Grenada to Carriacou (the saga of)

Hi all,
Well to make it to Tyrell Bay before Xmas I had to leave on the Thursday before. The weather though was not good. North East wind (on the nose) 15 - 20 knts of wind with a north east swell 6 + feet.

(day one)...I left anyway, bad move as I had a terrid hangover after saying 'ta ra' to everyone the day before !

First thing big jib went up, cleared the reef, then 10 mins later the port sheet fell off ! I can not sail on starb. tack without it ! boat was rolling so bad made it very hard to get it down. This done with fall all over the deck in a mess, went and started to put it back up, well with all the rolling the halyard had gone behind the spreader, the sail  and hoisting block then  went round the stay maybe 6 times while I got the fall back round the spreader !  sail would not now go up or down. It started flogging violently in the high wind and so I rolled and tied it up to the leech and stay. next sail up was little staysail, all lines now completely wrapped up with each other this took a long time. No way was the main going to go up, so motored gently round to St Georges, arriving as it got dark and anchored for the night.

(day two) At approx 02:30 a very strong squall swept across the bay and off I went out to sea dragging the anchor behind me! Boat missed hitting anything and I let it go until no boats behind me then let the chain go until the boat was stopped.

As soon as it was light, about 06:45 I started to get the jib down, that took till 09:00, then after making sure every rope was in the right place put up all sail and off I went again.
After being on the hook since August, I had become so unfit for sailing, things stopped working, the big things took even longer to fix, I got very tied, boat bottom was so dirty boat would only do 5 knots max. I wasn't even heading for Carriacou but going NNE BY NORTH. Took all day and most of the night until level with Union Island, that was approx 03:00 (day three) I was then able to go South East and head Straight to Tyrell Bay. I arrived at 06:00 and on the hook at 07:00 at last.
Made it !!!
Roy

December 2017

Hi Everyone,
well the battery is still ok, but, the computer is getting more and more unreliable, even when battery is full, computer verifies this saying 100% available but it will not use the battery and switches itself off! back to less than square one, cause now I am back to using the on screen keyboard as approx 60% of the keys won't work any more????
No pics today, I am getting the boat ready to start moving about again now that hurricane season is over. Going through my check list as I speak. 1) anchor chain was cleaned it took 5 days! so much marine growth, unbelievable! when above the anchor it took 2 + hours too break it out of the muddy bottom, approx 20 feet of chain and anchor were buried about 10 feet down ! boat never moved 1/2 an inch. 2) have a failed mast head lamp, and my steaming lamp and deck flood don't work they have to be next on list, then all the fiddly jobs, too many to mention here.

Itinerary is Carriacou to clear customs, will prob spend Xmas there, then St Lucia to pick up the new sails I'm having made, once that's done I can then think of computer, doubt very much if I will find the same model. Then back to Grenada for sailing week, we have started a classic class, and as second to commit will be doing that. Jud owner of 'Galatea' (1899) was first to start the ball rolling.
I have a lot of pics to post when next I can.

All the very best for Xmas and New Year 2018 to all who check out and read my blog!
Roy