwhile, we were telling him of the "stars" we saw and he saw Chevy Chase and Steve Martin on the beach. Also, Jane Curtain in a bar, playing the piano. Must be a Saturday Night Live reunion going on here.

Tomorrow we'll move around the corner to a quiet anchorage where I can swim or maybe we'll sail to Nevis.

March 7 or 8, 2001 We're still here on the mooring balls. The big winds never came but we're waiting on the large swells out of the NW so we'll stay until they've gone by. We went to Shell Beach with "Passagio" yesterday for a couple of hours. John on "Windsway" showed up and we had an energetic game of frisbee and a few good dunks in the sea. It's getting very hot here and the water felt great. Not a bad place to be stranded.

March 10, 2001 4:45am
This day sure got off to an interesting start. Well, let me start with last night. About 4:00pm, Bob decided he had heard enough nagging and set about fixing my head. Problem: not enough water coming in to flush. Solution: unknown. Possibilities: Something stuck in the thru-hull, the impeller on the motor not working or broken, who knows? I will just say that poor Bob was working in this teeny, tiny, cramped space for hours. He tried and retried everything. We even brought the hose down a hatch and pumped salt water through the hoses, all to no avail. What he finally did was by-pass the siphon valve so that I can use it but have to open the thru-hull when I flush and close it so the boat doesn't sink when I'm done. He was sweaty, dirty and exhausted. I was the tool-hander and the flashlight holder. Now, I digress again. It seems that down here you can get a little touch of a bug once in awhile. We don't know if it's from the food or just a bug that we catch. In any case, I got a little touch of it and was a bit nauseous for a couple of days. As I was being the tool-hander and flashlight holder, I didn't say anything to Bob but I kept feeling like I was going to pass out. Bob had multiple open wounds on his hands from this and that and he jammed his hand into a piece of wood and it started bleeding again. He's wearing latex gloves but remember, he's working on a toilet. He keeps changing gloves but he has been infected before from this same project and we don't want it to happen again. After he is done, I make him rinse his mouth out with rum, (he put a flashlight in his mouth to hold it) which he decided to drink instead of rinse. Then, I don't let him wash his hands until I take him over to the sink and pour alcohol over his hands. Ouch! Then, I put him in the shower with antibacterial soap and let him shower. With dinner, which "Passagio" has so kindly cooked us, I serve him an antibiotic.

OK, now we return to 4:30am. Crash! I yell for Bob and we bolt up out of our bunks at the same time. Bob gets his glasses and I keep pulling out items of clothing that are not shorts. Finally I find some, put them on and we go topside where we find we have fallen off the bow mooring ball and are still attached to the stern ball. We are banging into a docked sailboat and I am beginning to panic. Meanwhile, Bob runs directly into a stay, headfirst, and one section of his glasses fall in the drink. He has to run down and fiddle with his contact lenses. When he gets back topside, Bob quickly assesses the situation, has me hold the stern line tight, and gets in the dinghy with a secure bow line. Might I say we were lucky to have a full moon and the inner harbour is pretty well lit? Bob pulls the bow line with the dinghy in reverse but the wind is too strong and the line snaps right out of his hand. He tells me to start the engine and drop both stern lines. My teeth are chattering because I am so nervous. He tells me to calm down. I do but tell him I am afraid to drop the lines and start the engine for fear of fouling the lines in the prop. By now, we have stopped banging into the first sailboat and are now banging into a more expensive one. Finally, he maneuvers us around, still in the dinghy so that I can drop the stern line on the port side. But, I can't get the starboard line off. It's too taut and I can't power the boat because I'm afraid again, to foul the lines in the prop. He now has to tie the dinghy up and help get the line undone. That done, he hops back in the dinghy and tells me to watch the lines that I've dropped. When I see the end of them both, I put the boat in gear, make a wide circle and head directly back to our mooring balls. Very, very slowly. Bob manages to tie a new bow line on (the whole problem was that our anti-chafe gear had chaffed through) and as he goes back to pick up our stern lines, we start banging into the third boat, a powerboat. Bob puts himself, in the dinghy, to act as a fender and keeps us off this boat while making a mad dash for the stern lines. He gets one, hands it up and I tie it off to a cleat. A little luck was with us; as I cleated the one stern line, the second stern line was lying right on top and I got the boat hook, grabbed it and cleated the second one. It's 6:15am, we're still tired, go below after congratulating each other on a job well done and fall asleep.

