Day 136, Year 6 Passage Boat to Cruising Boat
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Weather: Cloudy with Periods of Sunshine; Wind E 10-20 knots
Air Temperature: 74 degrees F overnight; 82 degrees F daytime
Location: Prickly Bay, Grenada
Windbird has been in Passage mode since we left Sakatia in Madagascar in September. We were stocked up on food for the passage to South Africa and all the things we use while cruising were tucked away. When we arrived in South Africa, we stayed in passage mode, constantly provisioning for our Atlantic crossing. Well, now we are here in the Caribbean and we realize just how much we over-provisioned. We still have almost a hundred cans of tuna, twenty cans of salmon, twenty cans of green beans, and on and on. And today was the day to figure out how to shuffle all of this to make the boat livable as we travel north through the Caribbean. We have been using the v-berth as a garage for months, so we started there. We cleared everything off and took the things we had conveniently stuffed into the spot where the spinnaker usually resides underneath the v-berth out to make room for the huge sail. It has been on deck since South Africa since we thought we would be using it in the light air near the equator. So it is now once again neatly tucked in its “hole” under the v-berth. Spinnakers are not something you need in the windy Caribbean. And from there the shuffle began. Cans of food were transferred from one locker to another and plastic boxes of memorabilia were stuffed into food lockers where space was made by at least some of the food that we did eat. The cabinets and food lockers are now rearranged and the changes are noted in our records so we know what is where. There’s actually room in the v-berth for Mark’s brother Steve who will arrive in a week and a half.
We haven’t yet heard from Mark’s sister Mary Ellen about Michelle’s surgery, but we have read Michelle’s husband’s entry on Caring Bridges. She got the best possible news in that there was no cancer found in the lymph nodes so everything looks hopeful. We certainly were elated to get that news. Michelle should be home by now so we might try a call tonight.
This morning Mark went into Turbulence to get the estimate for the rigging–$800 US. That is about the same we had to pay in New Zealand for the replacement of the four lower stays. Someone will call tomorrow morning with a time when they will come to start the work. Mark then walked to Cottle Boat Works which is a full joinery and carpentry shop. He was looking for a small piece of teak to replace the missing top on our Dorade vent. While there he arranged for someone to come to Windbird tomorrow to assess our teak deck. It looks very much like it needs replacing, but we certainly can’t afford that right now. So in the meantime, it will be good to get an estimate on what a future replacement might cost and an expert opinion what we can do to maintain the integrity of the deck for now. Someone from Cottle will arrive at 10 am and sometime tomorrow Turbulence will come to work on rigging. And either tomorrow or Friday our repaired main sail should be ready. So all day tomorrow we will be on Windbird working and waiting for repairs and estimates. And hopefully on Friday we will be able to go to St. George’s to see what is happening in the big city.
