June update

Hi all, Some pics of the first job I did whilst waiting for the spares for Fred, this was after fixing and launching the boat, and going round to Jolly Harbour.

First Job was cleaning and getting rid of all the residue left behind around the engine room and Lazerette after going on the reef Nov. 2011 !!!, included the documents that were turned into paper mache, now like wood !!. That took a while, then the priming, undercoating and top coating, first 2 pics before starting...

The rest of the pics are different views of the finished gloss coated areas.
It took 2 weeks to complete and was tiring work in very confined spaces, good job I am a little fart is all I can say about that. I have also been knocking off the job list the little things now that every tool I have is out of storage and making life impossible on board. Summer is here and it is hot !! even when raining ! and just recently we have had a fair bit of that too.

I am now refurbishing Fred, all has been cleaned, sanded, new bolts nuts and washers were needed and finally covered in teak sealer, as of today I am re-assembling Fred and will soon fit the new parts. There is some welding to do as well, so I am on schedule to finish at the end of June.
Hope I can get internet wherever I happen to end up, here has been such a pain being internet-less !!

Update end of May 2016

Hi all,
Very slow internet so no pics this time.
I finished the boats current repair, primed the whole hull, adjusted the waterline as not happy with it after the reef. As I was very impressed with the Hard anti fouling as apposed to the ablative, did the bottom with VC Offshore, it took awhile to get that paint and it took 3 gallons to give it 2 coats, a bit expensive, but I hope worth it this time. Launched the boat on Monday afternoon and not leaking, still weeping through the wood here and there, but only 1 pump switched on so the whole boat is draining into the smallest bilge under the engine, time between pumping is approx 5 hours and quantity is about a gallon of water. But have been here before, and every time I go sailing a new different place leaks, there surely can't be that many places left for me to fix as I've had no failures in the ones already done, I will just have to suck it and see.
Have one trial sail to do, then off to Jolly Harbour for a very required re-stock of food supplies.
I really wanted to finish painting the saloon and Head this time, and all deck teak needs to be done again.
The spares for Fred I will have sent to St Lucia, have while waiting done the reinforcement to the aft framework by re-placing the 4 x wood screws on each brace with 6 x 8 m/m countersunk machine screws fastened with stainless angle iron bolted up on the frame, pics have been taken and will be posted soon I hope.
I could be on my travels soon, I am so looking forward to that.
Roy

A Calm Day before the storms

Hi everyone, sorry for not posting for awhile again ! it takes so long to do a simple post it gets very frustrating when I am trying to fix the boat. I am trying to post a video and pics that are missing today, but still have a lot of work to finish, Following pics are of my known leak issues on the stern post. I found the reason to be trapped water that had saturated the seam  and rotted the caulking cotton, the plank ends had gone so soft the fasteners had pulled out and damaged the wood... so two new plank ends had to be fitted

So that part of the current work is nearly finished. I came out in the Slipway Boatyard same day as regatta finished.

With those pics uploaded will try for Video Post Title now.........

Well hopefully that came out OK.

Couple of pics of stormy weather before getting to Antigua. In a Minute

Hi All,
Well I did make it to Antigua all be it very late with no time to get the boat looking good, she does look very Used though. The girls have arrived Rowan and her party, and today Thursday is the single handed race ! and all that wind has completely disappeared. maybe 5 knots if we are lucky for the regatta this year, what a difference to my one month battle to get here from the Turks and Caicos Islands. Very slow internet so afraid no pics yet, will post them when I can,
Roy

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

hi all, just to let you know, I left the Virgin Islands at 1800hrs Sat. 2nd April, I am now half way to St Martin on my way to Antigua

Update 0f Arrival at Last !

Hi everyone,
Finally I have arrived in St Thomas, its taken a while, mostly because of the wind and seas I experienced, but, also my bilge pumps, and, to top everything, the seams that had been moving due to the the pounding GL took on the passage. I have now made temp repair to 3 of them and in my latest journey from Isla De Vieques, in the heavy waves another 2 have shown up. I left Sunday morning and arrived Crown Bay Marina at 1000hrs for fuel, water, petrol, and to fix 2 seams, plus locate the fitting for bilge p/p. so  the water is not discharging into the cockpit ! Will only stay 3 days here then move to anchour at Water Island, fixed or not.
As an update to the passage log, at 0701hrs this morning a milestone was passed I had completed 700 NM through the water logged with my Walker IV Log. With 521.6 Nm only from Blue Haven Marina to Water Island via my route, just shows how much extra miles were done having to tack against the wind.
Roy

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Left Ponce Marina with all p/ps working with new float switches, missing overboard discharge temp into cockpit and working ok. 104.6 to Destn.

