Ocean Odyssey: Unexpectedly back in Trinidad

Back to Trinidad

With the stern gland still leaking, we took the decision to head back to Trinidad and haul out at the Power Boats yard.

The passage back up to Tobago was almost as frustrating as the one down to Guyana. We left Hurakabra and chose to take the Southerly route past Bartica, as we knew the depth was good. We eventually caught up with the rest of the Rally fleet who had taken an alternative route, and for a while we motored together.

Rally yachts in convoy

We decided to stop near the place we had anchored when we first arrived, along with Enterprise and Fenicia who were also heading North.

Whilst at anchor we were approached by a small boat with some school children on board. The skipper told us they had only ever seen pictures of a yacht and never one in the flesh, hence their curiosity.
The following day we headed out, it was a little marginal, but we cleared the sand bar in the estuary OK. We motored for a while, and had a couple of feathered visitors.

Are you going North?

Eventually we had just enough wind to launch the cruising chute. As dusk fell we decided to put the chute away, and continue motor sailing in the light airs. We did have a spectacular sunset.

Enterprise and Fenicia

One of the things we did do was to throw our message in a bottle over the side. This was given to us by the Rally organiser, who in turn had these made up by school children. It will be interesting to learn if it ever shows up one day.

Message in a bottle goes over the side

As we approached Trinidad we could see the light blooms of the oil and gas platforms. We made a small course correction to Tobago as Enterprise and Fenicia continued on to Trinidad.

We stayed a few days, and said a fond goodbye to Peter who was catching a flight back to the UK.

We organised by email to be hauled out at the Power Boats boatyard in Trinidad.

Our overnight passage to Trinidad was a mixture of motoring and motor sailing. We had been keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Matthew as it had an unusual Southerly track. This explained why we spotted so many yachts heading South on our AIS as we neared Trinidad.

On our arrival in Chaguaramas Bay, we found the anchorage to be very busy. Obviously many fellow yotties had decided not to take chances on a potential hurricane, and headed South for safety. Our first task in the absence of an available mooring buoy, was to anchor in order to take the rib ashore and clear into immigration and customs. A rather strange formality as we last visited Tobago.
The only spot for anchoring was on the edge of the moorings and in 20 metres of water, not ideal at all. We dropped 60 metres of chain, but the holding was poor. We dragged a little, but it was a calm morning so we decided to go ashore anyway.
Immigration and customs already had queues forming. Luckily for us we had technically come from the same island, so each process took less than five minutes.
We called into Power Boats boatyard on the way back and asked them if we could be hauled later the same day. We had booked the following day, but we did not really want to hang around as the following day the forecast was for strong winds.

Within a short time of being back on board the call came over the VHF for us to proceed straight away to the haul out dock. Brilliant, just what we had hoped for however, the first 30 metres of chain came up without an issue, and then the windlass stopped.
According to Lynne who was at the bow, the anchor was stuck fast. The windlass had tripped, and we were well and truly stuck, oh great!
The worst thing in these scenarios, and they have happened before, is that we are at opposite ends of the boat, and it is 45 foot long. We use pre-agreed hand signals for regular anchoring, as it is almost impossible to be heard. When things go wrong however, the need for verbal communication is paramount. Our first task was to reset the tripped out windlass, something we had not had to do before. We vaguely recalled a circuit breaker underneath the bed in the starboard rear cabin. More by luck than knowledge it was there. Now the windlass was working, well sort of. We could let chain down, but not pull it up. We motored around a little, forwards, backwards and sideways. Eventually we broke the anchor free. Up it came along with a discarded mooring.

We have decided to invest in a Bluetooth headphone intercom system. We tried the usual walkie talkie route before and it did not work for us, so will see how the Senos SPH10's work out.

Bluetooth intercom headset

Fortunately, the lift out crew waited for us and so we pulled into the dock, bow to. Then we were told that we would have to remove the forestay, no way was this going to happen. The only other option we got was to turn around and drive in stern to, which we did. Then we were asked to remove the backstays. No way again. Eventually we got hauled out. The crane was close at times, but it went smoothly enough, oh apart from the fact it was pouring down and the line handling staff did not want to get wet so did not show up at first.
It was probably not the best introduction, but once we got Azzy chocked up we set about arranging for the various contractors we would need to come and quote.

Our point of reference was Brent, the boatyard manager. Every boatyard should have a Brent. No sooner than the list was read out, Brent had made phone calls and appointments had been booked, talk about efficient.

Our list or works was pretty extensive. We broke them down into to be done and desirable.

So here goes with the to be done list.

New stern gland
Balance propshaft and gearbox coupling
Check engine mount alignment
Replace top and bottom rudder bearings
Repair small cracks at the top of the rudder stock
Attend to all gel coat chips and dinks
Wet sand, compound and polish the hull
Strip off all old anti fouling paint to bare gel coat
Apply epoxy barrier layer to bare hull
Anti foul
Replace anodes as required
Remove, clean and anti foul bow thruster blades
Service main engine
Replace water pump on generator and change oil
Sandblast 2 rusty 907 gas bottles, prime and paint.
Prime and paint anchor, bright yellow
Clean rust from anchor chain and replace old markers with new
Clean debris from anchor locker
Tighten pulpit fixings
Replace house battery bank with new Trojan T105 6V batteries
Install dedicated house bank battery monitor
Reconfigure battery wiring so that all loads can be measured by the shunt
Fuse the solar panel wiring
Grease all seacocks
Grease Gori prop
Sand and varnish galley fiddles
Have custom protection plates made for bow and stern for anchor and Duogen
Replace sprayhood window zips
New gas hose in gas locker with quick release fitting
Re-glue gasket surround under generator locker hatch
New plywood outboard plate on rib