Working on the boat and getting the new sail ordered.
02 November 2016 | Prickly Bay, Grenada
Bill/blowing
Boy, it was a long day today( last Saturday). We were up early and got to work as soon as the French catamaran in front of us pulled up their anchor. They've been sitting right on top of it for about a week stopping us from moving. Today was the day they told us they were leaving and by 0715, they were gone. We launched Puff and I got down and with Tracy on deck, we started in on cleaning the anchor chain. It's a very rich environment in this harbor and we had growth of about 4-5 inches surrounding our chain and snubber. It was really bad on the snubber as it's rope and the growth had burrowed into it's fibers and was having a great time.
Tracy would bring up a foot and I'd scrub the chain till most of the growth was off but there was no way to get it all. It was lock in especially where the links overlap but we did the best we could. Up a foot, scrub, up a foot, scrub. This went on till be got the the area where the chain was in contact with the bottom and then the growth stopped. I got back on board and we started up the engine and pulled in the rest of the chain. We'd had about 120 feet out and now we needed to move since were we were, we were surrounded by boats, mainly french boats. We couldn't back up and if the wind shifted, we'd come to close to others. We had three French boats come in just yesterday and all anchored close to us. So with the anchor up, we took off and finally dropped it close to some friends of ours on LeuCat that had come back to Grenada from the north. We'd played with them several months ago and it was great to see them again.
This time, I let our about 160 feet of chain in 30 feet of water just so what I'd scrubbed would now be in contact with the mud and sand bottom and would hopefully get off what was left over the next few days. Dave from LeuCat came over and we made plans to get together tomorrow for some games and drinks. Going to be great seeing them again.
With us moved and back on anchor, it was time to go ferry water back to Zephyr. We carry about 270 gallons and we were close to only half full. With full tanks, it gives us about a two month period before we need to refill. It was a good day to start in on it. We pulled out our water jugs(carries about 32 gallons at a time between them) and I took off for the marina. In the end, it took five trips to get all we needed. One hundred twenty eight into the tanks and an extra 12 so we could do laundry in the next few days. We started to ferry trips about 1000 and with a break for lunch, did the final one about 1600. It made for a long, long day but now the tanks are full and it's another thing checked off our list of things to do.
We come to the conclusion that we finally need to bite the bullet and order a new mainsail. We've gotten a quote from Far East Sailmakers and will be finalizing the deal by early Monday. It's going to be close to what we already have with four full battens and three reefing points. A good cruising sail with a three year warranty. Our current sail was purchased back in 1998 from North Sails and it's been a great sail but it's days are numbered as the fabric is just worn out. We've put over 40,000 miles on it and a good 7 years of exposure to the sun and elements and there is only so much a sail can take. We've always put on the sail cover as soon as the anchor is down but the last trip from South Africa to Trinidad was over 7,000 miles with all of it under sail and that just pushed the envelope a bit to far for a sail of this age. With luck, we will have the new one sent to St. Maarten and pick it up when we get there in a month or so. We replaced the Genoa two years ago back in Malaysia and now it's time for a new main.
Yesterday, Sunday, I sent Far East Sailmakers the go ahead for our new mainsail. Today, we got the internet address where we are to make our half down payment. We will be sending it in this afternoon and letting our credit card company know since it's going to be charged in Hong Kong and they might refuse it since we are in the Caribbean. It's the little things that you have to watch out for out here. We've been burned several times out here by people getting our card info and charging things on it. The last was an "on line" purchase at a tattoo parlor in California. I always thought you had to be in a tattoo parlor getting the tattoo but some how they figured out a way to pay on line for it. We had to get new cards again.
Yesterday(Sunday), we spent the afternoon and evening with Dave and Mary Margaret off LeuCat. We've followed their blogs for years as they were always about a year ahead of us. We finally caught them here in Grenada about 6 months ago. Since then, while we've been working on Zephyr and making a trip back home, they've been farther up the chain exploring more islands. They've just arrived back here to put their boat in storage for a few month so they can go back home and see their family. It was a great afternoon with lots to talk about and discuss. We will be having dinner with them tomorrow. With us ordering a new sail, we have to wait till we get all our ordering complete before we take off from here or we may just stay and have it delivered here. We're looking into the Customs fees between getting it here or farther up the chain in St Maarten.