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American Spirit II - Day 285; A Quiet Day in Mauritius; Friday, October 17, 2014



Woke up at 6:00 AM. At 6:30 AM I started cooking breakfast. Joel and Jeremy get up after me. We're up early because the rigger's coming at 8:00 AM and we have to clear in with Immigration at 8:15 AM.

At 7:15 AM Port Security shows up unannounced, and two officers board the boat. I fill out some paperwork and then they leave.

Breakfast consists of eggs and potatoes, courtesy of Ghost (thank you Tim and Claire); bacon; and breakfast crackers.

The rigger showed up at 8:00 AM, when he said he'd be here. A good start. He took some pictures, and then departed, saying that once we have the jib down and the forestay out he'd come back to take more pictures. I guess we're dismantling the rig ourselves. Oh well. What does the rigger do?

At 8:15 AM Jeremy headed to the ARC office with our passports and clearance paper from Cocos Keeling to clear in. Whenever you depart a country you're given a 'clearance' paper with an official seal on it; that you must show the next country you're going to. If you don't have that paper, you can be denied entry; or you can be fined. The fine, for example, of clearing into Fiji without the clearance paperwork from Tonga was $5,000. One of the boats in our Rally ended up paying a fine of $2,000. They had negotiated that price down from the $5,000.

While Jeremy was away we lowered the jib and then set it down on the pavement next to our boat. We needed help to do this, and crew from Nexus, Polaris, Chika-lu and some other boats helped us to lower it and then set it down alongside our boat. Because there is an aluminum extrusion inside of the rolled up sail it is imperative that the sail not be 'bent' when taking it down. Once down, after spending some time taking the fittings off of the tack or bottom of the forestay, and then cutting the top of the forestay wire with Merlyn's hydraulic cutter, we were able to pull the broken wire out of the extrusion inside of the rolled up jib. It became apparent that the forestay failed because a Pro Furl device at the top of the jib, which is supposed to help roll the sail out and in whenever we use the roller furling device, failed. As we rolled the sail out and in instead of the forestay wire staying straight and taught, we were actually winding the wire up and then winding it back down again. Eventually the individual strands (I think there may be 39) of wire started breaking individually; and then at a certain point the remaining strands broke all at once. That was the big bank we heard, when the forestay failed. Because the jib halyard did not break at the same time, it held up the mast until we could put two spinnaker halyards up on the bow to hold the mast up.

Once we had the jib down and the forestay wire out, I called the rigger back. He returned to take pictures and then departed.

Because the furling piece of equipment malfunctioned, even if we had a new forestay waiting for us at the dock, we still couldn't have put it up because we'd be waiting for a new rolling furling device anyway. The forestay can not go up without the new furling device.

After this we cleaned up the boat and put stuff away. Boats are usually in disarray after a long passage. We then got the laundry ready for pick up, and a local came by the boat at noon to pick it up. After weighing it with a digital luggage scale, he advised me the cost to do our laundry was $95. Not cheap, but we've paid much more in other parts of the world. Included in the laundry was all of our bedding.

Next we went to Celebrate to use Charlie's scanner to send some documents to the rigger.

We're tied up to a concrete wharf where a lot of tourists walk by; and many take pictures of our boat and the other boats; and some will pose in front of our boat to have pictures taken. Since most of the boats are 'dressed up,' flying a bunch of signal flags, its quite a grand looking fleet. Some tourists stop to talk with us, especially if they're from the US.

After that we walked to an outside mall area adjacent to the wharf and about 100 yards away, where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was supposed to have free Wifi. If did, but it was unreliable. Lunch was $60. Not cheap.

Back at the boat at 3:30 PM. I called the rigger and left a message. He called me back later and gave me the prices on the Pro Furl items that I wanted to order. The small furling piece that I need for sure at the top of the jib, the size of a small grapefruit, costs $1,700 by itself. That's a lot more than I thought I'd cost. I wonder what the forestay is going to cost? When I told the rigger to go ahead and order the Pro Furl parts, he said he couldn't because he didn't have the shipping costs yet. More delay. Hopefully on Monday I'll be able to order the parts. Since they're coming from France, I'm hoping if we order on Monday that I'll have the parts the following Monday; install the parts Tuesday and be under way late Tuesday afternoon or early evening.

Since there is an 8 hour time difference between Mauritius and the US, I can always call the US and order the parts myself if the rigger continues to drag things along. I'll make that decision on Monday. If I do that, I'll have the parts shipped to the rigger in Reunion, 120 miles away and the Rally fleet's next stop; and have them installed there.

At 5:30 PM we take a water taxi to a hotel where a happy hour party is being held. The drink ordering process is very slow, but the atmosphere is good. Open air on the water. We sit with the crew of Saphir, and like us, they did not like the seas that we endured on the leg. They had one wave enter the cockpit, I think Erling said it was a large 'slapper' wave, and it knocked out all the electronics in the cockpit. Fortunately they got the electronics working again by dealing with a fuse.

We left the restaurant/bar facility around 8:30 PM, take the water taxi back to the 'mainland,' then walk to the hotel next to the marina. Once there we order some champagne, then dinner. It's a long affair, taking 3 hours. Bur a good meal.

Back on the boat at 11:40 PM and then to bed.

Brian Fox

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