Today we said our goodbyes to our dear friends, Joe and Valerie. Their short stay with us is over. We drove them to the airport around noon where they will start their journey back to their home in Las Vegas. It was great to see them again and to sail from St. Thomas in the USVI, up to St Johns, through the BVIs and then over to Sint Maarten. While the passage from BVI to Sint Maarten was not ideal, we made it safe and sound, which is the objective of each of our passages.

This was their third visit to Leu Cat over the 9 plus years we have taken to sail around the world. The first time was in Panama, the second time was in New Zealand and now in the Northern Antilles. That is pretty impressive and speaks volumes of our friendship and our love of getting together.

Now comes a brief period of forced rest since Sint Maarten is in holiday mode with most places closed through Tuesday. Monday is Labor Day and Tuesday is Carnival Day and we are told most places will be closed until Wednesday. Thus, our desire to contact various services to work on Leu Cat cannot start until Wednesday. The big issue is our track on our mast. I am hoping that it will not take stepping down the mast, as that is a big deal which would take a crane.

I have a list of 18 things that I wish to complete before we start our passage across the North Atlantic to the Azores and then Spain. Most are pretty minor such as adjusting the 2 x 4s we have mounted to the stanchions that we use to secure our 10 5-gallon jerry jugs of deck fuel when we do major crossings, replace our stern US flag holder, replace the dinghy’s anchor and line, gel coat a couple of dings on the deck, polish the stainless steel, re-attach a few cushion straps and few other easy peasy, minor items.

However, there are a few items that are more troublesome and which could take some time. Besides the mast track issue, we now have a minor, slow leak of motor oil in the starboard engine that I am concerned about, our brand-new washer drier is giving us an error code that the drain pump is not working that must be addressed, and the outboard engine that in March I had fixed is leaking gear oil again. These all must be fixed before we are start our passage.

Plus, we need to have this done in the soonest possible manner so that we are ready to start our passage when the North Atlantic High has established itself but before the hurricane season gets too advanced. Right now, I am watching the North Atlantic High forming and becoming more stable. This is important as it need to be strong enough to deflect to the north the low-pressure cells (storms) that spin off of the North American continent. Right now, this major high pressure cell, which forms each summer and sits over the center of the North Atlantic, is still too much in its infancy and is still getting pushed around by the big, bad low pressure systems. However, usually by the end of May it is pretty established and when it is, we need to be ready to leave. If we wait here too long, we then run the risk of tropical storms and possibly hurricanes running into the North Atlantic which form off the coast of Africa and march across to the Caribbean and, at times, deflect into the path of our upcoming passage.

This is the reason I am anxious to get our projects started and completed. Unfortunately, we have to wait for these two holidays to pass before I can start lining up the contractors to work on those projects that I cannot do myself.

I have attached to this blog a picture which shows what the North Atlantic High looks like today. It is pretty impressive. However, the picture which I will post above this blog, show how a massive storm coming from Greenland is projected to beat up the High because the low pressure cell which is causing the storm is much stronger than the High. The storm cuts right across the path we are planning on taking to reach the Azores.