Kinsale Country Cork Republic of Ireland

What a Summer! Since setting off from Guernsey on 14 May we have completed a circumnavigation of Ireland and enjoyed the delights of the Western Isles of Scotland. It has been a mixed bag of weather from glorious sunshine to 100m visibility in fog. Great fun, but with so many ports and anchorages visited there has barely been a minute spare to keep the blog up to date. In the middle of August we returned to Kinsale to get Blue Velvet ready to head south towards Madeira and the Canary Islands; the same passage we attempted last year but aborted and diverted to Brest because of leaking windows and hatches.

However, after getting the laundry done, refuelling and restocking the food stores, our weather checks showed that Hurricane Erin was really messing up our planned passage towards Madeira which we had hoped would start on 19 August. So instead, since then, we have done a bit more cruising in southern Ireland whilst it became clearer where Hurricane Erin will track. We are now back in Kinsale waiting for a new alternator to be delivered and then will stock up the fridge again and try to find a suitable gap between the succession of gales in which to set off south.

Winter Refit – Replacing the Windows

As soon as we arrived in Brest early in August we had started looking closely at our options for sorting out the leaking windows. The leaks were in no way catastrophic but, for us, it was clear that Blue Velvet was not properly ready for an Atlantic crossing. We had last had the windows refurbished in 2011. Later models of Rustler 42s have a new window frame design in which the seal is less prone to UV damage. We looked at fitting that new design of window in 2011 but there was a 3 month lead time to make them and we realised that we might have to cut larger apertures in the GRP to fit them. So instead we had the old windows removed and sent off to be taken apart and the sealant around the glass replaced. On our passage towards the Azores we had had the same symptoms again; UV degradation of the sealant was allowing water to track around the edge of the glass and drip inside. It seemed sensible this time to properly investigate replacing our windows with the new design which does not have this weakness cropping up after 12-14 years.

Our old design of widow frame with visible bolt heads (and strips of sponge inside the frame to catch the drips!)

Seaglaze are a UK based company that make the windows for Rustler 42s and their team were very helpful. I asked for a quote for a set of the new design of the windows they supply to Rustlers and confirmation of the aperture dimensions. The response prompted a bit of head scratching and a lot of design work. The more recent design had a more substantial aluminium frame that clamps onto the GRP. It had 6mm toughened glass with a 65mm radius at each corner and I thought would be a relatively easy swap for our old design of windows. Unfortunately Seaglaze could no longer supply the 6mm toughened glass. The thicker 8mm glass they would use for future orders would need a heavier weight aluminium frame and 80mm radius corners. When I asked to see the drawings for the 8mm glass windows they supply to Rustlers, they replied that this was a new change and no Rustler 42s had been built yet with the new 8mm windows. Blue Velvet would be the first one and the windows hadn’t been designed yet!

On the left the later clamp frame with 6mm glass and 65mm radius corners. On the right the first design of the
new 8mm glass with wider frame and 80mm radius corners which we felt was too rounded at the ends

The 80mm radius corners meant that we would definitely have to trim the GRP on Blue Velvet to fit the new windows. So during our first days in Brest I made up paper templates with 80mm radius corners, slightly longer than our current apertures, to prove the concept. The Seaglaze design team then produced proper engineering drawings based upon this sizing. Those drawings gave me the full dimensions and profile of the heavier weight aluminium frames the 8mm toughened glass needed and that exposed an issue. With thicker frames and using the existing height of the apertures, the visible glass was going to be much smaller than our current windows to the extent that it would change the look of the boat from the outside. I described them to Nicky as narrow letterboxes of glass with rounded ends rather than the more rectangular windows that you expected to see on a Rustler42 (see Right above).

The only solution was to accept that we would need to open up the apertures to increase the heigh of the frames and therefore the visible glass. With the new design of frames clamping onto the GRP there is a much larger frame on the inside of the boat in comparison with our existing screwed on frames. Balancing the space inside for this larger internal frame and minimising the increase in size of the aperture, I was able to come up with a new size of window that I hoped would look right from the outside of the boat and not compromise the general look of the boat. The Seaglaze design team turned these into another detailed set of engineering drawings. After checking everything carefully, we confirmed the order. Manufacturing time was expected to be 12 weeks and the new windows would come with templates that we could use to help to accurately cut larger apertures in the GRP.

