Yacht Larus

A slow circumnavigation

Vessel Name: Larus
Vessel Make/Model: Slipper 42
Hailing Port: Southampton
Crew: Tim Chapman and Nancy Martiniuk
About: Sailing together since 1988
Home Page: Http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yachtlarus
18 June 2016
03 December 2015 | Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI
03 June 2015 | Antigua
19 October 2014 | Trinidad
04 July 2014 | Bequia
02 March 2014 | Chaguaramas, Trinidad
25 February 2014
24 January 2014 | Bequia
18 December 2013
09 December 2013
23 October 2013 | Port de Plaisance, St Martin
05 September 2013
11 June 2013
11 June 2013
Recent Blog Posts
18 June 2016

Blog is moving

There is no perfect blog site for those of us who have almost permanent internet challenges, however we're moving from Sailblogs now to a new blog site. The posts here will remain but all future posts will be at;

21 February 2016

Every cloud has a silver lining

It came to light during the Boat show that the boat's insurers were insisting that the delivery skipper had an Ocean endorsement on their Yachtmaster ticket. Tim doesn't have this. He's had his Yachtmaster for over 20 years and in those days Yachtmaster Offshore was the highest level of certification. [...]

04 February 2016

Best laid plans and all that.

Belated Happy New Year to all.

03 December 2015 | Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI

Blog 78 - Cruising once again

Having just reread our last blog, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that it was pretty much spot on.

03 June 2015 | Antigua

Work, Work and more work.

It is an awfully long time since our last blog and we really haven't been doing much other than working.

27 October 2014

On the hard Chaguaramas and crusing in Tobago

Spring this year, April to July, found us working pretty hard. Summer found us spending our hard earned gains treating Larus and ourselves to some TLC. While Tim and I visited friends and family in Canada and the UK, we left Larus on the hard in Coral Cove Marina, Chaguaramas, Trinidad in the care [...]

19 October 2014 | Trinidad

New paint job

Couldn't resist painting the boat at Trinidad prices. Looking gorgeous in a slightly warmer shade of white. Also rolled on 4 more coats of Coppercoat for good measure.

04 July 2014 | Bequia

We’re still here!

And by ‘here’ I mean, Guadeloupe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Marten and the British Virgin Islands. We have been working quite a lot over the last few months, and are currently in the Grenadines doing nothing but looking after Larus and pleasing ourselves.

02 March 2014 | Chaguaramas, Trinidad

The Run Up to Carnival

Trinidad is obsessed with Carnival. I've read that between Carnivals, the Trini's are either reminiscing about the previous Carnival or planning for the next.

25 February 2014

Trinidad

With our week long charter in the BVI completed we headed back to Bequia. Again, we had a great time and many laughs with our guests on 'Faith.' We also celebrated our Captain's birthday with cake, candles and, most importantly, ice cream.

24 January 2014 | Bequia

Charters and Bequia

Both Tim and I have been out on charter. I worked for two weeks in Guadeloupe on a 70' Flagship catamaran while Tim got called out to a short notice charter in the BVI.

Catching up a little and moving on, 08 Oct 2013

08 October 2013
Tuesday the 8th of October, Chaguaramas, Trinidad

I'm not catching up very well at all, am I? Ah well, I will get there in the end but I might as well keep you up to date with where we are and where we're going right now.

We've been up to St Martin and back by air for charter related stuff, but not an actual charter. There have been all sorts of changes in where we'll be working in the near future. We won't be going to Belize now, but we will be working in the British Virgin Islands through November and we're very much looking forward to it.

Once we've cleared out with Customs and Immigration we'll be leaving Coral Cove Marina to take Larus up to St Martin's. We have a place in a marina in the lagoon there and a very kind and generous person who will keep an eye on Larus while we're away.

We will island hop our way up and, wifi permitting, we'll post as we go.



So way back in July...

We had a week or so in Trinidad to get ourselves sorted out before starting the STCW95, Basic Marine Safety, at the University of Trinidad and Tobago on the 1st of July. The University was a short bus ride from Coral Cove Marina where we stayed for the duration of the course.

We had been at anchor for a week but weren't happy to leave Larus there all day unattended. There is a lot of unexpected movement among the yachts at anchor and on the moorings.

We'd often heard mentioned shrink wrapping regarding boats being left for long periods of time in Trinidad and hadn't really been able to picture it.

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Once you see it, it makes perfect sense. They build a framework of plastic tubing, stretch plastic over it and then heat shrink it. The boat is still accessible, there's still air flow but it's well protected from sun and wind.

A week after arriving we started our STCW95. The University is only about a 20 minute walk from Coral Cove Marina but even at 8 o'clock in the morning the sun is pretty fierce, so like the locals, we took a local mini bus for about 3$TT (Trinidad and Tobago). To give you an idea of the exchange rate, 10TT dollars is about 1 £ sterling. They are VERY good value.

We were a mixed lot on the course, a few from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Grenada and one from the BVI. The Basic Safety course is required by anyone who wants to work on cargo ships, cruise ships, or oil rig in any capacity. The course covers First Aid, Fire Fighting and Sea Survival. The course here in Trinidad was a third of the price in Antigua.

One of the requirements to do the Fire Fighting part of the course was that because of the full face breathing apparatus we'd be wearing participants needed to be beard free.

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Moustaches could stay.

The fire fighting was absolutely gruelling. We kitted up in black padded suits, boots, gloves, helmets and eventually the breathing apparatus and then rolled and unrolled hoses, lugged fire extinguishers and put out fires in the sun for hours.

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Before...

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And after. We were pooped.

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This was what we needed the breathing apparatus for - going into the smoke filled containers on one level and finding our way to an exit on the other level.

We were working hard and we always looked forward to lunch. We were a bit late to lunch during the fire training and we horrified to find that everything had gone. There was usually some rice, chicken and bean or lentil plate - but not today.

The canteen staff offered to whip us up one Fish and Chips. Yes, Please!

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Not exactly what we were expecting, but it was utterly delicious. The fish very much reminded me of the fried anchovies (gavro in Greek) they used to serve in the restaurant where I worked.

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And here we have the Class of July 2013.
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