Back in Grenada

Yes, another great sailing day! We left Tyrell Bay hoping to be able to sail to the east of the little islands to the north of Grenada (Ronde Is, Diamond Rock, Les Tantes) and then sail right by the natural rock bridge, London Bridge, on our way to Grenada's western shore. Well a fair wind indeed and we had no problem sailing 195 degrees and getting to the east of the islands. At that point Sailor Sue said, "You know if we can sail this we can probably sail down the east coast of Grenada AND it's about 7 miles closer"! Brilliant! AND we can sail and not have to motor in the lee of Grenada.

Another fine sailing day ensued. Usually this side of Grenada can be rough and windy but we had rather light conditions. We ended up by sailing the last 5 miles or so wing and wing which is always fun. So, we're back in Prickly Bay and NOT in the unmarked Coast Guard channel (shockingly they did not get the buoys in yet!). We've broken up the varnish below decks into what we consider to be one day jobs. There's about 50 of them! While Sue tackles that I'm going to finally get around to removing all the crap on this boat that no longer works or is needed: air conditioners, pumps, refrigeration from the old engine driven unit, various gauges and wires, wires, wires. Should be fun. And, of course, daily swimming and scraping of the hull.

We celebrated our arrival back to Prickly Bay by going to the Friday night 2 hour happy hour, having pizza and dancing to the steel pan music of 'It's a Wonderful World.' (A slow dance so no broken bones). Life is good --- good and short!


And finally, a Mismo picture.
Mismo says: 'There are only 2 life jackets on board and when things go to hell, I'm gettin' one!'

Sailing South

St. Lucia was as far as we intended to go north so on back south! We cleared out in Rodney Bay and then went to Wallilabou St. Vincent. The big draw here is that the bay was the location where they shot much of Pirates of the Caribbean. OK. As you enter the bay you will be approached by ‘boat boys’ who will help you get a mooring (it’s very deep) and take a line to shore to point you into the swell. Fine. But they tend to be a little annoying and you don’t know who is working together or if you pay one guy does he pay the rest of the crew or what. So, I did my usual and just gave everyone some money. I don’t have much but I’m betting that they have less.
(Photo above of taken from restaurant with Enee in background)

So it goes. They also have no problem putting boats about 8 feet apart. There is nothing here and once you look at the old sets you’re done looking at stuff. You can get your money back (20 EC) for the mooring ball if you eat at the restaurant but all the dinners are like 100 EC! Each! So after a couple beers, we just went back to the boat. This is a stop that can be skipped. (Well, ok..... it is beautiful there as this picture shows. So maybe must cruise in for a few photo opts then be on your way)





On to Bequia! We like Bequia and it was fine to be back for a few days. We had one of those sporty sails across the channel between St. Lucia and St. Vincent and flogged the headsail* pretty badly and then noticed some stitching coming out of the UV cover. This happened before and was repaired way back in Key West! We took it to Grenadines Canvas who made our wonderful sun/rain awning and they managed repairs the same day.

(Photo of Princess Margaret beach from the caves - Bequia)



Our plan now is to sail around the southwest tip of Bequia and then east to Friendship Bay on the south coast of Bequia. We had walked there on a previous visit and we think it will be a pretty anchorage even if it is a little rolly as advertised. What a great little 5 mile sail! Down wind and wing and wing to the tip of Bequia and then east and upwind to Friendship. We accidently unrolled the foresail to a new position and holy crap. . . Maybe we CAN tack this boat 90 degrees! We had more sail out than usual but not all of the sail. Close hauled the clue of the sail was just even with the upper shroud. I think in this configuration we get a decent sail shape without being overpowered. We’ve typically had more than this rolled up and I think the big ugly cylinder of unused sail along the luff makes for too much turbulence and a rotten sail shape. Nice! Of course at one point we got a sheet tangled on one of our mast steps and then I was sure that we had no engine power again and pulses went up and then back down as all was actually well.

It is a little rolly in Friendship bay but we have a pretty high tolerance for a gentle roll and that’s what this was. We rigged dinghy and found a nice piece of shallow for snorking too. Later we went ashore where there is a very high line resort. Swings at the bar instead of stools. Fun! We had a couple of rum drinks and then back to Enee.