The first window removed

So now moving on to the end of November, we were back in Guernsey and were delighted to take delivery of a large wooden packing case. Inside were our 8 new windows all beautifully packaged up and protected. The male templates in hardboard arrived a few days later. The new windows looked very good; Seaglaze had done their part and it was now up to us to fit them. The first task was to make up female plywood template for each of the 3 sizes of window which we would use to enlarge the apertures.

Seaglaze supplied male template of the aperture and from them we had made up a female plywood
templates for each of the 3 sizes of window

Cutting the large aperture in stages using a router

Knowing the job would be a messy one, we hired a storage unit and took everything that we could off the boat. The first window we tackled was the aft heads one because it had a clear area all around it inside. Using the same technique we had used for the hatches and a new supply of small wooden wedges, the old window came out remarkably easily. Once the surround was cleaned of sealant, we carefully lined up and clamped the plywood template in position so that the ~10mm that needed to be cut away to enlarge the aperture was exposed inside the template.

Nicky and I wore eye and breathing masks and we had a vacuum cleaner nozzle in position inside ready to catch the dust, but even so it was a very messy job. The GRP was neatly cut away using a router which I ran around the edge of the template in short lengths moving the clamps as needed to allow the router access.

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Inside the boat was a bit like a snowstorm and the dust seemed to get everywhere even with the vacuum cleaner running. However, it was worth the mess because the router did produce a very neat and accurate cut. GRP is tough stuff though and it quickly blunted the router bit. Fortunately I had bought half a dozen bits in anticipation of that issue but based upon the first window, I expected to be ordering some more.

Left: Making sure the sealant gets into the corner before applying a much thicker bead around the flange.
Top Right: progressively tightening the clamping screws which were then (Bottom Right) neatly hidden
with some black rubber trim

The templates should ensure that the enlarged aperture was the perfect size but nonetheless it was a relief when the dry fit of the new window was just right. After the surrounds were cleaned with some acetone, we squeezed several rounds of marine sealant onto the flange to ensure that we had a healthy excess that would squeeze out to make a coherent seal. The frame was then clamped with 12 bolts which were progressively tightened to pull everything in. A wipe or 2 with a solvent soaked rag cleaned up the outside whilst a strip of black rubber trim was pressed in to hide the screw heads. There was a much larger aluminium frame inside with the new design but we felt it had a cleaner look. This larger frame would mean a bit of extra work trimming the deck head to fit around it in the forward cabin and heads but if I had got my measurements right it would just be those 2 windows needing that attention.

The first new window fitted

Looking from the outside the window looked very clean and smart without any screw heads visible…

… and when compared to the old window next to it, even with the larger frame and thicker glass, we felt that the size we had ordered maintained the proper look of a Rustler 42. The only issue was that we now needed to fit 7 more windows and 4 of those were extra long… it was time to order some extra router cutting bits!

St Peter Port, Guernsey

St Peter Port Guernsey

A lot has happened in the first half of 2024.  Whilst spending February in the shed at Boatworks, Blue Velvet had new skin fittings, the scratches on her topsides patched up, the bent stanchions and bases all sorted, a new genoa Furlex, the staysail Furlex refurbished, replacement guardrails, the mast wiring replaced, the chainplate bolts replaced, and a complete new set of standing rigging.  The outstanding work required was a refurbishment of the backstay tensioner, which needed a new bearing and seal, plus a new pulpit.  The latter was a bit of a drama as the one sent from the UK in January had poor quality welding and legs of different lengths.  It was rejected as a proper fix but we still needed to get BV to the UK so the guys at Boatworks managed to work it into position and bolted it down with one bolt on each leg to allow us to sail to Hayling Island for the next phase of the storm damage repairs; the respray.

