St Maarten to St Lucia - Day 2 - John goes for a swim
Bonkers
Donald Macdonald
Tue 5 Mar 2024 21:33
Far too much excitement onboard during last 24 hours.
Last night about 2230 Emma and I were asleep down below in th esweltering cabin 31C with no movement in the air. John shouts down we are going very slow 3 knots I think we have caught a net. We went on deck, with wind about 18 knots, beam reach and doing 3 knots you could see, with headtorches light green trailing out with bits of white areas from behind and about 50 meters behind 2 balls orange and white. We headed up a little to slow down further to see if we could pick the line up with the boathook. We managed this from mid-ships and pulled 4 nylon 16mm lines aboard. We cut these and let the bulk of the line go with the balls. The lines we had were doubled up with those horrible bags that builders tend to use to bring sand and gravel etc. No matter how we pulled the lines nothing would move. We tied one double line to the cleat and released the other to see if we could still sail, which we did with about a 2 knot penalty. This was done until daylight when the GoPro could
be put
into action. This revealed that the rores withe the tattered bags had knotted behind the keel. Sails down and hero of the moment, John, went for and early swims to see what could be done. After a couple of aborted ideas using the knife we let ropes go and just held onto the bag then the ropes would pull through and clear the keel. All the rope and bags are now in the anchor locker ready for disposal. By 0900 we were back upto full speed.
As the day went on the Autopilot kept giving alarms off about No Heading and no Rudder Feedback. Through the chart plotter I could confirm they were still available and the autopilot did stay engaged although did not hold course well. Then multiple alarms going off about No GPS, No Hercules Computer and the device list was going wild see stuff and not. All electronics switched off for a few minutes and hand steering by the compass. All systems reactivated most settled down just the No Heading available on one control head and no Rudder Feedback on the other. I have no idea what this is. B&G depth transducer removed to put Raymarine Speed transducer in the through hole, Raymarine sytem switched on and the autopilot changeover switch turned. Raymarine Autopilot, Harold Junior steering.
Just before this whilst I was have a hours sleep John and Emma saw some Dolphins, 1st in the Caribbean this trip. I've still to see either dolphins or turtles.
Dinner tonight is tinned lasagna, carrots, soft rolls followed by tinned peach slices in juice.
Distance covered so far 188nm. Slowed down a little due to bags around keel and big wind shadows from the island we are passing to leeward, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica now and later Martinique before we get to St Lucia in the morning, no more dramas permitting.