Trouble in Paradise

Stressful Times

With the new end cap from our water maker due to arrive any day, we sailed directly from Grenada to St Lucia on an overnight passage. Once again we had an error message come up on the chart plotter screen, 'no AIS COG information' (we had this happen when Phill was with us). In addition, the wind instruments were playing up. The needle showing the direction looked about right for True wind, but the speed was showing zero. The AIS fault was more than likely to be the passive GPS antenna on the pushpit rail. We had taken a look a few days earlier, and it was full of water. As for the wind, unless it was the instrument head, which was unlikely, the issue would point to the masthead transducer fitted at the top of the mast.

Of course, things do go wrong on boats, and it has already been an expensive year for us with new standing rigging, many new lines and halyards, a rebuilt water-maker, repairs to the generator, new command mic, new paddle wheel, repairs to the outboard, and so on... In fact I would not at all be surprised if when we come to total everything up, we will probably arrive at a figure of close to £20K. That is a lot of money, but you can't not deal with the issues, and hopefully the parts replaced will last a good while. We certainly can't imagine getting all this work done once we leave Panama and head into the Pacific. It has been difficult enough already to get some parts, as invariably they originate in Europe.

Having arrived in Rodney Bay, a place we know all too well, we got Regis Electronics to take a look at the AIS and wind instruments for us. As we suspected, we did indeed need a new passive AIS antenna and a masthead transducer. So, we ordered the new items and had the end cap replaced on the water-maker. The leak was only small and under high pressure, so best to cure the problem before it gets worse. Since having the water-maker rebuilt, and following the rule about a back flush every time water is made, the performance has been spot on. The only thing to add at this juncture is if you are thinking about buying a water-maker, choose wisely. A couple of considerations:- first off, you might choose a model like ours, which has the advantage of drawing only 9 amps, so could be run from our solar. However, it makes 30 to 35 litres an hour. Let's say you run it for an hour at 30 litres/h, and then do a back flush for say 90 seconds, you end up using about 9 litres of the water you just made for the flush. Then there is the fact that water-makers should be used often. If you don't make water, then periodically they need a back flush anyway. The advice we got was to try and keep it in commission, and avoid pickling if possible.

So why is this blog post entry called Trouble in Paradise?....

We had spent a couple of nights in the marina, it was handy to do that to remove the water-maker, catch up on laundry, and be plugged into shore power for a while. Then we moved back out into the anchorage, which as anchorages go, is big and well protected against the prevailing Easterly winds. The first night or two were fine. Then on a typical evening when we had eaten dinner, washed up and watched an episode of House of Cards on the laptop, and were about to settle in for the night with a book on the Kindle, we heard a loud roar of wind through the rigging. The wind did a sudden 180 degree shift and was now coming from the West, meaning we were lying to a Lee shore. We looked at each other in disbelief for a moment and then jumped into action - instruments and chart plotters on, life jackets on. The first job we had to tackle was to remove our awning over the front hatches, as the material was flapping away with the risk of ripping in the strong wind. Somehow, we managed to get it off in a matter of minutes. I passed it through one of the cabin hatches to Lynne so it was out of the way. And then the rain started...

It was almost impossible to hear each other over the noise of the wind, and the rain stung our faces as it came at us sideways. A large swell had also swept into the anchorage, bringing waves of 1-2 metres. 

Looking around we could see several boats dragging their anchors. A large steel boat in front started to drag at the same time as his staysail came loose. It was flogging away as the single handed owner tried to wrestle with it. We saw a large unoccupied yacht drag close to the beach. As it went, it's spreaders caught the mast of a smaller wooden boat that was also unoccupied. It snapped the mast of the smaller boat like a twig. Just then, we realised to our horror that we too were dragging. So, we put the engine on at nearly full throttle and drove against the wind just to try and hold station. We were only about 100 metres from the beach and the depth was getting too shallow for our liking. A catamaran that had anchored close in front of us earlier on in the day was now very close indeed. On the cruisers VHF channel, we also heard a yacht from the other side of the anchorage putting out a distress call as he had run aground. He was asking for assistance but no one was able to help as they were all to busy looking after their own boats, and it was far too rough for anyone to launch a dinghy. Fortunately the Coast Guard heard his call and were able to finally get him afloat again. 