Today is the day we rented a Jeep with "Passagio" and they would like to leave at 9:15am. I wake up at 8:30 and there's no way I'll be ready. I need to eat breakfast and we need to check our lines and put new chafe gear on. Bob does this while I get myself ready. While I'm getting ready, all of the sudden the boat starts going on its side. Or so I think. Actually, I'm on the verge of fainting. I stagger into the galley and lean against a door while Bob comes down and helps me sit. I asked him if the boat was on its side but he said, "no, it's right-side-up." He then put me under a hatch for some air and I was fine.

We went off in the Jeep to do grocery shopping, came back, stowed our groceries, had lunch and took off again. Our goal was to hit as many beaches as possible. The first one was beautiful. Patti and I swam while the guys walked the beach (topless.) The beach was at the end of a runway and planes went right over our heads, quite low.

The second beach was the most fun. It was also beautiful and the surf was really strong. We had a great time trying to get out where the surf didn't knock us over and then ride the waves in. Randy lost his hat and sun glasses, which were prescription. We marked the spot, not easy to do in the waves, and set about looking. I walked around a bit and felt something by my foot. I was reluctant to pick it up, not knowing what it was, but I did and it was his glasses. He gave me a big hug and thanked me. We had a drink at a little caf� and then moved to the next beach. It too was beautiful but the wind and surf had picked up and we weren't hot enough o swim. We ended the tour with a look at an anchorage around the corner from Gustavia to see how bad the swells were. It was pretty calm in there so maybe we'll move there for a couple of days. We had to laugh because we were complaining about being stuck here because of high seas. We wondered how many people would feel sorry for us being "stuck" in St. Barth's. We decided, not many and that we could make do.

March 16, 2001

We sailed to Statia a couple of days ago. And, I mean sailed. It was a beautiful beam reach in 15-20k winds, just the way you picture it's supposed to be. It was only 25 miles and we were there in early afternoon. I caught another nice tuna along the way, which Bob filleted and grilled for dinner. The anchorage was terribly rolly and the island had absolutely nothing to offer so we paid our $15 Customs entrance fee, another $10 for a mooring ball and rocked and rolled all nightlong. Patti asked me how I slept and I told her I was embarrassed to say I slept like a baby for 8 straight hours. I had wedged myself in using the 4 pillows from the couch, 2 on each side of me. The rain woke me some time in the middle of the night but I remembered I had closed all of the hatches, pulled the blanket up to my chin and drifted back to sleep.

There was no reason to stay in Statia so we left the next morning; destination: Nevis. We all agreed to bypass St. Kitts as we heard they weren't very cruiser-friendly, charging $5 just to tie up your dinghy to the dock. Nevis was a 30-mile run and it took us 7 hours. The wind was very close to the nose and we had to hand-steer the majority of the way to keep the boat as close to the wind as possible. We were too heeled over to fish so I just ate the whole way, for some reason. I have no idea what got into me but by the time we got to Nevis, I had a pretty bad tummy ache. I felt like a little kid who ate too much candy. Most of what I ate was somewhat healthy but I felt like I couldn't get enough. Well, anyhow, I fished the last hour as the seas calmed down but to no avail. Randy had no luck either day and I don't think he was thrilled to be shown up by a girl.

We checked into Customs in the morning and walked the town. This is a real Caribbean place with lots of dark natives. It feels more like what we came to expect down here. The people are friendly and helpful. Did you know Alexander Hamilton was born here? For some reason, there seems to always be a cloud on the top of the island, drawn to it like a magnet. We will stay here and await a weather window to Antigua. Unfortunately, there probably won't be one. Antigua is due east from here and the winds usually blow ESE, 15-25K so it will be a fluke to get either a change in direction or decrease in speed. We're desperately hoping for one or the other. It will be a tough 50-mile run, on the nose, if not.