The mast being re-stepped before relaunch

The respray was going to happen at the Hayling Yacht Company on Hayling Island on the south coast of the UK, just east of Portsmouth.  Typically for March the weather forecast was not looking good for a Channel crossing and we had the added complication that the Hayling Yacht Company is based up a small drying creek so arrival times were critical. Slightly later than we would have hoped, we departed Guernsey on 10 March with no wind for a motor up to Alderney in the hope of catching a weather window the next day for a Channel crossing.  The 0930am start had us sailing hard on the wind but by late afternoon the wind had backed to the west and we were able to get across to Portsmouth arriving at 11pm. Portsmouth was a bonus as it allowed us to meet up the next day with a good friend, Richard Farrington, and also to pick up a new genoa car (to match our discontinued models) which I had tracked down as old stock held by a supplier in Gosport.  It also meant that we could depart Gosport on Wed 13 March and time our arrival at Hayling Yacht Company to fit in with the tidal constraints of the drying creek.

BV sat high and dry at low water with her keel dug into the mud

It was quite windy on the Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to drop the genoa whilst we were en-route to Hayling Island, rather than wait until we were in the marina with the risk of the sail catching on surrounding boats and/or piles. Having felt our way into the marina towards the top of the tide, and hauled the keel through the mud into or berth, we spent our first ever night with BV in a mud mooring. As the tide went out, BV’s keel settled into the soft mud so that she was high and dry well before low water.  The following day we crept around the shallows to position her off the slipway so that she could be hauled out.

BV being hauled out at the Hayling Yacht Company on Hayling Island

After the haul out we spent a night on board and the next day watched as the mast was craned off.  At that point it was time for us to be picked up by our friends Jonathan and Anne Lloyd who very kindly hosted us for the night and even dropped us off at the ferry port first thing in the morning for our return to Guernsey.

BV in the spray bay

A proper respray is not a quick process.  BV needed to be put into the spray bay, and then after hours of careful preparation work and masking up, multiple layers of Awlcraft 2000 were sprayed on and left to fully harden.  It wasn’t until mid-May that it was time to get the ferry back to Portsmouth to pick her up.

New Coppercoat on the waterline

Anne very kindly picked us up from the ferry port and dropped us off at the boatyard, and a week later she and Jonathan hosted us overnight, which was a delightful break from hard work at the yard.  Deliberately arriving a few days before the launch date, which was constrained by the tide, we knew that we would have a busy few days ahead of us.  Before we launched, we wanted to gently sand the Coppercoat antifouling to expose fresh copper and reactivate it.  We had been told that we would have to do that inside the spray bay where there were properly filtered extractor fans.  However, our expected one day of work before BV was ready for the mast to be put back on turned out to be a few days longer.  The surface prep work for the respray had necessitated sanding away some of the Coppercoat along the waterline.  So, as well as reactivating the Coppercoat, we also found ourselves with the extra task of repainting Coppercoat along the waterline and then leaving it for a few days until it had hardened enough to be sanded ready for relaunch. 

BV being inched out of the spray bay

With the Coppercoat work complete, BV could be removed from the spray bay.  Easy enough to say, not so easy in practice!  BV was a very exact fit for the spray bay and the tractor/trailer driver and manoeuvring team needed to be absolutely on the ball to work her out of the bay, with just centimetres of clearance at times.  Once she was out (and we’d stopped holding our breath!), she was ready for the mast to be re-stepped.

And with the mast re-stepped, she was ready to be launched at the top of the tide on Friday 24 May.  But, as soon as she was back in the water, we needed to skedaddle from the Hayling Yacht Company slipway quickly before the tide dropped too much for us to get out of the creek. Once we were out of the creek we were able to relax a little and, while Nicky motored us along gently, I checked the rig tensions which you can only do when the hull is in the water.  Our backstay tensioner was still in Guernsey because the bearing needed for its refurbishment still hadn’t arrived from Italy, so instead our rigger had given us a huge bottlescrew and Dyneema strop as a jury-rigged replacement to get us back to Guernsey. So we were never looking for perfect rig tension, just something in the right ball park to allow us to sail safely back home.