The other reason for coming to Friendship Bay was to get some east in to get a good point of sail to Union Island the next day. Only 25 miles but we’d really like to sail it comfortably . By coming to Friendship we add 10 degrees to our course and you can feel that! So early Monday morning we head out of Friendship. The wind is on or just abaft the beam. Yes! We set the sail and off the engine. Beautiful! We are on course and sailing easily at 6 to 7 knots the whole way. One of the finest sails we’ve ever had! Almost four years of living aboard and sailing and we still get totally jazzed with this kind of day.

About 2 miles from Chatham Bay we heard a SPROING. Sue and I simultaneously scream: “FISH ON”. Yep we caught another one. First thing we did was to hove to. Haven’t done this lately and maybe never on this boat but like most boats she sits nicely hove to. For those of you who don’t do this it’s easy. You tack but just backwind the foresail. Once through the wind you let the boom out all the way and then turn the wheel to windward and lock it. That’s it. The boat will gently drift downwind and allow you to take care of what ever like reeling in your fish!
MISMO! Kiss my FISH!





Another nice little tuna (5-8 pounds maybe) or horse eye jack as they are also called. We got him aboard and put the nasty french rum in the gills and that did it. Killed him. Does the same to me! We covered him with a wet towel and once we anchored in Chatham we let him dangle in the water since we are without ice or refrigeration. I decided to cut the fillets just before we cook them.



Went ashore and had a couple of beers at Jerry’s Bar on the beach. Jerry is a great guy but so low key I’m afraid he doesn’t get much business. Back to Enee for backgammon and snacks then time to eat the fish! An excellent dinner ensued. Nothing like a great sail followed by eating the fish you caught along the way. A bottle of wine and all is well on Enee Marie.

Except. . .

Yes, we are sharing the anchorage with another party catamaran. 3 couples from Tennessee (state motto: Go Hogs!). None of them sail or know anything about it but they have a hired captain. I talked to one of the guys who snorked over by our boat. (The captain in the meantime was trying unsuccessfully to anchor their boat.) It seems one guy just graduated grad school and one other just turned 30. So, I’m thinking well, that’s pretty grown up. Wrong! Unless you call dressing up in little pirate outfits (including small plastic swords) and driving around the anchorage in the dinghy going ARGGGGG and WoOOOO WOOOO. Please head, don’t explode! They also have a women with really high pitched and annoyingly drunken horse laugh on board. This is a requirement for party boats I’ve found. Maybe they are supplied by the charter company. At one point this crew was loudly singing along with some patriotic song about being proud to be an American. I wasn’t so proud at the time. Maybe they should look up irony in the dictionary. Dictionary? I guess there is no place left on the planet to hide from rudeness. The party went on to about midnight. Perhaps the Caribbean is becoming the next Daytona, Ft. Lauderdale, CanCun. I wish the charter companies would have their captains explain about how sound travels on the water and how if they just stop and listen for a moment they would find that they are the only boat making a ruckus. Perhaps take a look at the stars? A little common courtesy perhaps? I know, that went out with 8 track tapes.
(Above photo of a 'crabby' bird which we were two of because of these bozos!)

Tomorrow I’ll walk to Clifton again. I know the way now and clear customs. We can sail the next day then the 12 miles back to Carriacou which is part of Grenada and clear back in. If the Tennessee boys are still here though we’ll head out later today.

GO HOGS! (crap. . . )

*Yes, you can go blind if you do this too much.

A Day in the Cruising Life

BEQUIA TO ST. LUCIA

One of those longish posts so settle in with a cup of joe. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to read it again!

We are sooooo ready. On Friday the 8th we got the boat ready for a 50 mile run from Bequia to Soufriere in the south west corner of St. Lucia. We decided that with the good day we were likely to get we might as well do the whole shot and skip stopping at Wallilabou in St. Vincent. So we cleared customs, took down the new awning, hauled up dinghy and motor, went through our checklist (yes we have a pre-passage making checklist. Don’t you?) and went to bed even earlier than usual. We plan to get up at 3 to make coffee and then out by 4. We don’t know how rough the passages between Bequia and St. Vincent nor the one between St. Vincent and St. Lucia might be and we’d like to arrive in daylight. It’s about a 50 mile trip and we usually hope to average at least 5 knots. Do the math.

Very light breeze so I can haul anchor without any help from the helm and Sue can stay below and stow chain as it comes in. Anchor up. . .LET’S GO! Then Sue says, “You’re not going to want to hear this but we’re not going anywhere”. It was true. I looked around. Engine is going but we’re almost dead in the water. Almost. We were drifting a little toward the little blue hulled boat behind us. Oh crap! It’s too late to raise sail. We’ll only accelerate. I got on the very tip of the bow to fend off. We may clear them. Wait. Wait. . . Yes! We clear their stern by inches. They never even woke up!

