Admiral 40 Oceans Dream /34 degs C with heavy rain
26/09/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

Our apologies for going AWOL and for not updating this blog, but in reality we didn't have a lot to tell.

In July, after an epic "title fight" that certainly lasted more than 15 rounds, we threw the towel in with Admiral Yachts. Basically, whilst there was still outstanding warranty work (particularly with regard to the decks and stress-cracking), Admiral Yachts just sat in their corner and refused to see the customers point of view as well as that expressed by their own Surveyor. We had a number of threatening emails saying that they would cease paying our storage costs ashore as well as making statements such as 'we will not do any further warranty work after next Friday'! Without detailing every punch, we decided in July that we would take the very meagre cash settlement we had negotiated, as by now our lives were being ruined by the constant bickering. The totality of the warranty work could, with the right approach have been completed inside six weeks. Instead of which, it has taken over six months and we have decided to finish it off ourselves without the constant prevarication from Admiral Yachts.

We felt we deserved a bit of a break, certainly from living on the hard and so decided to spend a few weeks back home in the UK, via New York to begin to acclimatise ourselves back into civilisation (i.e. shopping!). Our time back in the UK with family and friends enabled us to recharge our batteries and to put the last six months of our lives into perspective. We soon appreciated that despite the financial loss, the battle with Admiral Yachts just wasn't worth it. Over the coming weeks we will record some of the more significant failings which we have had to address. We are particularly grateful to Oceans Dream's designer - Angelo Lavranos, who gave freely of his advice in addressing the design parameters that had not been met by Admiral Yachts in the build of Oceans Dream.

The most significant of these was the inability for Oceans Dream to bear her weight on her keels. This is a characteristic of all catamarans enabling them to beach easily and to be kept in drying moorings. David Bird (CEO of Admiral Yachts) insisted this was not in the specification despite the designer confirming to us on a number of occasions, his design was such that it made provision for this key capability. Admiral Yachts insisted they would NOT address this issue and so we have had to 'go it alone' with the technical guidance of the designer. For us, this was the most frustrating part of the last six months, along with of course, the other 50 warranty issues.

Now back on board we look forward to finishing off the remaining work with the hope we'll be able to re-launch in three to four weeks. We will update the blog with some pictures and video links to illustrate some of the work. For those of you who have a particular interest, then drop us a line and we will happily give you the unexpurgated version!

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Admiral 40 Oceans Dream /34 deg C, and rising.
28/06/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

Having spent the last couple of weeks enjoying some fabulous sailing in East Caribbean, we now appreciate even more what we have been missing.

We flew to the beautiful island of Martinique. Lovely cheeses, wines and breads with the majority of people struggling to speak any English - Adrian's schoolboy French came in handy! We took a taxi to St Pierre where we stood on the beach and frantically waved to our friends M and Bob who were anchored out in the bay on what would soon be our home for the next couple of weeks, Lady Liv, a Jeanneau 43. Bob and M run charters in the Caribbean and a link to Lady Liv's website can be found to the left of this blog.

Sadly, the historic town of St Pierre was destroyed in a pyroclastic blast in 1902 when the volcano Mount Pelee erupted, killing over 30,000 people, almost the entire population of the town. Just one person survived, Ludger Sylbaris. Sylbaris was in prison, in solitary confinement and locked in a single-cell, partially-underground, bomb-proof magazine with stone walls. His cell was without windows, ventilated only through a narrow grating in the door facing away from the volcano. His prison was the most sheltered building in the city, and it was this fact which saved his life. Four days after the eruption, a rescue team heard his cries from the rubble of the prison. Although horribly burned, he survived and was able to provide an account of the event. Sylbaris was pardoned of his crimes and found fame when he joined Barnum & Bailey's circus, touring America recounting the horrors of the explosion, and becoming a minor celebrity. Absolutely fascinating.

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We anchored overnight off the town of St Pierre and then next morning sailed south to Rodney Bay in St Lucia. After Jackie's time there with her parents a few weeks ago, we quickly found the good places to shop to provision the boat for the coming week. From there we headed to the Pitons on the south of the island and anchored outside of the bat caves. We enjoyed a sun-downer (rum punch of course!) and watch the bats setting off on their feeding frenzies - fruit not blood we hasten to add!



We set off early the next morning sailing close to the majestic Pitons where M gave Adrian a tutorial on the use if his Nikon camera (M's a professional photographer). As we headed off down the coast towards St Vincent, we were entering the land of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. We made a slight detour into Wallilabou to see what remains if the set. Much of the set is still standing and it's clear the small village makes the most of its appearance on worldwide screen. After a few more hours, we were making our way into the stunning Admiralty Bay on the island of Bequia. Here, we went ashore to stretch our legs and wander around the small community set amongst the lush 'jungle'. We also took the opportunity to sample some local rum punches as it was '2-4-1' at the bar that overlooked the Bay. This was a bit of a disaster as they were so strong, we didn't really need to have more than one but of course, couldn't refuse such a tempting offer! The following morning, after a late start, we set sail for Tobago Cays. En route we caught sight of Moonhole, an isolated community founded by American architects. The houses all blend into the landscape of steep rocky cliffs, and have been described as "live-in sculptures". Each house is individually designed and made of local rocks, woods and flotsam combed from Bequia's beaches. The original house was built under a natural arch and was abandoned when a huge boulder fell from the ceiling and crushed the empty bed. The other houses grow out of the rocks without straight lines or right angles and there is seldom glass in the windows and there is no electricity.



