New Years here too

Nothing new to report on the transmission. Still at ZF in Fort Lauderdale being fixed under warranty by the manufacturer. The days here seem to roll into one another and sometimes they are hard to keep track of. On both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day I was out on the town with friends here. Christmas itself was a pretty laid back day of reading and eating on the boat with a beach walk and a short stop at the "orphan's" party thrown in.

The new plan, once I can leave is to sail from here to Statia, then to Monserrat, on to Nevis, and finally to Guadaloupe. Each passage is under 35 miles so each can easily be done in a day and that will leave time to have a look around each place.

Today I finished troubleshooting the wind instruments. The problem is definately the masthead transducer. I have a new one but I will need a hand to install it. If not before, I will get it done during the Heineken Regatta. Thanks to Alfred at Budget Marine for making it simpler to solve.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I am racing on a 25 footer called Panic Attack. I am told it is a very very fast 25 footer. I get picked up here at the yacht club at 0600 and we drive to Philipsburg to pick up the boat. We then sail to St. Barth's to race. I think it is a round the island race. Afterwards we sail back to St. Maarten. I am told we should be back here by 1530 or so. We'll see. Little River Band is playing here on the island tomorrow night at the big party but I think I'll be too tired to go. I do have a ticket to see the Gypsy Kings on Jan 3 in a very small venue. Should be awesome.

Sorry for no new pictures but I really haven't seen that much new stuff. Once I get sailing again I will start posting more.

Merry Christmas

I finally got to see Marigot on the french side. Took a drive around on Friday for lunch and then went to the beach for a while. It's only take 4 weeks to make that 20 or 30 minute trip. Island time is for real.

Yesterday I got out racing on a 50 footer. That was pretty cool. It gave me a good idea of what the Heineken Regatta will be like. Vagrant may need a reef for some of the upwind portions. Afterwards it was off to the St. Maarten Yacht Club for their Christmas party.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Years.

Only in the Caribbean

Yesterday around 11:30 the power went out over most of the Dutch side of St. Maarten. By 4:00pm, only businesses with generators had power. The reason? We ran out of gas. Really, the power company GEBE literally ran out of fuel to run their generating station. Not only did they run out of fuel but on Saturday, they announced that they would be running out of fuel.

I am quite proud to inform everyone that during the blackout I was personally responsible for allowing the bar at the St. Maarten Yacht Club to remain open. Out of the 2 staff working and 15 customers enjoying cocktails as darkness fell, I was the only one who happened to be carrying a flashlight in his pocket (for travelling after dark in the Zodiac). With my little light, Omar was able to keep serving.

Disaster strikes again!

Three days ago Vagrant encountered yet another setback, this one the worst to date. While washing up the breakfast dishes I found that the filter on the french press was broken. Having mechanical problems and no way to leave here is bearable but not being able to make coffee in the morning is simply unacceptable. I spent two days gluing the various pieces back together with epoxy, fixing the cracks, letting it set, attaching pieces together, letting it set, etc.

Yesterday I made a morning cup and all seemed good again. Then it was dishes time again. Much to my dismay, plastic, epoxy, and hot coffee do not mix well. Time for a more direct attack. I poked a couple of holes in the screen and wrapped it tight with stainless wire. Success again, coffee this morning, although a bit gritty. Sadly, after breakfast the damage was worse and I have declared the french press a lost cause. Dear Santa...

Simpson's Bay Lagoon

St. Maarten and Simpson's Bay is probably, along with Antigua, the mega yacht capital of the Caribbean. Every year boats that spend the summer season in the Mediteranean start arriving here in mid to late November. Simpson's Bay Lagoon is 12 square miles of landlocked water accessible by passing through a narrow channel and under a drawbridge that opens three time per day for outbound and three times per day for incoming traffic. In the lagoon there are three marinas that can accommodate these boats, most of them in the 35 to 50 metre range. Everyone tells me the number of boats arriving this season is down but there have to be 35 to 40 here now with more arriving each day and the amount of cash I can see floating at the docks is nuts. Earlier this week Maltese Falcon (if you don't know it, Google it) spent two nights at anchor in the bay outside the bridge.


This picture is from the ocean side of the bridge. The building to the right is the St. Maarten
yacht club. Happy hour at the club is from 4 until 6:30 and the locals seem to all stop in on their way home to watch the parade of boats at the 5:30 bridge opening. Yesterday there were three sailboats and one big motor yacht.






This is a boat coming through the bridge. If I get a chance I'll try to get some beter pictures of a bridge opening.