We split the passage home to Guernsey over a few days.  Our first passage was a short one: Hayling Island to Shepherds Wharf in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.  Here we met up Tim and Ann Walters, some Guernsey friends who fairly recently moved to the Isle of Wight, and had a lovely evening catching up with them and admiring their new home.

We weren’t the only yacht taking advantage of the good wind to set off from the Solent

We left Cowes the following morning and had good sail across the Channel arriving in Alderney just before midnight.

Braye Harbour, Alderney

Aside from letting us to spend the Bank Holiday weekend in Alderney, our stop off also allowed us to pick up our new outboard motor from Mainbrayce Chandlery.  Our previous outboard motor had been damaged in the November storm and Mainbrayce had recently had their new stock delivered including our 9.8Hp Tohatsu to replace the one that had been damaged.

Alderney

Returning to Guernsey on Monday 27 May, the plan was to fit our refurbished backstay tensioner, do the final packing of BV and then set off on our next sailing adventure at the beginning of June.  However, we found out that the bearing had still not arrived from Italy.  All indications were that it had been lost in the post.  After an extensive internet search, I found one supplier in the UK that had just one of the required bearings in stock.  However, at £125 each it wasn’t something that I wanted to order on a whim when potentially we had 2 arriving from Italy “any day”.

The new bowsprit – wooden template (top left) and final version in position (bottom left and right)

As we were stuck in Guernsey waiting for the bearings to arrive, “any day now”, 2 tasks bubbled up as priorities.  The first was a new bowsprit.  Getting that welded was suddenly possible as our Guernsey supplier had got the right thickness stainless stell tubing in stock.  I made a wooden mock-up of the locating plate, tested the fitting with that and then the stainless steel version was made and welded onto the tubing along with an eye fitting and end plate.  To finish the job off, I shaped the heel of the tube to fit over the end of the anchor point on our foredeck.

The generator with the cylinder head and ancillaries removed

The other major job that I needed to tackle was sorting out an oil leak on our generator.  Two seals needed to be replaced but to do that the whole cylinder head needed to be removed, along with a lot of ancillary attachments.  It was a job that I had been putting off for far too long but with the delays I had no excuse not to get on with it.  The generator looked quite bare with the head off but despite my concerns about the size of the job, everything went back together seamlessly with new seals and gaskets to replace the old ones.  Better still, once the tappets had all been set up again, the generator fired up and ran perfectly and with no oil leak!

However, having been distracted for a further week, the bearings from Italy still hadn’t turned up. We decided that order was most likely lost and so ordered the last one in stock from the UK supplier.  In typical comedy style, on 13 June the bearing from the UK supplier and the 2 bearings form Italy all arrived in the same postal delivery.  The 2 bearings had been posted in Italy on 16 April and didn’t arrive in Guernsey until almost exactly 2 months later!!

Needless to say, our rigger, Mark Terry at INOX, who had been equally frustrated by the delays was a star.  The backstay tensioner was rebuilt, fitted and the rig tensions all set up properly within a couple of days.  That allowed us to set to with stocking up the fridge and rations lockers plus the last few clothes and other gubbins that we needed to squeeze on board.

BV all packed up and ready to go

With everything set and the weather forecast checked, we announced our departure time as 1300hrs on Sunday 16 June.  The time was fixed as the earliest we could get out of the QEII marina, and the day was set by the packing being finished and the weather being favourable. As an added bonus, it was also our 23^rdwedding anniversary so a further reason to celebrate.

Having announced our departure we had some leaving drinks on board the preceding evening and it was clear that some of our Guernsey friends JJ, Simone and Matt were plotting a departure surprise for us; we’d have to wait until 1300hrs to see what they had planned.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

St Peter Port Guernsey

 Blue Velvet’s forward stanchions and pulpit were badly damaged, her rig was bashed and she also got some scratches on her topsides when the marina pontoon that she was moored to broke up during Storm Cieran, 1-2 November 2023.  The 80 knot gusts of winds snapped the hinges on one of the hammerhead finger pontoons she was tied to and the remaining pontoon cleats that she was attached to were ripped out, allowing her to bump into some other yachts in the marina.  Not great news as it has turned our pre-departure minor refit plans into a pretty major refit and repair session.