We drop the anchor and breath. What the hell is going on? I go below and look at the coupling to the prop shaft. Sue puts the boat in gear and sure enough the engine is turning but the shaft NOT. I feel around the coupling. No set screws! I feel around in the bilge and find one set screw AND the key that connects the collar to the shaft! Holy crap! Anyone who knows us from Chicago sailing days knows that this was common on Catalina Enee, our 30 footer that we left town in. In fact part of THAT boat’s checklist was for me to ‘check my nuts’ every morning to make sure they were there.

(Pause for laughter to settle down. . . )

Of course when you get a new boat you assume all the old problems were left on the old boat. Stupid. OK, This HAS to be fixed pronto. We are engine-less until then. The anchor is down but not really set. No wind now but if it comes up and we start to drift again it could mean trouble. Not to mention we’ve already cleared customs so we have to leave or check back in and pay again!

This area of the engine is fairly accessible as things go in boat repair but I do have to disconnect the exhaust hose from the engine to really get at it. That done I can see what I’m dealing with much better. The collar completely covers the key slot so the collar will have to be un-bolted from the transmission and then slid aft down the shaft until it reveals the groove for the key. Sliding the collar aft wasn’t too bad except every time I flexed the shaft in any direction sea water gushed in because we have a dripless gland (say nothing). Bilge pump seems to be able to easily keep up with this so I continue to twist the collar aft back and forth. Of course with about ⅛ inch to go it stalls and I have to use all muscle and griping tools available to get it to move any more. Finally I get the key to drop in.

Uh oh...now this has to slide forward but there will be no twisting it back and forth as now the key is engaged in both the shaft and the collar. I can see the sun is up. I’m sweating like a pig and dirty as one too. I fear that now I’ll need some sort of special device (like maybe a trained technician!) to properly slide this collar over the key and back into position. Or, perhaps a hammer and screwdriver? Yeah! That’s the ticket! Collar re-bolted to the transmission and set screws in (I had found the other one) AND wired together (they weren’t before) we’re ready to go. “Sue! Start her up”! Before she can test forward gear she shuts it down and says, “She’s not pumping water”! Oh yeah, I DID remove the exhaust hose didn’t I! NOW we’re ready. Prop shaft is turning and checklist has been amended accordingly!

It’s 0600 We’ve lost 2 hours but if we have to pick up a mooring in the dark that’s not so bad. (Soufriere ONLY has mooring balls. No anchoring).

As is our custom we raise the main to one reef and see what conditions are like in the Bequia channel between Bequia and St. Vincent. Nice wind and seas not too bad. Lets haul genny out to the uppers. Hey we can SAIL! Engine off and even with this little bit of sail out Enee is making 7+ knots and crushing the seas before her! Wheeeeee! A little more of this and we’ll be back on schedule!

Along the lee of St. Vincent of course there is no wind so we motor and main those 10-15 miles or so. We try to hug the coast and even get a little easting in before heading across the gap to St. Lucia. Of course we’re dragging our fishing lure but no bites. But wait! Dolphins off the port beam! LOTS of them and they are jumping out of the water! We think they’re happy that we’re under way. We are too! We did NOT catch one on our lure thankfully and I guess they are too smart to fall for an artificial bait.

This northern tip of St. Vincent has a reputation for high winds as the wind wraps around the volcano at the northern end. As promised, PLENTY of wind and seas are probably 6-8 feet which really isn’t too bad. AND, looks like we might be able to sail this as well. We haul out little genny again and off we go. Another sporty sail at 6-7 knots with even a brief period of 8 knots! What a ride!

We’re heeled over pretty good and some things come apart down below. The worst was the shelf of three ring binders and catalogs that have a bungy cord keeping them in place. Apparently the bungy is no longer very springy and after hearing the crash I find a pile of papers, books, charts and whatever on the deck of the companionway. Well, that’s going to be cleaned up later. No way is either of us crawling around on the deck down below in heaving seas. Onward!

We approach the south west coast of St. Lucia which is dominated by two giant pointy hills or ‘pitons’. Grosse Piton and Petite Piton respectfully. Many junior high level comments ensue about pitons and breasts as you might imagine. Sue can be soooooo immature! (All I said is, ‘Piton is French for perky.’)