We had our rib, complete with outboard motor, hauled up on the side of the boat as we do most nights we are at anchor. It is held up by a strop hooked to a dedicated halyard. A line from the front of the rib is then secured to the front cleat on the boat. The force of the wind caused the front of the rib to 'rear up' and eventually, the front line came loose. This resulted in the rib being suspended upside down and flailing wildly in the wind. The site of the outboard engine slamming repeatedly into the side of the hull was sickening. We didn't have to worry too much longer though, as the rib dropped into the water engine first, and quickly disappeared from view. 

We spent approximately 3 hours trying to avoid the catamaran, and ending up on the beach. Eventually the wind died down enough for us to consider raising the anchor, moving further out into the bay and re-anchoring. Just as we contemplated this, we heard music blaring out of one of the hotels on the beach. The song - 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley, with the lyrics "Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is going to be alright"! Whether this was intentional or not by the hotel, it was perfect timing, and did make us both chuckle, well for a second or two.

As usual when raising and lowering the anchor, we donned our new intercom headsets. As Lynne brought the anchor up, she calmly told me that re-anchoring was not going to be an option as the shank of the anchor was all bent and twisted out of shape. We therefore had no alternative than to limp into the marina. As some yachts in the anchorage had no anchor lights on, she stayed at the bow to give me instructions on a path through them. We tried contacting the marina via the VHF radio but got no response, so we took the first free berth we came across. Our friends Heather and Tony from yacht Kwanza were in a berth on the same pontoon. Despite it now being past midnight, we woke them up and asked for their assistance. We wanted to go to the beach and see if the rib had been washed ashore. Tony wasted no time in getting dressed and very kindly took us in his dinghy to an access point to the beach. Armed with flash lights, we set off to see if we could find the rib. The first sight we saw was the 50 foot yacht lying on its side and being pounded by the still fairly large waves. It was a very sad sight indeed. Just then we saw what looked like a rib further up the beach. Sure enough it was our rib. We couldn't believe it. Someone had very kindly dragged it up the beach and out of the surf. To our absolute amazement, apart from fairly flat tubes, she looked unscathed. She also still had all her equipment intact - the seat, fuel tank, oars, lifting strop, securing line and the outboard engine was still attached. The only thing missing was a nearly new padlock. A security guard on the beach offered to keep an eye on it for us until we could return in daylight, so we secured it to a balustrade for the night. 

After only a few short hours sleep, Tony very kindly took us back to the beach to recover the rib. Not wanting to risk starting the engine, we somehow managed to push her into the water through some big waves and row her until Tony could tow us back to the marina. Steve then set about checking the outboard engine over. The engine cowling was badly cracked from hitting the hull, but fortunately the canvas cover we keep on it had prevented it from coming off completely and disappearing. After some tinkering he managed to get the engine working, but it wasn't happy so he took it to the Yamaha agents KP Marine to give it the once over. They discovered water in the carburetor, and also in the fuel. After ditching the fuel in the tank and thoroughly drying the tank out and treating it with 100% alcohol, we added some fresh fuel. We also replaced the spark plugs and dried out the carburetor. We are happy to report the engine is now running better than it did before its swim!

Beached...

Broken...

Bent...

Although our experience had been a little hairy, we were one of the lucky ones. The marina manager told us that the winds were 40 knots, with gusts of over 60 knots! In total, three boats ran aground that night, one lost its mast and several had other damage, including broken anchor chain. All we had was a broken anchor, which the manufacturer subsequently agreed to replace under guarantee. Our new intercom headsets proved to be worth their weight in gold, as there was no way we would have been able to hear each other over the noise of the wind. 

In our next update, we are left 'Frustrated in Paradise' as we discover salt water in the bilge again, and the wind generator not working. Would we ever be able to leave St Lucia to finally join Nautilus in Bonaire?