September 2017

Date: 30th September 2017

Position: Peakes boatyard, Chaguaramas, Trinidad

Hi Land folk and Salty Sea Dogs,

Captain Bonzo here. Time for an update from the Caribbean sea!

When I sent the last update, our plan was as follows:

We’ll check back in with you after our return but exciting plans for next year, presently including the British, US and Spanish VIs, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, Cuba and Columbia. Carla has already made the flags but let’s see what we will manage – after all, cruisers plans are written in the sand at low tide....

Well, it’s all change, but first things first.......

We arrived in Chaguaramus, Trinidad towards the end of July after an overnight sail from Tobago. The sea in Chaguaramus isn’t clean at the best of times but we were woken at 5am the following morning by a strong smell of diesel. One of the large ships must have pumped out it’s bilges overnight and the water was full of diesel and oil. We headed ‘down d islands’ to Monos which was clean but just the few hours in Chaguaramus left us with a good 12” scum mark on the hull. The crew were spitting feathers and after haul out had to employ someone to get it off – a days work!

I was in charge of looking after the boat while Carla and Alex jetted off to see family in Europe – well at least they tried to jet off, and after leaving Trinidad on a flight that was full they were promised that after the stopover in St Lucia there will be seats for them (remember they are travelling under staff rules thanks to Carla’s old job). Well, yes, you are right, they were offloaded in St Lucia, as there were no seats for the trip to Gatwick. By then it was dark, the Airport deserted etcetc.... NOT nice.

In any case, they arrived in one piece after boarding the flight the next day – last seats, phew.... – the entertaining part was that they carried a 35kg windlass with them to return to the shop in the UK – which had to be unpacked and shown to customs every time they exited or entered an airport. Well I guess it keeps Alex fit J

The time in Europe flew by, Alex flew to Vienna as well to visit his family, but time was short so we didn’t manage to see all friends we had hoped to – hopefully next year!

And so after 5 weeks, with all 83 items on the shopping list securely stored (in an Ann Summers suitcase off ebay for 99pence), they and their 120kg of luggage arrived at Gatwick for their flight back to Trinindad – at the wrong terminal.... our frequent flyer specialists hadn’t even bothered to check which terminal the flight was going from (and it had changed) – so more opportunity for Alex to stay fit by dragging 120kg to another terminal.

  Having arrived back with me (I was wagging my tail so hard it fell off and Carla had to sew it back on) they started on the to do list that I had prepared for them while they were having a good time in Europe. And since some of you had asked them what it is they were having to do/ repair/ maintain to keep them busy for four weeks, we decided to make this edition a little more technical and list out what it means to maintain a boat like this:

Standard maintenance and repairs

• • Replacement of the forestay (wire to brace the mast forward) – that’s 12mm steel wire, 18.5 meters long, that need to be removed and changed – with professional help – every 10 years. We had a forestay made of rod which is stronger a lighter but you cannot see if it is worn without professional tests. So we replaced this incredibly expensive rod that may have been good for another 10 years (or maybe not) with wire.

  •  Treat engine block rust with rust converter

  • Clean water system with chemicals

  • Change drinking water filter

  • Replace sprayhood windows with new material – that sounds easy, BUT is not – took 3 days. All stitched with Goretex tenara thread so thread should outlast the rest of it.

  • Polish hull – that’s a 3 stage process with a rubbing compound, a wax and a sealer – 3 days

  • Repair osmosis blisters on rudder (a common issue) and some minor hull repairs around the keel area 4-5 days in total

  • Fit new alternator to generator

  • Get the inflatable windsurf/paddleboard repaired

  • Repair the helmsman seat (some rotten plywood under the teak) – another 4 elapsed days due to drying times

  • Make flags for the countries we plan to visit (expensive to buy, so Carla makes them)

Boat improvements

• • Replace our freezer system with a smaller, more effective solution, increase insulation – 3 days

  •  Change inner forestay set-up, fit new fitting to mast, cut wire, install new staloc fitting – 1 day. We are slowly moving to staloc fittings on all our rigging as it enables us to be self sufficient and replace wires ourselves as they don’t need to be swaged i.e. pressed into a fitting.

  • Splice dyneema running backstays and install fitting on mast 1 day

  • Install new battery monitor and associated shunt

  • Install new Bluetooth capable stereo system

  • Wire in 4.5kw Victron inverter - 2 days (because Alex is rubbish at electrics....)

And any number of small jobs that need doing and never make it on a list, although Carla insists on adding them after they are done just so she can tick them off!

It hasn’t been all work, and the crew have done some exploring of Trinidad and sampling of the fantastic street food – doubles (two baras (flat fried bread) filled with curry channa (curried chickpeas)), saheena, sada roti with smoked herring and cheese spread, and rotis to die for – to just name a few. Saturday nights they always leave me on guard and go out with friends for ‘bake n shark’ (bit like a fish burger) which they tell me is yummy. The team also spent a day up at the Asa Wright centre which is a 20000 acre nature reserve that was previously a cocoa and coffee plantation. The original plantation house is now a hotel with a fantastic veranda where you can see all the fantastic bird life and hummingbirds fly around you. They were lucky enough to see a whole flock of toucans on their visit.

Whilst the team has been working away at the jobs I gave them, two catastrophic hurricanes ravaged the land to the north of us where we had spent so much time past season. It is hard to describe how you feel when you see the devastation in a place you know well and like – and know people in... the cruising community at large is shocked at what happened and relief efforts are being staged everywhere. At present, goods and food is being collected here in Trinidad and will be sent to Dominica in a few days time. Dominica is known as the Nature Isle and relies on it’s natural beauty and agriculture. That has all been destroyed and they are independent tso don’t have the US or French resources unlike some of the other islands.  It holds a special place in our hearts and Ari B is donating ropes, torches, batteries and some food and children’s toys to help ease the pain. We wish the poor people on the affected islands all the best and hope for lots of help to be sent to them. If any of you wish to help, our friend Jack on Carpe Diem has written a song- https://www.facebook.com/Maria-Dominica-1956947281233505/ - and is trying to raise $10000 to specifically help Dominica. Donations can be made via Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jack-lillingston

The team on Ari B had considered sailing to Dominica to bring supplies and water to the islanders, but all the affected islands are struggling with security issues and we have decided to try and send help, rather than traveling to a troubled and potentially dangerous area ourselves.

For that reason, our entire cruising plan for the next year has changed, as most of the islands we wanted to visit have been affected by one of the storms.

So we will sail north to Grenada and Martinique, to say hi to friends and stock the boat with French goodies and will then head west towards the ABC islands (Aruba, Curacau and Bonaire). A planned stop in Los Roques (islands off the Venezuelan coast) is cancelled, due to the political situation there. From there to Columbia and maybe a visit to Cuba (by plane) or some traveling in South America, then the San Blas islands and the Panama area, maybe followed by Costa Rica – VERY loose plans, we will see how things go.

 Until then

Ari B out

Captain Bonzo

Scum marks from Chaguaramus, Trinidad