Noon Position 17°54.56' N 066°36.23' W. 103.5nm to Destn speed 5.1 knts, wind East 10-15 knts, achieved 600 nm through the water at 0000hrs. Very good sailing conditions, not too much wind and not a big swell. Boat going great, but more than normal amount of water coming in.

Wednesday 16^th Noon Posn. 18°04.52' N 065°31.83' W. 652.0 nm through the water 450 nm over the ground towards Destn. Yesterday and today it became obvious that a serious amount of extra water was coming into the boat, hadn't really noticed that before because of the bilge problems that made me stop in Ponce. At Ponce the boat was normal with no extra at all. P/p repositioning is a success but much to much water coming in. did an investigation and found ALL deck level mast chocks had fallen out and mast not supported at deck level ! They had obviously fallen out with all the pounding I was getting in the bad winds and seas. This was causing the frames on both sides of the mast to flex, and now the caulking had worked loose between the frames, again on both sides. You can not fix that underway or even heaved too. So again looked for a safe haven to stop and fix, I was now tacking along the coast of the next island east called Isla Vieques having left Puerto Rico behind. I found a promising bay called Esperanza and decided to check it out, took me an hour or so to get there, dropped sail and motored in. I very slowly edged my way into the anchourage and saw a boat that looked very familiar, as I got closer I could tell it was Susie's Boat 'Spirited Lady' ! She spotted me and got very excited and jumped in the dingy with her new crew member. To say hello, then very kindly they both helped me to a mooring. What a lovely surprise though, what are the chances of going or stopping somewhere you hadn't planed on, I mean I was sailing past and had no intention of stopping, then meeting up with a friend you didn't think you would see again? Well its either fate that's written down in the stars, or as I believe, the only way is to be a traveller yourself, if you stay in one place you only meet the people that pass your way.

So Posn. Today is 18°05.51' N 065°28.42' W on a mooring ball in Esperanza, Isla Vieques, Puerto Rico, still with 36.8 Nm to go to Destn. ! Didn't want to unship the dingy, so Susie and Moty invited me ashore for drinky poos at the many beach bars in her dingy, of course had to celebrate a bit didn't I..........

Roy

Thursday 17^th March 2016 @ Esperanza, St Patrick's day.

Well I got up 0500hrs and got stuck in right away, lifted the floors and located all 11 mast wedges in various places around the bilges, and left them in the cockpit to dry out a bit, then all the rig was undone running and standing, with boom in its crutch. This allows me to move the mast to get the wedges back in, a beautiful dawn arrived at 0630hrs it will be a nice day today.

Susie promised to come and help with the wedges, as it will take more than one person to achieve, She duly arrived and after approx an hour all wedges were in place and the standing rig hardened up. I then finished off by locking all the bottle screws again, and putting all the halyards back. I made lunch then I just had to have a kip.

Decided to temp repair the seams tomorrow, and as Susie had an electrical problem I went over to help find it, found one part, but still need to find the next bit, it got dark so we went ashore for a local restaurant fish meal, back early and straight to bed zonked out.

Roy

Friday 18^th March, @ Eaperanza,

Got up a 0500hrs again, and have written this blog post first, have to go ashore and post it today some time.................

Hi Everyone,
Some Pics to post at my journeys interruption in Ponce Bay, Puerto Rico, alongside 'Ponce Yacht & Fishing Club'  the most prestigious berth BR1.

They are mostly USA type sport fishing boats here, I was lucky as one of them was having a haul out scrub and paint job.
The Sunday before I left Adam invited Porsche and myself for a Lamb Sunday Roast Dinner !!!! as a farewell get together. What a magic time I have had here at Blue Haven Marina. 

Porsche in the foreground and Adam & Vicky in the background

 Could only find 1 pic of the leaving party at the Salt Bar, please.. guys gals, if you read this and took some email me on the contact tab and attach the pics.

I need more pics!

Then the 521.6 Nm journey began.