Not much new to tell you about. Still waiting for parts from the states. The lastest word is that it is a manufacturers defect and therefore will likely be fixed for free. They want a bit more time to investigate. In the meantime a lot of other boat jobs have been finished. The new vented loop is installed in the head, I have the leach line on the jib fixed, the replacement for the broken furler part has arrivedalthough it is not yet installed and I am going to continue on with the jury rig until I have somehelp to take down and rehoist the jib. I discovered a problem with one of the cabin top winches that was causing trouble with the hoisting of the main so that is apart at the moment. One of the pins inside is bent and I am hoping FKG will have one in stock as they are the local Lewmar dealer.

I keep meeting people here. This weekend past I spent Saturday and Saturday evening with the captain and stewardess from S/Y Unplugged, a 35 metre sloop just arrived from the Med. Met them through someone else I know here. They are here to pick up a charter for Christmas. The general consensus around here is a slow season. A sign of the economic times I guess. We spent the afternoon at the Sunset Bar and Grill enjoying strawberry daquiris and watching planes land.

I have pretty much made up my mind to stay here for the holidays. Especially since it will be another week at least before I have a working transmission. Going to call a marina to see if I can get a slip for a few weeks once that is sorted out. Early in the year I will head down island to meet Jim and Freda and catch my flight home. Looking forward to seeing a lot of you in January. Not looking forward to Nova Scotia January weather though. Did I mention that it is 85 and sunny here every day?

Sunset Bar and Grill

Yesterday I went to Maho Bay and the Sunset Bar and Grill to check out the beach. Maho Bay sits right at the end of the airport runway. People go there to watch planes land and take off as well as to play in the surf, as the planes come in low over the water, over the beach, and touch down a couple of hundred yards away.

If you get a chance, go to YouTube and search Juliana Airport. There are some good videos there of the planes landing.

The surfboard shows all of the incoming flights and their arrival times so people can make sure they are in place with their cameras.

Sadly the Sunset Bar and Grill was extensively damaged by Hurricane Omar in late October. It is still open for business and they are working to rebuild.


Since the wind always blows from the same direction here, the planes always land from the sea. This means they have to taxi back to the beach and turn around in order to take off. When the big ones take off, you can hang on the fence and be lifted off your feet.

The scream off the runway, over the lagoon where Vagrant is anchored, climbing and banking hard to clear the mountains. Pretty impressive. I'll try to get a picture sometime.

Sint Maarten images

I have been a bit busy since the guys left. I didn't want to post anything about it until I was certain that it is going to take a while to fix, but I am having a small mechanical problem with the boat. Looks like I am going to be here for a couple of weeks while I wait for parts from the U.S.

On the upside, there are a lot worse places I could be. This is pretty close to paradise. The boat is currently at anchor in Simpson's Bay Lagoon. I had to give up a mooring that we snagged when the owners showed up. I am anchored with 80 fee of chain and an extra 40 feet of rope rode out in about 20 feet of water so I don't think I am going too far.

My current shoreside hangout is a place called Ric's Place. Anyone who knows me well will appreciate that. The owner Tamara is awesome and I have met lots of locals here.

The people here for the most part are great. Everyone is willing to help out. On Friday while I was motoring to shore the outboard on the Zod quit. Could not get it started. So, I started to row. Broke an oarlock. I made it to shore and fixed the oarlock, did what I had to do and rowed back out to the boat. After a few calls I started to row to Budget Marine to talk to their outboard technician. I had to row past a boat that I had been told was owned by Pete, someone who might be a good resource if I needed anything. He was working on his deck so I stopped to chat. Not only did he recommend a mechanic, but he called him, towed me there, and then loaned me this boat until my own was fixed.

How cool is that. In the end it turned out to be water in the fuel. It cost me a total of $20.00 and a case of Presidente to fix.

Life in the Caribbean

Yesterday was a typical day down here.

- Get up around 9:00 and make plans for the day
- Go ashore to Ric's Place to use the internet at my new favorite bar
- Back to the boat to find out the anchor has pulled out and we are dragging
- Haul in the anchor, more the boat and reset
- Make a quick lunch and revise the plans for the day
- Notice we are dragging anchor again so grab a mooring ball
- Spend 90 minutes trying to find out who owns the mooring.
- Can't find owner so decide to stay
- Revise plans again over a beer
- Decide at 4:00 that nothing is going to get done and hop a cab to Philipsburg to sit on the boardwalk and watch the sun set over the bay.
- Cab back to Ric's for cocktails
- Back to the boat for nightcap

Jim and Sandy just left so maybe I'll be able to get a few of my boat projects started before it is time to move on.

St. Maarten

What day is this. I have totally lost track of time down here. We left Virgin Gorda on Sunday afternoon for the overnight run to St. Maarten. Arrived Monday (yesterday?) morning in time for the 0930 bridge opening into Simpson Bay Lagoon. As always, it was a lumpy crossing with 8 foot NW swell and a 20 know NE wind kicking up some counter chop. After a few arrival beers we went ashore to check things out. Made happy hour at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club and then out for dinner then back to the boat for a couple of nightcaps. See a theme in this trip yet?