Blue Velvet has hauled out on Tuesday 30 January for the start of that repair and refit work.  It will take a couple of weeks to get the first stage of that work completed and then we will need to sail over to England for the next stage.  Photos of the work and an update will appear shortly but it will be a very busy 2 months if we are to hit our planned set off date of 1 May.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Ensenada Honda Culebra Spanish VIs

Thanks to Mark Pollington (Wild Iris) for many of the photos in this blog entry.  I’ve credited some, but perhaps not all of them, in the captions

Anchored in Ensenada Honda, Culebra, once the rainstorm had gone through.
Wild Irisis off to the left of the picture

Mark and Lisa weren’t on board Wild Iris when we arrived in Ensenada Honda, Culebra, on Tuesday 1 May, so we set to calling CBP in Puerto Rico to inform them of our arrival (compulsory even if you intend/need to visit the CBP post at the airport) and getting the dinghy ready for us to report in person to CBP ashore.  Once on terrafirmawe were very kindly give a lift up to the airport by a local lady, Suzie, driving a golf-cart but when we arrived there was no Customs Officer in sight. We waited……and waited…..and waited… and eventually called CBP in Puerto Rico to check that the officer was intending returning to the airport that day.  After another quarter of an hour or so, he arrived (after a long, late lunchbreak), cleared BV into the US customs area and issued us a US Cruising Permit for her (cost US$37).  So, BV is now permitted to remain in the US for up to a year whereas we have to leave the country no later than 20 October 2018 (6 months after we immigrated in St Thomas).  I guess we’ll need to go to Canada then….

Views around Culebra Town canal/cut-through.  Clockwise from top left:  Looking north from the lifting bridge into Ensenada Honda; looking south from the lifting bridge along the canal/cut-through; view from Mamachita’s veranda; looking back towards the lifting bridge from Mamachita’s veranda.
Note:  the lifting bridge no longer lifts

We wandered back to Culebra Town and took a look around, visiting the supermarket near the airport that Suzie had pointed out earlier and then also taking in the supermarket on the cut-through/canal.  We found both to be surprisingly well-stocked for a small island.  So much so that we knew that we would be okay for victualling when, a few days later, we decided to depart for the US mainland from Culebra rather than from San Juan on mainland Puerto Rico as we had originally intended.

Views of Culebra Town.  Bottom left:  all the advertising signs on the island are hand painted

We thoroughly enjoyed our wander around the town and particularly enjoyed the bright paintwork on the buildings and the hand-painted advertising hoardings on the walls.

Flamenco Beach, described to us as ‘the best beach on the island’.  Centre picture by Mark

Back at BV we were visited by Mark and Lisa Pollington from Wild Iris.  We had last met up with them in Leverick Bay at the Cruising Association get together and by this time we had rather expected them to be further south or east. However, Lisa’s knee (injured in an accident getting into/out of the dinghy in a swell) had slowed down their progress and though her knee was much recovered, with a 3-4 day hard-on-the-wind passage south to Bonaire or Curacao ahead of them they didn’t want to set off until a) her knee was almost fully recovered and b) the forecast looked reasonable.  So, over the next 5 days we spent a lot of time discussing the forecast weather situation and deciding on the best day to set off north and south, whilst preparing both yachts for long-distance passages.

Looking northwest along Flamenco Beach

But not before we had hired a petrol-driven golf cart and spent a day exploring the island.  We had been recommended to visit Flamenco Beach, ‘the best beach on the island’ so we went there first and, yes, it truly is a spectacular beach.  It has a beautiful crescent of fine, soft, white sand with gloriously turquoise waters breaking onto the sand and the beach is backed by tropical island palm trees. It’s perfectly wonderful and all the locals and other tourists know it too.  So much so that in the carpark behind the beach there’s a large building with security lockers as well as a café and toilets.  None of the other beaches we visited had such facilities but then most of them were further away from ‘civilisation’ (the airport and the main town).