First Sunset

After 3 days of flopping about and going no where fast, I hadn't even gone any further East than Grand Turk Island, this pic of the plotter shows the true story having only making a northerly course all day, as night came a gentle wind from the NE came, I did 3 knts to begin with but was on course for the first time, spending all night doing no more than 1.9knts all in the right direction.

track shows tacking north during day, then suddenly a wind shift and then on course.

Next morning wind starts gradually getting stronger.

As it began to get rough, I did report on one of the missing and still missing posts that I was treated to one of those rare moments of nature during the journey. This concerned at least 3 humpback whales in the ocean side of Hispaniola, one whale on my horizon was head down tail held vertical and was sending signals by smashing its tail onto the sea, it was a spectacular sight, huge spouts of water shooting skywards, it did it again and again and again, I have taken some pics of that and hope they will be ok to send in my next post. While I took pic's a big humpback sounded about 20 feet away from me, WOW and about 10 mins later another one did the same thing on the other side, of course couldn't get the camera switched on quick enough, but they were both moving majestically through the water going twice as fast as I was (8.5knts) towards the one sending out the call. The way they were moving through the rough water is the way Guiding Light moves, not fighting but just going with the waves, gives me a further clue just how clever they designed this boat in 1934! I was having a really good time in rough seas, I must be crazy, but I was enjoying it so much.
The pics didn't come out as good as I hoped but you can get the idea from them.

Hope They all post OK
more as usual coming.
Roy

Absolutly up to date

Hi all,
Looking on the bright-side of things, I had a great sailing experience on Guiding Light, its the longest I've ever done against such a strong wind (don't forget I cannot reef the main, and I was flying both jibs as well), she goes so well through the water so hard on the wind, 2 things have shown themselves up.
1) float switch positions and bilge pump positions were defiantly not in the right place for sustained travel heeled hard over at 30 or more degrees in big Ocean waves ((12 feet or more)my first time in GL)).
2) I know no-one is going to believe me, but, my record of sustained speed has gone up from  9.2 Knts to approx 10 Knts! this was on Tuesday before I changed course and during the days journey into the lee of Puerto Rico,  my plotter was showing 9.5 as a low end speed and 11.8 as a top end speed and not dropping below those speeds, sometimes for over an hour at a time, even the current could not account for that! because I had streamed my walker Excelsior IV Log! and I was double checking speed though the water with it! it's a bit unbelievable to me too.
Roy

SMS Update

Hi Everyone,
Sat comms not completely successful, but learned a lot on what to do and not to do to make it work, this took a few days  to find out, so some went missing, I will not post the past only bring you up to date from last SMS MSG.

Thurs 10 March,
SMS. MSG.
In the morning 0730hrs I had been blown downwind heaved too south and east over 35 Nm in a screaming north east wind, further I went the bigger the seas, I managed to get a weather forecast at 0730hrs that predicted the same till after Saturday, started sailing again to get back on course, the bilge pump I use on that port side was not coping very well, float switch at 30-35 deg. heel was leaving too much water in the bilge, other pump was above water level. had to move the pump hose and pump from yesterdays disaster to drain into cockpit (not good) and turn the other one off. with no float switch, which meant engine had to be on all the time. Not enough fuel now to do that, and with still 78nm to Destn. in this wind and seas, another big decision had to be made. I looked for a safe Haven and found a Yacht Club on the coast called Ponce Yacht Club (????) and made the wise choice and headed for that, it was quite a distance back the way I had fought for yesterday, and it took all day to get there, I arrived at 1800hrs and tied up alongside the fuel dock safe, very sadly the Distn. to Destn, has now gone up to 104.6, and a lot more work to do before I can carry one. I went for a beer!!! 7 days at sea and still not there. (Failed)
Roy

SMS MSG.
Friday 11 march
Arranging USA customs clearance today, I was moved to a temp. slip in the morning and went to the marina office to report arrival details to USA customs San Juan. I had to wait on board for them to check the boat, they got delayed and didn't get here till 12 noon. I passed that test, then had to get a taxi to their office at the airport to do the paperwork, didn't get back until 1530hrs, with that all done I booked a berth here till Tuesday next 15th, hopefully all will be fixed by then.
Roy
  