One more thing to add to the damage list. We thought we burned out the masthead tri-light but when Jim and Sandy ground me up the mast on Sunday we found that the light was just gone. Found replacement here at Budget Marine; now I just have to go up the mast again.

Looks like we are moving into a marina for a couple of nights so we don't burn up so much time running around in the Zodiac for the boys last two nights in town. That will give me a chance to top up the batteries and water tanks too.

Haven't taken any pictures here yet, but as soon as I do, they'll get posted.

Life in the BVIs

Okay, so I can't tell you everything about life in the BVIs because my mom may get a chance to read this and I don't want her to know what a bad influence my friends are and how much rum we have put away.

After arriving in Great Harbour we had supper and some arrival cocktails. Next day ashore had lunch at Foxy's. The man himself was in attendance and we had a great chat. Interesting program going on with the BVI preservation society (google it if you get a chance)

Next day (groggy) Jim and I did some boat work, mostly cleanup, while the other two headed over to the Soggy Dollar Bar in the next bay. That is where we bumped into Julie and Adam (earlier post). Next day was spent ashore there drinking painkillers until three in the afternoon. Next stop, Soper's hole for the night and beers at Pussers. Soper's is where I took the furler apart and patched it up enough until I can track down some proper parts. Um, I think that takes us to Wednesday. Junior flew home that morning and we took the boat to Roadtown to charge the batteries fully, take on water, have showers, etc.

Yesterday was a great sailing day. About 5 hours up to Virgin Gorda and Great Sound, home of the Bitter End Yacht Club. Below is a picture of the entrance to the sound. Looks imposing but not a real risk as long as it is daylight and below that is the club itself.

Looks like tomorrow we head for St. Martin. We had planned a stop at Anegada but a weather system off the U.S. coast had forecasted swells of over 10 feet and Anegada doesn't really have any good anchorages. It is going to have to wait until the spring.

6:15 now. Sitting at the bar with a dark and stormy in hand. Air temp is around 25. Have heard from a couple of people about the great weather in Halifax right now. Have fun.

Damage report

So what broke along the way? From Halifax to Bermuda we were relatively damage free. The only thing that broke was one small cleat. Sadly for Stuart it was the cleat attaching his lee cloth to the bulkhead and it resulted in him doing a ninety degree midair flip and ending up on the cabin floor.

From Bermuda to BVIs we had a bit more damage but still nothing serious. Three days out Junior blocked up the head and there was nothing we could do to fix it, it had to come apart. Sandy and Jim worked for a couple of hours until Jim was feeling ill and Sandy had to lie down. I took over and with Sandy's assistance and the occasional rush to the cockpit for a gulp of fresh air to try and keep breakfast down, we found the block and had a functioning head again. Beer time.

A couple of nights later the furling line parted from the drum, rolling out the entire jib, downwind in about 25 knots. Three guys on the foredeck and thirty minutes later we were off and running again with the jib lashed down and the storm jib and number 2 reef pulling along at 8 knots.

Looking back, not all bad for a 1600 mile trip. Note: The boat GPS shows Thrumcap shoal at 1587 nautical miles from here. And with a forecast of 15cm of snow in Halifax tomorrow, life is pretty sweet.

To the BVIs

Late afternoon on Sunday the 9th we left Bermuda for the BVIs. The first night had light winds from the south so we motored for 5 or 6 hours to start. Then we had 5 days of great sailing. The last day was a bit lumpy but Sandy finally sighted land shortly after three.

By 6:30 we were at anchor in Great Harbour, home of Foxy's. The ship's log says we were about six days and three hours from Bermuda.

Dockyard

I think I posted earlier that we were delayed in Bermuda by Hurricane Paloma which was spinning around Cuba. It looked like it was going to break up, but if it reformed and spun out into the Atlantic it would have been right in our path so we decided to wait an extra day to see what was going to happen.

We took advantage of the extra day to visit Dockyard. That's where the picture of Neptune and the crew was taken. Dockyard was a massive fortification built by the British to defend Bermuda. It exists today as a museum, market, and tourist attraction. To get there from St. George, we took a bus to Hamilton and then a ferry.

Some crew photos

As promised, here are pictures of the Vagrant crew, as of late nicknamed Smelly Pirate Hookers by a girl named Julie that we met with her boyfriend Adam at a beach bar a week ago.

Left to right are me, Jim, Stuart, and Rob just before we left DYC on the 30th of October.


This is your truly a day or so out of Halifax. I know it was early because I am wearing my winter hat rather than my ball cap.