The guide book shows where the mooring fields are and as we slowly come in I see no vacant mooring balls. Hmmmmm…..Then a boat boy comes out. Many places have these - some good. Some annoying. He says he’ll help me pick up a ball. I say I don’t need help and is there even a ball to get. He says yes there are two left and yes we can use him to take a line to shore to point us into the swell. All for 10 EC. OK. We drop the main and head for the mooring ball where he is waiting. A Benneteau ahead of us got one but that still leaves one. UH OH! A Moorings boat comes flying around the corner from the south and beats me to the last ball. BASTARD! We motor up to the other field but it is full as well. Oh crap. When you’ve already had a long day and even when it has mostly been a good day, you are ready to get hooked up and relax. Now its sails up and north to the next place.

The next place seems to be Marigot Bay. About 6 miles. We put up full sail AND keep the engine on. Don’t know what to expect here and it’s already late afternoon. If this doesn’t work out it’s probably on to Rodney Bay and maybe anchor in the dark. On the way 3 boats pass us into Marigot Bay. Uh oh. . . As we approach the entrance we see two of them exit the bay. I try to hail them on the radio to see if they left because it was too crowded but instead the marina at Marigot Bay answers my hail and yes they have mooring balls available. Wheee…..


Alledgedly, the British hid their entire fleet from the French (They are SO hard to trick!) back in the lagoon back in the day.


Boat boys are ready to help but I say no, I can pick up a mooring by myself. They are insistent but I decline. Marigot bay has a narrow outer part (supposedly where you can anchor but it is nearly all mooring balls) and then a lagoon of sorts for an inner part. That’s where we’re headed. We motor up to a ball and I’m ready with my boat hook. I grab the ring on top and pull. Nothing happens. Typically this ring should come up on deck so I can put a line through it. We try another one. Same thing. The boat boys are just waiting. I wave them over and they take my line and put it through the ring. OK. I give them a small tip and send them away.

What a great day! We’re tired but it’s mostly a good tired. This little lagoon is sort of pretty but dominated by a busy water taxi taking tourists back and forth to a little restaurant (which looks to be pretty high line) and the buzz of boat boys zipping about. Customs is closed so we’ll try them tomorrow. We don’t launch dinghy nor do we put up the new awning.

A guy comes over from the marina to collect the fee for the mooring. 80 EC!!!!!! Wow! (About $30 US) You’d think for that THEY’D come out and help you with your line. You’d also think that the guy coming out would have a pen or clipboard or change. No, no, and no! We provided all of that! We don’t care at this point. Interestingly, Sue asks the guy what other services we might get for our 80 EC? Oh he says. . . I could sell you some music I have! Not really what we had in mind. Perhaps a shower? Oh sure we have showers you can use.

There is one fairly loud boat of French people but they leave before we hit the rack. Ah….I’ve been up since 3 and I am going to sleep like the dead.

No, I’m not because somewhere up in the hills someone had Kareoke from hell. I mean it sounded like Yoko Ono before voice lessons . . . Which she failed! Luckily they stopped around 2AM! THEN I went to sleep. What a day.

This is our brave ship's cat NOT facing the music during a sporty sail!

--------------

It is now Tuesday the 12th. We’ve moved on north to Rodney Bay which is a huge bay and developed to look a little too much like Florida or Nasau for our tastes. On Sunday we anchored at the north end by Pigeon Island where they were having their 18th Jazz Festival featuring Patty LaBell and Chicago. Jazz? Oh well. We were anchored in a huge nest of chartered catamarans (Uh oh. . . ) but it was a festive atmosphere and lots of boat and people watching to do. We just stayed on board as we could hear the bad music easily from the boat. The exception, of course, being Chicago! Jeezus. . .how old are these guys? Anyway we could hear all the favorites, Saturday in the Park, 24 or 624, etc from the boat. I fell asleep during their set and was awoken by gun fire! What the hell! Sue gives me cheese and settles me down and explains that it’s fireworks! Nice. And being launched right from shore near the boat. Fun although Mismo did NOT approve. This was her first experience with fireworks and she liked it even less than sailing I’d guess.

We plan to stay maybe through the weekend here in Rodney Bay and then head south once again. We’ll probably move our anchorage to be nearer town on Wednesday or Thursday as we have already scoped out our restaurant for our 21st anniversary on Thursday and it’s about a half mile dinghy ride to where we are now.