The Tobago Cays are a group of small islands surrounded by a large reef and famous for their clear blue water, reef-life and turtles which feed off the seagrass. Upon (careful) anchoring, we were soon spotting turtles swimming past our hull and immediately slipped overboard to swim with them. That afternoon, we took the dinghy to swim on the coralheads inside the reef. We snorkeled with large numbers of fish, some rays, eels and a nurse shark living around the coral all in about 20 feet of water. We returned to Lady Liv and enjoyed another lovely supper before going to bed after another memorable day.

In the morning we took the dinghy through a small gap in the reef to swim with some of the larger fish - including a couple of barracuda. Here in the deeper water with visibility down to 60ft or more the shoals of fish were in their hundreds and seemed happy for us to swim amongst them. Our final swim of the day was with the turtles in a protected area of the lagoon where we were able to watch and swim with them as they fed on the sea grass.

From Tobago Cays, we sailed the short distance to Union Island where Bob jumped on a plane and headed for the UK (to return 4 days later).



We then sailed across to Petite St Vincent (PSV), a private island with 22 cottages, no TV, no telephone, but a charter schooner by the name of Jambalaya (see: www.windwardschooner.com) on which we crewed for 2 days. Jambalaya was built by her owner Jeff and local craftsmen from the island of Petite Martinique. She took three years to build from wood harvested in South America and from the island of Carriacou. Nearly 80ft long and with five sails set, she made easy work of the local seas. It was a great privilege to sail on this beautiful schooner as well as meet some of the guests staying on PSV. We would love to return one day.



With Bob back on board, we headed further south towards Hillsborough on Carriacou (belonging to Grenada). As we approached Hillsborough to clear Customs and Immigration, we noticed a lone man in a small boat clearly in difficulty. As we kept an eye on him, we noticed his outboard wasn't running and the engine cover was off. To his relief, we turned towards him as he soon hailed us for a tow. He was destined to drift a long way had we not spotted him and he was greatly relived as he tied on the towing line for the 2 mile journey back to a moored fishing vessel. Our good deed for the day. Having checked in and out and enjoyed a Fathers Day rum punch with the Immigration Officers(!) we headed onto Tyrrel Bay on the southern tip of the island.

Tyrrel Bay is home for a large number of cruisers who live permanently on their boats (liveaboards) and some of them resemble the equivalent of a human scarecrow! They carry their belongings, junk an' all both inside and outside of their boats ... something we will try and avoid! We went ashore to have supper at the Lost Turtle restaurant which involved negotiating a pontoon at 35 degrees. Alright when we arrived but somewhat challenging on the way home! In the morning Bob and M took us to the extensive mangrove swamps which grow on one side of the bay. These are a haven for wildlife as well as providing a bolt-hole for yachts riding out a hurricane.

With some final provisioning we headed off for our final port of call at the southern end if Grenada. We sailed on the windward side (Eastern) in order to get the best winds. After an 8 hour sail we arrived at Prickly Bay. Here we spent a quiet night in the knowledge that we'd be leaving at 04:30 for the 85 mile crossing to Trinidad. We were aware there was a tropical wave (some of which form into full blown hurricanes) which we had to outrun on our journey to Trinidad. We left on time and we well on our way as the sun rose. Throughout the day the winds steadily grew and we steadily reduced sail. For a short period we experienced 30 knots of winds but as we approached the Trini coast just before sunset, the wind died to allow us a peaceful motor back to the moorings in Chaguaramas. It had taken us 14 hours and we were all pretty shattered. Having moored up Lady Liv, we came ashore and were pleased to see Oceans Dream was safe and sound. Our thanks to Bob and M for a wonderful sail through the Windward Islands, we had a fabulous time.

Whilst we had been away we had managed to catch sight of an email from Admiral Yachts sent on 17 June saying that the balance of the warranty work would be completed by 19 June. This surprised us but we were clearly still pleased to hear of this positive news. It was with great disappointment when we arrived back in Trinidad on 23 June there were still some major warranty projects yet to commence. Amongst these are the repair work to the decks, the fairing of the hull joins and the re-tabbing of the webs in the port hull. The next few days will see us trying to complete as much of this work as we can. The guys arrive early on Monday - we hope.

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Yacht type: Admiral 40 catamaran
06/06/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

We've owned Oceans Dream for just over 6 months and have spent more than half of that time out of the water!