Flamenco Beach

There’s a reef to the north of Flamenco Beach which keeps it relatively calm, even with the prevailing northeasterly wind and, when we arrived, there were a couple of yachts anchored in the southeast corner of the bay.  It looked like a lovely place to spend the night, particularly given the colour of the sea, which was far prettier than that in Ensenada Honda.

Tamarindo Beach – great snorkelling!

From Flamenco Beach we put Lisa’s injured knee to the test and took the footpath from the rear of the car-park (through a gate that looked very locked but wasn’t) across to Tamarindo Beach, where we had been told the snorkelling is excellent.  It was a reasonably long walk for Lisa and, when we came to it, the beach was nothing like as sheltered as we had hoped.  This beach is within a nature reserve that extends some distance offshore and within this area fishing and potting are not permitted, hence our source had said that the snorkelling and diving here is very good.  Lisa wanted to rest her knee and stayed on the beach whilst Mark, Nicky and I braved the uneven bottom and swam out to see what we could find.

Top left:  Front right of picture shows Sea rod coral in front of Corky sea fingers with Lobed star coral behind.  Brain coral back left.  Top right: Sea rod and Brain coral.  Bottom right: Common sea fan and Sea rod. Bottom left:  Elkhorn coral?

We had a very enjoyable swim and saw a good amount of soft coral – the most we had seen for a considerable time. Whilst there were coral heads off the beach, the best display was along the headland to the western end of the beach…..

Top:  Hawksbill turtle (note the jagged edge to the back of the shell). Bottom:  Green turtle (no jagged edge to the shell).  Hawksbill turtles tend to be smaller than Green turtles (30-100lb vs 100-200lb) but it’s difficult to estimate size in these photos

…..where we also had a great view of a couple of turtles.

Top:  Carlos Rosario Beach.  Bottom: Vieques as seen from Carlos Rosario Beach

From the headland we had looked north along the coast and seen an even more stunning beach and so once we had dried off from swim number one we continued along the path to Carlos Rosario Beach.  Here the water was beautifully protected from the northeasterly wind and, having found an area where the sand continued all the way to the water’s edge (no rocky bottom to negotiate), Lisa joined the 3 of us for a swim over the reef close offshore.

Venus sea fan next to Corky sea fingers 

A school of Clown wrasse (L)

Brain coral with Elkhorn coral in front

If anything, this was even better than the snorkelling off Tamarindo Beach, with myriad fish and plenty of Common sea fans and Sea rods as well as a huge variety of hard corals.

Carlos Rosario Beach

We had another long swim and by the time we got out it was 1300 – time for lunch – and if we didn’t hurry all the places to eat might be closed.  So, reluctantly, we turned our backs on Carlos Rosario beach and headed to the golf-cart for the drive back to town.

Lunch at Zaco’s Tacos.  Bottom (L-R):  Nicky, me, Lisa and Mark.  The picture looks a little odd as it was taken as a 360°panoramic shot on Mark’s iPod

The chap in the vehicle hire shop had recommended that we eat at Zaco’s Tacos so we headed straight there. Amazingly, the restaurant didn’t open until 1400 so we had a short wait, along with about 10 other people (a sign of a good restaurant – a place where all the locals eat), until the sign was turned around and the front door opened.  (Opening hours 1400-2100 Mon-Thu, 1700-2100 Fri).  We had a fabulous meal!  Lisa and Mark each had a burrito and Nicky and I shared a burrito and a shrimp taco.  Each was delicious, with fresh flavours and interesting ingredients – Mexican food as you didn’t know it could be done!

Zoni Beach with views out towards Culebrita (bottom photo by Mark)

Hunger pangs sated we headed out once more, this time to the northeast coast and Zoni Beach – another recommendation.

Compulsory tropical paradise pictures

Yet more beautiful white sand, turquoise waters and lovely views out to nearby islands, in this instance Culebrita. It has  a couple of good anchorages which we had intended to visit but didn’t actually get to – one for next time!

