Ironie's Pacific Adventures

Marshall Islands to Vanuatu Continued:The next day,after a good nights sleep May,Tony and Eva came out to Ironie.Tony told me that there was a better
anchorage in front of the Beachfront Resort only 2 km. to the west.The anchorage is on a lee shore but the holding is very good.I only planned to be there a couple of days so not a worry....I took May and Eva onboard and we motored to the anchorage and got the hook down and set the snubber,no problem.
It was a very calm day and I went ashore to complete Immigration formalities.When i was in town I noticed the sky getting very dark and the wind coming up.It was a BIG squall moving in.I watched as the waves in the channel built up to huge chop and the wind got up to over 40 knots!! At this point the prudent thing
to do would have been to get my ass back to Ironie and check on her but i stupidly decided to go to Santo Dive and wait out the squall feeling Ironie was securely anchored.A i was sitting with Tony chatting about how I have'nt had any major mishaps sinceI've owned Ironie,Tony got a call from Dave ,the owner of Beachfront,
telling us that Ironie had broken loose from her anchor and was almost on the beach!! We piled into Tonys truck and sped to the resort.As we pulled up,I could see the boat nearly on the beach!!1Holy Fuck!!The rain was still coming down in buckets and the wind was still howling,As I got close to the beach
I saw about 15 guys in the water Keeping Ironie from totally beaching herself. I jumped in the water, got onboard the boat and started the engine.I got her in reverse but She was lying paralell to the beach so we had to get her stern pointed out which was no easy task with the wind still blowing a gale and the waves
hammering the boat.We tryed to put out a stern anchor and winch her ass around but the danforth was'nt grabbing in the soft mud near the beach.We tried to push the boat out wih shear manpower but could'nt manage that either...At this point the wind and waves started to abate and we were able to get some guys in the front of the boat and some guys on the stern
pushing on either side of the boat to make it pivot to get the ass end in the deeper water so the engine could pull us off.This tactic finally worked,and Ironie was free!!!As I was in the water pushing there was one of the vanuatu guys at he helm taking my instructions....As we came loose i had to swim out to the boat
and pull myself up onto her and take over the helm from Ricky(one of the Vanuatu guys from here on in known as"Captain Reverse"...lol) The anchor and all the chain had come out of the locker when the snubber snapped and the chain had jumped the gypsy so we had to try to hook up to mooring.I gave "captain Reverse" the boat hook and told him how to
grab the mooring with it.As things went he grabbed the chain on the mooring and promply dropped the boat hook in the water.As I came around for another pass at the mooring I lost power again.this time the replacement "flex coupler"had blown out leaving us drifting.I went into my storage lazerettes and got out the
spare CQR anchor and a spare 10 meter peice of chain and quickly rigged it and got the boat hooked again...What a crazy morning!!!After "Captain reverse and I paddled back to shore in my inflateable kayak all the Vanuatu guys who had helped keep Ironie from a beaching and tony were waiting for us. I told the guys (who were all from the Banks Islands here in Vanuatu) how much I appreciated thier help
and that they should meet me at the kava bar later and I would shout them all the kava they could drink!!!I was very shaken from the whole affair and I took a good while to get settled down.I was the one who needed a bloody kava!So we all met and got properly wasted on kava at one of the local kave bars.The next day it was picture perfect,sunny and calm,and I found the anchor and chain
snorkeling with my kayak.Tony and a couple of his guys came out and helped me get the chain and anchor back on board and even found my boathook!It seems what happened was,my snubber was pretty shoddy and in need of an overhaul and as the waves got big and Ironie started"hobbyhorsing" it parted which alowed the chain to jump the gypsy of the windlass,which allowed the chain
to run out to the bitter end which was tied to the locker which also snapped under the strain!!So,I was back to "square one",a broken flex coupler and no spare.It seemed i might be in Santo for awhile.....I got the part shipped out in less than a week from Australia and installed it only to find how badly out my allighnment had been to cause
the problem in the first place.the problem was the motormounts which were well and truly buggered...O.K.,I call this part the"can of worms"...so ,on inspection,all the motormounts would need to be replaced.I needed very "low profile" mounts ad had done some researsh and not been able to find any the right size.
hummm,well seems like i kind of came to a impass.I was told to talk to an old timer here in Santo named Dan.they call him "Dan the fix-it man here.They said he will take on jobs other people wont.I looked up dan and told him the problem.he said i should get the old mounts off take all the rubber off of each mount and he would try to weld
them solid metal to metal and take all the rubber out of the equationwhich is what had really caused the problem.the rubber on the mounts had gotted so old and distorted from age and heat and oil.So,I got to work....It was no easy task getting the old mounts out.there was lots of grunting and blood involved,but i got it done.Dan and I got the new
"frankenstiened" mounts in place and did the allighnment installing the new flexcoupler and getting Ironie back on the road.All tolled,between waiting for the part and the repairs it took over a month of waiting ,grunting and groaning.I feel I learned alot from "Dan the Man" and got a wak up call as far as being dilligent to the needs of Ironie.It was well and truly my fault for nor replacing the snubber sooner and all
i can do it chalk it all up to lessons learned....There were the bright side to the episode...1:the gods had seen fit to send down 15 Vanuatu angels from the Banks Islands 2:The grounding was on a beach and not a rocky shore or coral reef 3:the boat was able to be fixed in a not so ideal spot Big thanks to Tony and to Dan ad to all the expats here in Santo at the kava bar
for advice and the "Kava shells"...could'nt have done it without ya. Now we can go play in these beautiful unspoiled tropical islands...Next report from Outter Island Vanuatu.A big hello to May who has gone back to her native,Solomon Islands.Ironie and I miss you tons!!! All the best!Love to all!! Captain Steve