Thanks for reading and all comments appreciated as usual!

Anchoring Drill

We’ve been anchored in Bequia for almost 2 weeks. It’s been gusty and rainy off and on. Mostly it’s been sunny and beautiful. We’re anchored near Princess Margaret Beach and enjoy watching all the charter boats (mostly catamarans) come and go.

Yesterday we were very excited to get our new awning. Scott went in early to pick it up. The awning maker, Avell, offered to come to the boat to help install it but Scott said not necessary. He wanted to give it a try on his own.

So we managed to strap the new material down over the boom. This awning is much bigger than our original bimini that zips onto the dodger. But wait…...the new awning isn’t covering the cockpit! That won’t work. So back to the canvas shop goes Scott to bring Avell out to help us figure this out. He showed us how to tighten the batten and stretch the lines forward to give us the shape we wanted but agreed that it wouldn’t keep rain out. We decided to add side panels that would roll up when not needed. Back to the shop to make adjustments. It will be ready later on in the day.


Well that was a little disappointing but we think it will turn out much better. So we relax for a bit, have some lunch, get ready to go back into town to do some internetting when suddenly I notice that the boat behind us is almost upon us! What the……
‘Scott, I think we’re dragging!’ He jumps up, starts the engine, and we prepare to haul anchor. How did this happen? It was a bit gusty when we tried installing the awning but we don’t think that caused us to sail off the anchor. In any event there was no doubt that we had moved and were only 6 feet or so from the other boat.

By 'other boat' I mean the nasty, rusty French boat behind us with the guy who just cannot keep his pants on! I mean plenty of Europeans will swim in the nude descretely off their stern. This guy just prances about the deck stark naked and WAVING to passers by. These two idiots are just standing on deck not saying anything. Waiting for the collision? OK, you're french and you don't speak English. . . how about HEY! or something similar. Idiots.

Ok….assume your positions. Scott begins to haul chain with the manual windlass and I stick my head and hand into the anchor locker to guide the chain down so it doesn’t castle up and get stuck. After about 200 strokes of the lever on the windlass the anchor is finally up and I run to the helm to drive. Where should we put the anchor down now? We still can’t believe that we drug after sitting there so long with no problem.



We tried setting the anchor 5 times before it held. Now when I say ‘tried’ this means Scott drops the anchor on a sandy patch. I back up the boat. Scott lets out more chain. I back up the boat. Scott yells ‘back up straight’, I yell, ‘the winds not letting me’, Scott signals to put the boat in neutral, I do. Scott dons snorkel and mask and swims over the anchor. We’re dragging here too. Back in the boat. Scott hauls chain by using the double-action ratchet lever about 200 times and I go back below to organize chain. Whew! What a drag! Finally got set near where we started but farther from shore. (Click the play button to see Scott in 'action')

The next morning we got the new and improved awning and it is awesome. We used to have to move around in the cockpit in a crouch like living in a pup tent. Now we have lots of head room, better viewing and more shade. Now we’re hoping for rain to try the whole thing with the flaps down.

We think we’re finally leaving tomorrow for Wallilabou in St. Vincent. This is where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Dep is still there. Any other appearances by him since making that movie are holograms.

Finally, the required Mismo photo. She is a little miffed that her hammock (old bimini) is gone. In the meantime she is hanging out on top of the dodger pondering how to torture us in the middle of the night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

Happy Birthday to --

Stephanie today - May 3rd

and

Lisa on May 9th.

Last evening a catamaran came in with a bunch of younger people on it and by younger I mean drunk college kids. For the rest of the night we heard WOOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOO. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE! F----- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Wow, and we wonder why people hate Americans! I mean this party could just have well been in a hotel room in Cleveland. More disturbing is this is a captained and crewed charter aboard a catamaran named "Joy". If you see this boat coming, RUN. They anchored by us about a week ago and their anchor drug. Some captain. I noticed that the 'Y' in Joy is missing from the port side and looks like they've collided with something. As the captain of a charter boat I would think you would somewhat dig the idea of 'respect'? You just don't behave like you're in Ft. Lauderdale when you're in the West Indies. Not cool. I was embarrassed for them. They weren't up all that late (no kidding. They were pretty bombed when they arrived at sundown) it was just so upsetting to hear that kind of bad American behavior. Good news is that this is the first time we've been around really bad behavior anywhere in the Caribbean.

