November 24, 2008
Jolly Harbor, Antigua to Simpson Bay, St. Maarten
Mileage: 94.8 miles
Time: 11 hours 13 minutes
We be flyin’, Mon! Leaving at 4 AM pleasantly surprised with great wind – 17 to 23 knots all day gusting to 27. We made the 95-mile trip in a smidgen over 11 hours with only one mishap – the first reefing line broke…AGAIN! Just as we cleared St. Barts the line snapped, necessitating heading to wind and bringing down the main. The Genoa served its purpose, keeping us at 7+ knots SOG. What a lovely sail!
November 25, 2008
We decided to stay in St. Maarten until the end of the week. We will be able to have meds shipped here without any problem. It is duty free and shipments do not have to go through customs.
It is so nice to be this far north, knowing we are going to stay in the BVI/USVI area for the winter. Now we can just take our time and lime.
November 26, 2008
Flush with time on our hands, Steve had ElecTec out to try to discover why the annoying starboard engine battery will not accept a charge and why the combiner seems to be on the fritz. Three and one-half hours of combing through the wiring made the service tech declare he had never seen a problem such as this. Sure…Sure…that is a statement we have heard at least 50 times; one we have come to learn all service techs say when it takes them hours to solve a problem J Whatever, at least now it is fixed.
The problem: Apparently the heat tape over the battery cable ground at the terminal end made proper grounding impossible, a real no-no with 12 volt wiring. The tape, along with corrosion of wiring at the connection point, created a problem that took 3 years to exacerbate to the point of disallowing a charge. Snipping off the old connection and installing a new one solved the issue as well as what appeared to be the combiner problem. Improper ground “confused” the combiner…poor thing…making it go haywire.
And people wonder what we “do all day” on a boat…..
November 27-29
Surprised by how few boats are here, storeowners complain this year’s season is late in starting. Selfishly, for us, so few boats and boaters have made a wonderful succession of lazy days, provisioning, performing boat maintenance, with a low-key romantic Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us.
We also had a chance to reconnect with Tom and Pat, fellow Coloradoans and owners of the sailboat LONESTAR. We expect to see more of them this season as they too will winter in the BVI/USVI.
Sailing adventures aboard a PDQ Antares 44i 