Sapphire Sailing Adventures

Vessel Name: Sapphire
Vessel Make/Model: Bristol 41
Hailing Port: Rochester, NY
Crew: Moby & Caroline Burton
17 April 2019 | Laying out 200' of chain on deck
16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada
16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada
13 April 2019 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
12 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, teaching William about reading music
11 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
10 April 2019 | Pink Sunset off Bequia
10 April 2019 | Papa's Restaurant overlooking Admiralty Bay, Bequia
09 April 2019 | Winfield applying coat #6 of Epiphane Varnish to Sapphire's coaming
08 April 2019 | Tennis Court behind the Gingerbread House, Bequia
04 April 2019 | Floating Beach Bar
04 April 2019 | Bequia
03 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
03 April 2019 | Center Hatch on Sapphire
02 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia, The Grenadines
02 April 2019 | Sailing past St Lucia across from the Pitons
28 March 2019 | Anse de Salines, Martinique
28 March 2019
28 March 2019 | Sapphire's Cockpit
24 March 2019
Recent Blog Posts
17 April 2019 | Laying out 200' of chain on deck

Haul Out Day

"I always feel like The Ghost from Christmas Past when we do this exercise of hauling the heavy chain out on our side deck to rinse it and let it dry." On our primary alone, we have 200' of chain and 120' of rope. Then our secondary anchor has 200' of rope and 30' of chain.

16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada

Getting Ready to be Hauled Out

We enjoyed a lovely leisurely couple of days sailing down to Grenada from Bequia, arriving on Palm Sunday.

16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada

Grenada's Cruiser's Net

The cruiser’s net in Grenada is always very lively. On Safety and Security this morning we heard that a sailboat coming up from Trinidad had a boatful of eight ‘Venezuelan looking’ men trying to overtake them. The sailboat was able to get away,. but the hull is riddled with bullet holes. They [...]

13 April 2019 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

New Way to Clear into Customs

How do you clear in to Customs, when you arrive at a port and don’t feel like blowing up your dinghy?

12 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, teaching William about reading music

Teaching William some Notes

I realized that if I set up my piano early in the morning, then I can play before there is too much sun in the cockpit.

11 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia

Paddling around Bequia

As my buddy Joan Dwyer would say, “the goal in paddle boarding is to avoid looking like a little old lady pushing a Wegman’s cart.” Actually, I’ll be doing that soon enough as we are heading home in a week.

Bit the Dust

01 April 2017 | Marcel & Remee changing out our AGMs , Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia
Caroline
“You know, Caroline, they are doing an around the world Arc now, so we could be in the company of 26 other boats when we sail around the world. Takes 15 months. Pretty good idea, huh?” Moby lifted his eyebrows for emphasis, as he made his suggestion, delving into one of his favorite dinnertime subjects.
The day had started out rocky and taken on a life of its own.
6:45 AM: The engine wouldn’t turn over. At all.
7:00 AM Moby determined that the power switch for the engine was faulty. So he rigged up a way to power around it. Bypassing the power switch to power up the engine.
7:30AM After “charging” the battery for a half hour, we realized that no amps were going in to the batteries. Turned the solar panels on. They weren’t getting power to the batteries either.
“These batteries are toast.” Moby realized. “We have to get in to the Marina and take a slip so we can get our refrigeration back on.”
7:45 AM Our engine decided it didn’t want to turn off. But then several minutes later, it did fizzle out.

“Rodney Bay Marina. Rodney Bay Marina. This is sailing vessel Sapphire. Would you have a slip available for a 41’ sailboat?”

8:00 AM No power even to raise the anchor with our windlass, so we had to manually raise the anchor, taking turns using a rachet winch handle to winch up the 75’ of chain. Not a big deal.
10:00 AM Vincent, the electrician with Regis Electronic, confirmed our battery autopsy.
EACH one of our three , 4D AGM batteries weighs way more than I do. There is no way we are going to be able to lift these out and put new ones in.
“Can we hire a couple of your guys to put the new ones in and take our old ones,” Moby asked the Island Water World manager. “I tip well,” he added.
We are now waiting for the big guys to arrive with our new batteries. They are a half hour late. Moby is over chatting with the neighbors sharing our dock. We need to get the new batteries hooked up, settle up with the marina office, clear out of customs and go diesel up before the gas dock closes in 2 hours. Not sure how they get away with it, but businesses here seem to open from 8 or 9 til Noon, and then reopen from 2-5 PM.
It is hard being an A personality in the Caribbean.


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