… and silver linings. Or to put it another way: when is the wrong co-ax and crazy wiring a blessing in disguise? Answer, when those two faults reveal another flaw that otherwise would have remained hidden. Which is a long-winded way of saying the marine electrician who came out to quote for replacing the coaxial cable (he’s considerably more compact than Dick), found water where it shouldn’t be – in the co-ax sheathing itself. So completing a hat trick of AfricanCats’ installation blunders as far as the VHF/AIS are concerned. No bloody wonder these didn’t work as they should – but a huge bloody wonder they worked at all! (Of course, if we’d only spent more time to – and I quote Gideon here again: “… make themselve (sic) familiar to get optimal use this equipment …” we’d have been … er, not one jot better off at all! These faults have nothing to do with not being familiar with our equipment. Through necessity, we have become all too familiar with our equipment – and AfricanCats’ frequently bodged installation thereof!
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Meet Barnacle. Our new addition. The 9.5 Aluminium Superlight model from AB. Compact, sturdy, lightweight and stable. We’ve added a 9.8 Tohatsu outboard too. It’s a good partnership and a huge improvement over the old set up which was bought as part of Gideon’s much vaunted Ocean Crossing Package. The 9.8hp Tohatsu is a 2 stroke model and weighs no more than the 6hp 4 stroke, but performs far better. The funny thing is in theory the AB should weigh something like 8-10 kg more than AfricanCats’ tippy tender, yet raising it on the davitts takes considerably less effort. Hmm. Strange that, don’t you think? Any which way, I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
We have, of course, now a problem. What to do with The Tippy One. Advertising it for sale on the local Cruisers Net radio station, was not encouraging. Only one response: “Hi Butterfly, is that the tender we’ve seen you using here in Prickly Bay?” Yes, we dutifully replied. The one with bright yellow stripes and Butterfly plastered down the side (not our idea, by the way.) ” Ah… [pause] … I think I’ll pass in that case.” And who can blame him. We’re seriously considering donating it to a local charity to do with as they will. Getting shot of the old Tohatsu outboard won’t be a problem, thankfully.
By the way, the final straw with the TO was the frustration caused by its inability to maintain direction with only one person aboard. Coming into dock took several attempts if the wind blew. You can’t use speed to maintain direction as you come in, and the nose just shoots off in the gusts. Cruising makes you terribly dependent on your tender – without it you’re pretty much stuffed; you certainly don’t need to play silly buggers every time you want to dock. Nor, while I’m in full gripe mode, do you want the name of your main boat plastered large on the damn thing. Might as well tell everyone you’re away, please feel free to help yourself. That said, couldn’t resist naming the new one – albeit rather more discreetly. And once we have a rib cover, even that will be under wraps.
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We’re officially in the hurricane season now – and are suffering the heat and humidity levels to prove it. Much talk last night with friends, Tracey and Neil, of hurricane tactics should the unthinkable be forecasted to happen in our area. Not something you want to consider, of course, but wise to have some sort of strategy. Talk on the radio, too, of tropical waves developing in the Cape Verde Islands, a common breeding ground for such things. Last few nights much dry lightning and towards the end of the day, huge billows of cumulus rising vertically into the stratosphere. All very indicative of hot unstable air. All very ooh-er. Our own contingency plans revolve around first getting stocked up on diesel (Prickly Bay is all out, at the moment) – and heading due south. To quote from Wikipedia:
Grenada, being on the Southern edge of the hurricane belt, has suffered only three hurricanes in fifty years. Hurricane Janet passed over Grenada on 23 September 1955 with winds of 115 mph, causing severe damage. The most recent storms to hit have been Hurricane Ivan on September 7, 2004 causing severe damage and thirty-nine deaths and Hurricane Emily on July 14, 2005, causing serious damage in Carriacou and in the north of Grenada which had been relatively lightly affected by Hurricane Ivan.
Anyway, like a lot of cruisers in these parts, we just hope our theoretical strategies remain just that – theoretical.
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A couple of days ago, we trundled off to find some foam. Correction: a LOT of foam. To explain: I want to make a lot of cushions to pretty up the cockpit seating area and both cabins and make them more comfortable. Also, the cabin berths are too hard and give rise to backache, so softer foam is required for a softer landing. But Grenadians don’t have feather or hollow fibre stuffed pillows or mattresses, they seem to use shredded foam instead. So we were delighted to find a local factory that makes nothing but foam. The premises are primitively Dickensian, but the owner of the place was helpfulness personified and a charming gentleman to boot. Not only did he give us a guided tour of the place, and a comprehensive explanation of how foam is made, he offered us prolonged shelter from the deluge of rain that looked like it would never stop. At last, once the gods turned off the faucet, we trundled back to the dinghy dock, laden with sheets of brightly bouncing foam and several huge bags of shredded off-cuts to stuff cushions with. And all for a song. Oh, we do like Grenada … !
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This, by the way, is our view of Prickly Bay, as seen from the port bow. Taken towards the end of day, yesterday. Today, at 3.30 pm local time, it’s a rather different view. Torrential rain and thick grey skies. But to bring this post full circle, there is a dazzling silver lining to these dense and ugly clouds: I can leave the heavens to clean the outside of the boat and do a thorough job with far more rinses than our water tanks would allow, while I toil away happily at a laptop. It’s not all a trampoline of roses, but for the best part the cruising life is a sweet one!
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