Something hit me the other day as I sat relaxing in our cockpit with my morning coffee. There was the odor of trash burning wafting in under the dodger from time to time. I thought, I remember that smell form my youth when we use to burn trash in our back yard. Now that was back in the late 1950s to 1960s in western New York where I grew up. That started my brain going on all the things here in Antigua that are similar to the U.S back in that time. Everyone here does what needs to be done to get on with their daily lives with few frills. In general, I get the feeling that life here is simple like it was back in that aforementioned time in the U.S. In part life in the States is complicated, this is one of the reasons that we decided to go cruising again in search of a simpler way of life. But Antigua is in a bit of a time warp because at the same time as they have one foot planted in the simple life of the 1960s they have the other foot planted in the world of instant communication like the internet. The technology that allows me to sit here in a harbor in the Caribbean typing this blog post was not even thought possible back in the 60s. I wonder what effect this contrast, of simple life on one hand and the information age on the other, has on the development of young people. They see the internet and TV programs from technologically advanced U.S, and yet many of the things that they see are not available to them. For instance last Sunday the Academy Awards were shown here on the local television station, complete with commercials. Seeing all the extravagance has to have an effect on folks. To me it is an interesting contrast and I will continue to look for clues as to its effect on the typical West Indian as we continue our exploration of their beautiful islands.

The evening before last I noticed that the windgenerator's meter was indicating that it was not charging our batteries. However, the wind was light so I wasn't sure if it should have been showing anything. The next morning the wind came up and there was still no indication. We had awakened wondering what we were going to do today. Well, now we had a project. Was it the generator, which was new about three years ago, or was it the wiring that runs down the pole and thru the boat to the batteries that was the problem. First step was to cut the problem in half by taking the generator off the top of the pole so that we could check the wiring between the top of the pole and the windergenerator's monitor. We didn't want to remove the windgenerator's blades so when we took it off the top of the pole we suspended it from the main halyard and carefully let it swing towards the mast controlling its swing with another line. Once it was in a good position we secured it in place with additional lines. Then I went to the windgenerator's monitor and disconnected the two wires that come from the top of the pole. After which I shorted them together and went to the top of the pole with my ohm meter. After connecting the meter's test leads to the two contacts on the top of the pole the problem was obvious. There was no continuity between the contacts so this meant that there was a break in the wiring. But where? First place to check was under the contacts at the top of the pole. Understand to work on this I had to stand on the outside of the stern rail above the solar panels to reach the top of the pole that is about seven feet above the deck. After removing, and not dropping, the screws that hold the cap in place I found the problem. The wires are soldered to their contacts and one of the solder connections had broken for the first time in the roughly 12 years that it has been installed. To resolder it I had to remove it from the top of the pole which meant cutting the wires and not letting them drop down inside the pole. This was accomplished by first taping them to the outside top of the pole, then cutting them. Once down inside the boat I found my seldom used butane soldering torch and re-soldered the broken wire. Re-installing the cap was just a matter of crimping the wires back together and replacing the cap's screws. Then we carefully swung the suspended generator back in place atop the pole. Then the moment of truth, let the blades loose and see what happens. Awesome, we have wind power again!