I stopped by the boat this morning and asked the captain if they were staying another night (I had plans to move our anchorage) and he said no. I just left it at that. Re-education of these idiots would take a high voltage device!

Today is Good Shepard Sunday. How do I know? I went to church! Yes, heathen that I am I just thought I'd see what was happening in a small, little West Indian, Catholic church. St Mary's church was built in 1829! Typical West Indian construction. Simple. Stone walls with wooden beam and trusses holding up a tin roof. White and light blue pews and white walls and beams. About 25 members on the hard wooden pews. I was hoping someone would be playing the piano but no.

Service itself was pretty standard as I understand these things but I do enjoy the lilt and rhythm in the West Indian accent. The sermon was delivered by a priest with a great big baritone too! I paid attention even! But the hymns were really LONG and sloooooooow. So, while people got up for the communion I slipped out the side door. Unfortunately this was just after the collection plate went around. Catholics always get their money!

A friendly place though (a gentleman in back kept coming to me and helping me to find the right page in the Common Book of Prayers) with old ladies all dressed up in colorful dresses and HATS! My grandma always wore a hat to church.

Perhaps we will take in a Cricket game later and then some boat projects, swim and daily scraping of the bottom. It's fun to keep up with the bottom growth. Bottom paint doesn't keep all the stuff off but does make it easy to flick it off. If you let it go the underworld will win! We have little white dots where barnacles have sucked off the bottom paint and now near the bow where there is more light we get little 'beards' of green grass growing there. But my breath holding ability continues to increase and it's one of those lessons, like a lot of them for me, that was learned the hard way. Yes, pay a lot for your bottom paint. You have to. But then keep up with the little guys that will take root anyway. Paint will last longer as long as YOU don't scrape it off!

Walk to Friendship Beach

Friendship Beach, Bequia (pronounced bek' way)

Today is May 1 which is Labor Day down here. Not too much is open so we thought we go for another walk (hike). This time we headed to the south side of the island where there is a very pretty beach called Friendship Beach. As usual, steep climb about half way and then down hill the rest. We happened upon what looks to be a pretty high end resort. Very nice bar/restaurant right down by the water. The bar ‘stools’ were little swings. Fun.








We stopped for a cold drink at a little snack shop and chatted with a very friendly lady there. Actually, just about everyone in Bequia is pretty darn friendly. Some islands you can feel a bit of a bad vibe from the locals. I think mostly those are the islands that have been totally invaded by the giant cruise ships and when they disgorge their passengers it is like an invasion. Hell, I don’t care for tbeing around that many tourists either! (No offense to any family or friends who go on giant cruise ships!) I guess some of the small cruise ships do stop here on occasion and ferry people in but not many and not often.



One of the fun things about the Caribbean is all the crazy kind of boats you see. Oh sure there is a regular progression of Beneteaus and a flock of Lagoon catamarans but there are also some real crazy rigs as well as some top of the line luxury sail boats. We went out to get some pictures of this one, Rebecca, but there’s no where to be to actually photograph it! It must be about 120 feet long, ketch rigged. This must be a 2-3 million dollar boat. The topsides as you can see are real shiny wood. Separate cockpit for helmsman away from crew and guests. The other one, Amazon, is the crazy one. I don’t think that big smokestack is still in operation but who knows? Looks like there is a solo sailor on board who always wears a kilt. I’ve seen him ashore as well but don’t know his or the boat’s story and not sure I want to!


We’ve commissioned our new awning and it should be done Monday or Tuesday. It will go from the mast to the back stay and nearly to the lifelines. It will have a loop on top to haul it up with the main halyard to give it a tent shape and a batten in the back edge to give it some shape. Can’t wait. We had a pretty hard rainstorm today and had to go hide out down below. It gets stuffy in a hurry down there! Sue went out to put the buckets in position to collect some rain water. Picture (if you click on it) shows the water going nicely into the bucket (and dripping elsewhere too!). While scurrying around to arrange buckets in the rain (I was busy!) Sue noticed the dingy. Earlier, we had pulled it up about amidships to clear the boarding ladder for our swim. Now it was right under the scupper and water was pouring off the deck and filling the dinghy! Well, that will have to be bailed or maybe do a wash right in the dinghy! Wait if I mounted the outboard the other way round with the propeller INSIDE the dinghy. . .THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!

More later. . .

Hi daddy! Do you like the large print?