March 20, 2001

Aaahhh, back to flat water. I love sailing but I love getting in from the ocean even more. We left Nevis at 4:00pm yesterday. The weather prediction is unimportant since it's usually not right. "Passagio" was going to leave at 4:00am this morning but we called them on the radio and told them there were lots of fish pots out there and I sure wouldn't want to meet one in the dark. So, they came out about 5:30pm as we were just clearing the island. The sail was actually quite nice, the wind wasn't in the right direction but we knew and planned for that. Our first GS waypoint was set for Redonda, which is a big rock in the ocean with no lights or markers. It's SE of Nevis north of Montserrat. When we were 8 miles away from this gigantic rock, with it's presence looming ahead, we tacked back NE. Antigua was 35 miles away and we had some more tacking to do. But, we planned an overnighter to give us plenty of time. Bob was pretty tired so I took the first watch. I still wasn't tired so I did the second one as well. The squalls began a little after 10:00pm. They weren't particularly forceful so I didn't have to change the sails, just zip up my light foul weather gear. After the squalls had all blown over, there was quite a wind shift and a tack back in the exact direction of Antigua was called for. I awoke Bob at 10:50pm. We did the sail change and I went below for a rest. Now, the weird thing is, I actually slept for 3 hours, so unlike me. I awoke on my own just before 2:00am and went on watch. The only eventful thing was a cruise ship headed on a collision course with us and I was more stubborn and wouldn't alter course. He tried to get me to do so but he must giveway to a sailboat and he had to alter in the end. The end was only about � mile away from each other and I was prepared to do what I had to, to avoid a collision but I wasn't going to unless death was impending. I woke Bob at 5:00am and went below and slept until 6:00am, when we tacked back to a direct course and were only 1 � hours away. "Passagio" was still an hour and a half behind us, exactly where they were when we left. This point of sail was a little uncomfortable so I couldn't make breakfast or wash the dishes so I just stood and watched the sunrise. We got in about 8:00am to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, dropped anchor, made breakfast and cleaned the boat and then got the dinghy prepared and went to check into Customs. We were back on the boat and I was asleep by noon. I forced myself to get up at 4:00pm so I wasn't up all night. We showered, I made a big salad and it's now 7:30pm. Bet we'll sleep well tonight!

Much to do here. Bob leaves for home in 9 days and we have to get some work ordered, check out mooring balls, laundry, shopping and all of that good stuff. My sister arrives the 7th of April and we'll play for a week. Bob returns on the 17th.

March 29, 2001

We've been working very hard to get the boat ready for "first-mate only" status. At the last hour the dinghy engine started acting up again and we finally determined that Bob only dreamt he bought an extra anchor light. So, I had my work cut out for me this first morning alone. We awoke at 6:30am, had our morning coffee and tea and dinghied into town. First and most important was that Bob didn't get wet because sitting on an airplane and in airports for 12 hours in salt-water pants is not anybody's idea of fun. Well Bob got in and as I got in, the dinghy slammed into the boat causing the water to splash up and soak his bottom. Oops. Well, we went to a caf� and he drank his coffee standing up with his back to the sun. By 8:00am, he was fairly dry and I bade him a safe and happy trip, as he got in the taxi and was off to the airport. I felt funny being alone in a strange country. Living in such close quarters, we have grown attached at the hip and it's hard to be apart. Well, I had things to do and people to see so I set about my business. First was an appointment with Greg Outboard. I met him at the dock at 9:00am and he went about recessitating the motor. He found the new spark plugs installed in St. Barth's were for a bigger engine so he replaced those. After a test drive he decided to take the carburetor apart and check for dirt. He found a little, cleaned it up and put it back together. We took a test ride out to our boat where I went in and dug up some money for him. He charged $60US, which I didn't have so he took $150EC. Saved me about 4 bucks this way. So, the dinghy motor is working just fine. Next, I came back to the boat and pulled out everything from the aft cabin, cleaned it and put it all back. Then I cleaned the whole boat. It looks so pretty. After a few chapters in the sun, I took our old anchor light into the mechanic's shop that fixed our generator. He looked it over and claimed the wire was the only salvageable part. I had been to the chandlery and the woman there showed me an anchor light. That is, the light, the wire and the plug. All separate. She said I only have to wire the thing together and it'll work. Unless my wire is good and I can check that with an ohmmeter. Oy! So, I went back and bought the light and the plug and dropped it all off at the mechanic's. Tomorrow night I'll have an anchor light and will sleep better knowing a dinghy or boat is not going to go slamming into the hull in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, Susie at the mechanic's office is very interesting. She's from Washington, 20 years now in Antigua. She has 4 boys and the baby, Ryan, comes to work with her. Sometimes I just go in to hold the baby. He's half- black and half -white and always has a little smile for me. Susie's full of local knowledge, educating me on the tax system and medicine and even the local snakes and goats. There are just tons of goats here. And, they all belong to individuals. They travel in herds freely around the island but no one will steal someone else's goat. The goats eat absolutely anything and the people eat the goats. Well, they look healthy. Here's to Day 1 by myself, aboard Mutual Fun in Antigua. - MORE TO FOLLOW -