Zoni Beach is a Leatherback Turtle nesting site

Mark, Nicky and I took a stroll northeast along the beach, intrigued by some fencing we could see a short distance away.  We found that the stakes marked out an area where a Leatherback turtle had laid her eggs. Looking closely we could see the indentation in the sand from her excavation and even the track up along the sand where she had made her way from and to the sea.  There were information boards about Leatherback turtles at the entrance to the beach so it seems likely that the nesting sites are carefully observed and, probably, the baby turtles watched over when they hatch from the eggs and make their way to the sea.

The anchorage behind the reef at the southeastern entrance to Ensenada Honda

With the afternoon drawing on we decided to take a drive out to view the anchorage behind the reef at the entrance to Ensenada Honda and then to find a suitable bar from which to enjoy the sunset. Lisa and Mark had spent their first night in Culebra in the reef-protected anchorage and it certainly looks to be a lovely place to stop.  Windswept perhaps but protected from most seas by the reef – a bit like the anchorage in Clifton Harbour on Union Island or behind Green Island in Antigua.

Melones Beach and the locals

We tried to end our tour on Melones Beach, which would be the perfect place from which to watch the sunset – had we had some beers to hand.  As it is, there is no beach bar and the locals, a large flock of chickens with a protective rooster and a few hermit crabs, weren’t able to help with the (lack of) beer situation, so we headed back to the town and a bar at the harbour. It had been a fantastic day out and, based on it, we certainly plan to return to Culebra and visit by boat some of those beautiful beaches and islands that we saw on our tour.

For the next 4 days we were kept busy with tasks preparing BV for the long passage north to the Chespeake Bay.  As I alluded to earlier, we had planned to explore Culebra for a few days before moving on to some of the other Spanish Virgin Islands, including Puerto Rico.  After that we had intended to head north to Charleston, stay there for about a week and then continue north to the Chesapeake Bay. But looking at the recent forecasts and, once again, calculating distances, estimating the time required to cover those distances and making allowances for unforeseen occurrences, we decided that our plan was too ambitious for the available time.  We need to be north of 35°N no later than 1 June to comply with the requirements of our insurance company, to say nothing of the fact that we have committed to stay with good friends near Washington DC at the beginning of June.  So, instead of a relaxed cruise in the Spanish Virgin Islands, we started to make preparations for sailing BV 1300nm north.

Over those 4 days we checked the engine, generator and other equipment, bringing forward some routine servicing (eg an engine impeller change) and making sure that there were no potential problems with the mechanical systems of which we were not aware.  We transferred the fuel from the jerry cans that we keep on deck into BV’s main tanks and then did some dinghy runs ashore with the jerry cans to ensure that both BVand Wild Iriswere chock-a-block full of fuel.  Nicky did some nav planning and prepared charts for the US mainland whilst keeping a close eye on the weather and I studied the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) books to check on bridge clearances between Beaufort, NC and Norfolk, VA should we make landfall further south than we intended at this point (answer: lowest bridge = 63ft, BV’s air draft = 65ft; the offshore route looks to be the sensible one!).  Nicky also winched me up the mast so that I could check and remake a connection on the AIS aerial and whilst I was up there I put the foam pads back on the spreaders, as we had done before our Atlantic crossing, to help protect the mainsail from chafe.  I also carried out another rig check and, happily, found nothing untoward.  We spent the last 2 days food shopping and cooking up meals to make the first half of the passage easier.  It was all go, but in amongst all that busy-ness we still found time to relax in the evening (sundowners, dinners and cocktails) with Mark and Lisa, each checking on the others’ progress and discussing problems and issues.

With a 10 day passage ahead of us, and some pretty variable conditions likely, Sunday evening was a quiet one.  We’ve had a wonderful time in the Caribbean and are very much looking forward to returning for winter 2018/9 but then we’re also looking forward to an American summer and a new country, or countries (if we get to Canada), to explore.

Sunset at Melone Beach (photo by Mark)

Ensenda Honda, Culebra, Spanish VIs