can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Starblazer 12/01/14 – The adventure begins!



Perhaps a better title should be ‘The adventure continues’ because the
previous 6 months have all been an adventure, however from noon yesterday we
are sailing in unknown waters. We had a fantastic start, crossing the line
with only about 7 or 8 boats ahead of us. The first part of the course was
a brisk reach down to a turning mark off Castries, about 2 miles away. I
think we surprised Rally Control on the police launch when we turned in
about 9th or 10th position, after all we are rated as the slowest boat on
this leg! To be honest, we surprised ourselves being ready on the start
line on time, let alone getting it right.

The past week has been very busy, a mixture of work and play, but busy. Our
safety inspection on Monday threw up a problem with the EPIRB, an essential
bit of safety kit. The battery expiry date was mid December, something
which wasn’t picked up in Las Palmas, and something which requires the unit
being sent to a service agent. It isn’t going to happen before New Zealand!
Island Water World managed to get one from their St Maarten store but we had
to jump through the Customs hoops and it took several days and cost about
$1,000 US. The bits we needed for the mainsail batten cars, part of the
system to make it easier to pull the sail up, and which we had ordered
before the new year, finally arrived on Friday, too late to be installed
before we left. John picked up the final package from customs, the new
lift pump for the watermaker, at about 5.30 on Friday afternoon.

On Thursday we had booked a ‘lunchtime lift out’, unfortunately the yard was
running an hour and a half late so my 2 hour window to go food shopping
slammed shut. Never mind, we could do it on Friday afternoon. The yard
relaunched us after high pressure hosing the hull and us replacing an anode
and greasing the prop again. We went to refuel and found we would save 9 EC
cents a litre (=2p) if we had already checked out from Customs and
Immigration, so that became another job for Friday. My Friday afternoon
shopping ‘window’ was taken up with refuelling! We took on 460 litres so it
was worth waiting. I finally did the food shopping early on Saturday
morning. Better late than never.

We needed to go sailing to have a rest and give the credit cards a break but
not before saying goodbye to the friends we have made on ARC Portugal and
the ARC. Thanks guys for your friendship and support, you know who you are
and we’ll always remember you.

12 hours into the passage, we’ve covered 82 miles which is a good average
speed for us. We have slipped straight back into passage making mode with 3
hour night watches and good food. Dinner Saturday evening was pork chops
with a honey, mint and roasted garlic glaze served with new potatoes,
carrots and broccoli.

Joyce



Previous | Next