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

Wed. 9th Forgot To take log today but in evening had 96nm to Destn. Had problem with bilge not pumping in morning, prop shaft not turning & engine made strange noise! as well! found lashing had caught shaft coupling which caught bilge hose that wrapped around shaft and caught eng exhaust hose pulling it off! Rest of day I battled my way along the coast then had to heave too again for the night. Roy

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

Tues. 8th, 12 Noon Posn. 18*31.77' N, 067*34.31' W. 101nm 186 to Desn. 393 from Blue Haven. Big Decision at 0800hrs this morning after being heaved too all night, to go south of Purto Rico to gain the leeward side out of the storm waves, this I did, and I heaved too again at 1900hrs after passing through the Mona Pasrage. Roy

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

Hi All, Seems Fridays post went missing, here it is Fri. 4th 12 Noon Posn. 21*00.82' N 072*05.88' W wind East 10=15knts slight low cloud First 24hrs 105nm through the water. Could not make course, speed 3=6kts Beating hard into the wind with lots of tacking. 443.4 to Destn. Roy@@

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

Saturday 5th 12 Noon Posn 20*52.62' N 071*22.42' W wind N by E 15kts slight high cloud. 2nd 24hrs. 92nm Speed 2=2.5kts till 0845 when wind backed round to north, Then 4.5=5.5kts. Now finally on course 112* (T) 393.6nm To Desn. Roy@

SMS from 881632655768@msg.iridium.com

Journey To St Thomas USVI Hi everyone, Left dock @ 12 noon Thursday 3rd March 2016 with 521.9 Nm to destn. 1500hrs Posn 21*53.90' N 072*18.17' W rounding Northwest Point Provo Wind Eastally. Roy.

Hi everyone,
Well a weather window has opened up, I have made the decision to make a go for St Thomas. I will be leaving Blue Haven Marina today Thursday 3rd March 2016 @ approx 1200hrs.  I cleared customs  yesterday, and am re stowing all the equipment back on board, preparing GL for the trip. There are quite a few other boats leaving so we all got together at the Salt Bar last night to say our farewells and have a few drinks. I will attempt to send updates via the sat comms, as I make my way back to Water Island, here's hoping  all will go ok there, as I will have no way to see what happens till I make landfall again. I leave here with a bit of sadness as the people and new friends I've met  made the boat and myself so very welcome. I enjoyed every minuet and got so much ticked off the work list in magic surroundings. A Special thank you to Adam Foster, Porsche and all the Girls in the office, not forgetting all the bar and kitchen staff  and guys who look after the docking at the pontoons. All the very best to you all for the future.
Roy on board Guiding Light.

A N NN other update from Provo

So here I am Saturday 27th, and all jobs to do finished!!! Thursday I took the boat out for a test sail, I invited Porsche and Adam to keep me company, we had a great days sail in the afternoon, I was so proud to have them aboard and to let them both in turn helm Guiding Light out through the reef with Adam on the tiller, and returning though the reef with Porsche doing all the steering while we put the sails to bed. What a magic day that was.
During the afternoon I checked my new generator output whilst sailing...IT WORKS !!!!!!!!!....so boat is now good to go, and now I am waiting till Monday and see what the weather will be doing this next week, so..... as to leave this gorgeous Island (sadly) and head back to St Thomas.
I have had such a good time here words fail to describe it. I have met so many people and enjoyed their company and conversation like you wouldn't believe,  Porsche and Adam run one of the best Marinas I have ever been too anywhere!!! everyone who comes here are treated by them like a long lost friend! 

Please check out their web site, you will find shit loads of photos of me there as well,
Porsche and Adam especially Porsche post the most amazing photos and give everyone a mention.

 Roy

A N other Provo update

Hi again everyone,
Well I felt so comfy here I decided that at long last (after 5 years) I would rebuild the starboard side bunk and shelving to regain a complete interior saloon and be able to reuse the extra stowage space, and also be able to invite guests down below without being terribly embarrassed.
This meant that I had to paint it all for...again... 5 years ago... all the reef damaged bits that I have just had to suffer because I've had too many other things on the priority list.
                                                              Here are the photos........

my temp. clothes line wiring all had to be removed first (1)

(2)

 

Then the paint job, not only the hull side but underneath the teak deck as well

Because of all the reef damage, and ..........

This local bird fished on the dock every day, and caught serious amounts of Fish.