And this is the leg two crew in Bermuda. Stuart flew home and Sandy joined us there. Sandy is the guy on the left.

The big guy in the middle is Neptune. This is a stone reproduction of the figurehead from HMS Irresistable (the English had pretty cool names for their warships).

Pictures and stories tomorrow, I promise

We are currently on a mooring in front of the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda. After two days I have been able to transfer a handful of pictures to my computer but I still can't upload them while we are away from the dock. It seems that internet access will be more of a problem than I first thought down here.

Rob left yesterday for Halifax. Jim and Sandy are set to leave on Wednesday of next week. We did have plans to visit Anegada tomorrow but looks like the weather may keep us here for an extra day or two. That means it will likely be straight to St. Martin.

Sun and Painkillers

Quick update today. Tonight I'll sort out some photos and post some stories of the trip from Bermuda but we arrived in Jost Van Dyke on Saturday at 1800 hours. That's 6 days and a couple of hours. Spent Sunday sorting out the boat, Monday drinking Painkillers at the Soggy Dollar and are now in Soper's Hole.

But first some introductions

A couple have people have asked for introductions to the crew. On the Bermuda leg we had me, Jim MacDonald, Stuart Lane, and Rob Belliveau. Stuart flew home last Friday and a couple days before Sandy MacDonald joined us for the next part of the Flying Vagrant Circus. I have some pictures to post but I am in a cafe and cannot upload. Need to find a free wireless connection somewhere.

Palmona weakens, looks good for us

We just checked the latest forecasts and models and things look good for us to go. We need to discuss, it may be today or tomorrow at first light. The next post I make will likely be from the BVIs.

Paloma

Looks like another day in Bermuda. Hurricane Paloma is forecast to break up over Cuba over the next day or so. We are going to give it another 24 hours and see what's what before we head out. Last thing I need is that to intensify again and move into our path.

Bermuda

Sitting in Bermuda enjoying the local flavour. Seems Gosling is the local flavour. Also seems like you can't have just one...or two.

The trip down was pretty good. Day one was nasty though. After five days of strong SE winds, the sea was a bit of a mess off Halifax and it took a full day for it to settle down with the new wind. The rest was awesome. Great sailing, great weather. Oddly not much sea life though.


Right now the boat is tied up at the customs dock next to Delawana, also from Halifax. They are leaving later today as it looks like Hurricane Paloma will not be an issue this far out into the Atlantic.

Our plan at the moment is to leave tomorrow for Jost Van Dyke in the BVIs. We still need to fuel and provision and we want to give Paloma one more day to move on before we head out.

St. George's is a pretty cool place. It is where all visiting boats must go to clear customs so there are lots of sailors here and because of that, lots of stories, and again, Goslings.

The day after we arrived we made a run into Hamilton and slid into the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for a beer.

Tied up on their main dock was Virgin Money/Speedboat. It is frigging huge. If you don't know the boat, google Speedboat and sailing. Standing on the dock there was no way I could a get a picture of the whole thing. Each winch on the boat is worth more than Vagrant. Too bad the speed record attempt ended so badly for them.

Sun is out today. Looks like a visit to the beach is in order. Haven't seen the sand here yet this trip. It's not like sand anywhere else. It's pink, and made from ground up coral so it is very soft when you walk on it or pick it up. If I remember the camera, I'll try to get some pictures.

5 Days, 5 Hours

We did it! We arrived in St. George at 1300 yesterday, 5 days and 5 hours after leaving Halifax. More later when I can get to a faster internet connection.

Sunday comes and goes

Imagine my surprise. Sunday evening and we are still in Halifax. Once again the weather did not cooperate for a timely departure. Looks like it will be Tuesday morning before we get away from 30 knot southerlies and things shift to the west and northwest.

In the meantime, the boat is looking good. The new Doyle Stackpack is installed and looks great (free plug for Nathan), the raft is installed, and the Autohelm is working. If you walk down the dock you will notice a definite list to starboard as the fuel tank is on that side along with the five jerrycans lashed to the deck.

Keep your fingers crossed that the next update will include photos from St. Georges.

One more time

It's almost a year to the day since the dismasting and the boat is right now in final preparations so I can try this crazy trip again. I have a new mast, new rigging, and lots of new cool stuff. The bottom is done, the fuel tank is full. After a few last minute preparations we leave next Sunday.

Stay tuned. I'll be posting updates and photos whenever I get access to an internet connections.

Oh yeah, just kidding about the preparations; the list of things to do is still huge and I am sure that some of it won't get done before we cast off the lines. I wake up regularly around three in the morning and try to figure out how to cram it all in. Screw it, none of that will matter once I get that first Dark and Stormy in St. Georges.