It's the end of week 15 since we were lifted here in Chaguaramas and sadly the pace at which the warranty work is being completed has slowed dramatically. We have been waiting for a response from Admiral for over three weeks now on the solution to the keel issue and to the cracking and break-up of the non-slip on the decks. Work on completing the other approved warranty work is progressing, albeit at a pace that sometimes is agonisingly slow. Jobs get 95% completed and then for the want of a final spare or commitment to finishing a job off, it remains on the 'In Progress' list. To try and speed things along, Adrian has taken on an Apprenticeship, unpaid, and has added an extra pair of hands in an attempt to complete some of the tasks.

So what next? Well firstly we desperately need the go ahead from Admiral on the keels and decks as we estimate both of these will take 6 weeks or more to complete.

In the meantime we have been invited to join some friends aboard their yacht Lady Liv in Martinique and we will sail with them down through the islands to Trinidad where they are being hauled for the hurricane season. We are both looking forward to this hugely so that we can get away from the dust and noise of the yard and do some sailing again. It will also remind us of what we have been missing since February.

The yard is rapidly filling up with yachts and catamarans of all shapes and sizes from less that 30ft to well over 100ft in length - there must be well in excess of 400 here already. Each day, as more arrive, the travel lift crew lift, power wash and then squeeze the yachts in to the gaps remaining. There is very often less than a couple of inches between the hulls. The picture at the head of this blog gives an indication of the number of masts.

This week Jackie has spent time updating the Oceans Dream website, in particular the map of our route, re-designing all the photo albums and putting a link to one of the hurricane warning sites. It looks fab - take a look for yourselves ... www.oceansdream.co.uk.

We will next update you when we return from our sail through the islands with some photos but also hopefully some encouraging news from our boat builders Admiral Yachts in South Africa.

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The Crew /34 deg C, and rising.
21/05/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

Wednesday evening saw us setting off on a trip to the north-east coast of the island in search of leatherback turtles. Jesse James (yes, that really is his name) owner of the local tour company, Members Only was our driver and guide for the evening - his regular trips between March and June to Matura Beach to see the nesting turtles is quite a hit with the yachites out here.

Upon arrival at Matura, we were welcomed by a Nature Seekers Guide. Nature Seekers are a group of conservationists who work with more than 50 members of the local community to patrol Matura Beach. Each year, they protect 3,000 nests on the beach, improving the chance for survival of tens of thousands of hatchlings. The tour guiding helps to prevent illegal harvesting of eggs and the selling of turtle meat.

Having been briefed by our Guide, we made our way to the beach. There was no daylight as it was 22:00 but our eyes quickly adjusted as we scrambled onto the sand and saw in front of us an ENORMOUS female leatherback. Looking further up the beach, there were a number of other leatherbacks either making their way up to nest or heading back into the sea, looking absolutely exhausted. The guide took us to see a female making her nest. Using her rear flippers, she digs with such precision about 2 feet deep and amazingly creates a wider base than the opening of the nest. Next into the laying trance where approximately 80 eggs would be produced (at this point we could take photos, touch her, the guide tagged and chipped her). She then covered the nest by slowly compacting sand over the top of the eggs making sure not to break any - each of the eggs was just a bit bigger than a ping-pong ball. The final act is to camouflage the nest site by flicking loose sand over the whole area before the struggle back to the sea ... we felt worn out just watching her! We watched this cycle again and again - really quite something.

In a couple of months, the eggs will hatch and the newborns (the size of the palm of your hand) will scurry across the sand into the sea. When they come to producing their own eggs, after about 25 years at sea they will return 'home' to the beach where they were born to nest. They will lay five or six times in the season a total of approximately 500 eggs. They lay every two or three years. The largest ones we saw were estimated to be over 80 years old.

Some facts about leatherbacks: it is the largest of all living sea turtles. They don't have a shell, their back is leather-looking and if cut, would bleed. They are the reptile world's deepest-divers. Individuals have been discovered to be able to descend almost as deep as 4,000 feet. The leatherbacks are also the fastest reptiles on record, with a speed of 35 kph in the water! The turtles we saw ranged from 5.0ft - 5.8ft in length and weighed approx 1 ton. Their diet is jellyfish and they eat the equivalent of their own weight in jellyfish each day.

Warranty work on Admiral 40
We're now nearing the end of week 13 out of the water and even Peakes (the boatyard) are surprised at the length of our stay. In fact, we had to move last week so as a regular customer can have his usual spot for the hurricane season! Oh well, a change of scenery is always good!

There is steady progress on the warranty work such as the leak in the port locker, securing the diesel tanks and repairing the davits. The big issues for which we still seek a solution from Admiral Yachts are the keels and the repairs to the decking. These are clearly big projects that we're keen to get started as soon as possible in order that we can get back in the water.

Butterfly and Barnacle
A while ago we came across an interesting blog set up by an English couple who seemed to be living a parallel life to us having purchased Butterfly, an African Fastcat 445 catamaran.

Karen and Dick share their challenging experiences in a blog written with flair and humour (despite frustrations). It is an essential read should you be considering signing on the dotted line ....

That's it from the Crew of two for this week.
Wishing our readers in the UK a fab Bank Holiday weekend ... hope the sun shines for you!

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