.........the repairs to the hull frames, they were not exactly the same size as before, so after retrieving all the stowed away woodwork that I had restored in 2012 (and had been carrying around in bits all over the boat!!!), nothing would fit were it used to be before. Following pics show the rebuilding and fitting of all these bits. Note the modified bunk seat that again at long last I made the access hatches in, I can now stow things bigger than a 4" cube under the bunk!

at the children's home another bit of local wildlife...the biggest catapilla I have ever seen, not sure if I would like to meet it after the metamorphoses has finished!

 

 

 

 And finally the finished comfy Bunk with the beginnings of stowed stuff .

Update at Provo.

Hi Everyone,
 

Wednesday 20^th Providenciales Arrival Evening January 2016

I was received with open arms, everyone impressed by my boat and arrival, Adam and Porsche his second in command, whom I haven't seen for approx 5 years were having their annual Staff party that very night! (called Diamonds and Denim) in the 'Salt' Bar and Restaurant. So Adam kitted me out with a Blue Haven hat and 'T' shirt so I could fit in and join in the fun, everyone made me so so welcome. But..I was very tired after the trip so had to pike out a bit early and crash out.

Thursday 21^st January 2016

I had to sort out my customs clearance quickly so that was top priority. Very kindly Adam and Porsche took me to immigration to extend my stay more than 7 days, I already knew it would cost $300.00 US to do that, (very expensive for an Englishman in a British Overseas Territory I thought) when I got there I found out I needed the Customs form first, but filled all their forms out in advance, I was then taken to Lunch on the beach and a 'quickie' tour of the Island by Adam and Porsche showing me all the places I would need to find. When we arrived back and after ringing the customs we arranged to meet customs at the Bar about 1700hrs. He was a bit late and we did the bis at the bar approx 2015hrs instead. Bed again after that.

Friday 22^nd January 2016

Had found out they have Magic and I mean Magic internet here, so spent the morning updating my Blog to let you all know were I am and what I have been up too for the past month, after lunch they took me back to immigration and that job was completed, I now have till 26 March to stay for my visit here, and from what I've seen already I am going to enjoy this place a lot.

Saturday 23^rd January 2016

Of course there are a few jobs to do on the boat, as always, so it was boat day today.

Sunday 24^th January 2016

Hopefully the weather will have improved today so I am not held up with the job list, and my planned excursions into the Island. Weather front that got me on Wednesday is still affecting the Islands at present. Its now 7am and the wind and rain have set in hard, have cancelled any work today, but, not to worry, as Adam is an Aussie he has arranged an Australian Day Party for everyone, Captain and Crews on the marina docks, this with real Kangaroo Burgers and Pleeeeenty of beer! This started at 1300hrs it was very cold 16°C / 66ish F its the coldest I've experienced so far since arriving this side of the world!! as there was little else to do I let myself go and had a great party time ending pretty late!

Monday 25^th January 2016

Was able to get going on the list today, so a big clean up began, having been tossed about so much on Wednesday there was a big mess and re stowage to do. Did a bit of a reconnoitre around the Marina and resort area, nice, also a bit of shopping at the on site market.

What with the wind and tide blowing from the north all last night the current in the channel must have been running at over 7 knts past my stern, boat has never gone that fast backwards in its life!

Sorry about the lack of pictures as I did have so many too post, somehow they went missing from my SD card while I was transfering them, probably had a senior moment and sent them to the trash but didn't find them there either. 
So a couple of pics of my new generator installation which I finished yesterday. I got it from China, and I tested it yesterday on full load. Had the engine in gear at about 180 rpm on propellor shaft, put 4x 36 watt lamps on and the fridge, so with a current draw of approx 12.5 amps voltage was creeping up past 13.5v, if that happens when sailing at approx 6-7knts  all systems could be turned on and still putting a charge in without the engine running.

Water in the Marina here at Blue Haven is really a lovely colour turquoise and what should be passing the stern....

2 Nurse sharks looking for bite to eat.
There are so many fish swimming about its as if the boat is floating in an aquarium,  

Duran (left) who guided me past the reef, and works at the Marina, was given the task of giving me a guided tour off the tourist track of Provincealas last Saturday. He showed me the local hot spots and we had such a good day out. Adam had arranged it on pupose to make me take a break and relax. This we both achived in good style, and ended up back at the Marina I don't know when....

for the required 'One for the road' ???? We had both had a good time and I had seen the real side and met a lot of the local guys and gals.

More to come
Roy