Monday 12 December 2016
18°01’.930N 063°05’.115W
An eventful 24 hours! The last 200 nm to go so on the home straight! Winds have at last stabilised and are sitting nicely between 20 and 25kts, with the occasional squall for good measure. We are goose-winging when all of a sudden the genoa slides off its furler. The shackle has been stripped. We manage to bring in the genoa and decide to furl the gennaker. So we are now sailing with just the stay sail and reefed main. The wind builds and we’re still managing 7-8 kts, so maybe a blessing in disguise!
We’re still seeing the autohelm hard to port and realise this is not right. We check the rudder position and see that while the starboard one is dead centre, the port rudder is hard over to port. We bring the autohelm to ‘standby’, centre the rudders and then release the hydraulic valve. Both rudders are now aligned (and the steering becomes a lot easier)! We think this must have happened when we picked up the rope hauser early on – and probably robber us of ½ to 1 kt ever since. Great that its finally fixed and the helm is far more responsive.
We enjoy our last sun downers (left overs) and have the last of the solomillo as a BBQ for dinner. No squalls at sunset, so we go to bed for what we hope will be a quiet last night. I wake up just after midnight when the boat jibes and the engine starts. I come up to the helm to see 40kts of wind and the mare’s tails whipping off the water. The helmsman is bent over the wheel, concentrating on trying to hand steer the boat through the wind and waves. I then notice the autohelm is still on ‘Auto’… (moral of the story: reading glasses a must!).
We sail through the night and the squalls without further incident. The bridge to Simpsons Bay and the lagoon only opens four times a day. We’ve made very good time, and think we will be at the lagoon entrance at around 11:30, but will still need time to drop the main and get the boat ready to berth. We arrive just as the bridge is opening. The local harbour master in a rib comes along side and says “hurry up”. We just get through the bridge in time. We safely dock at the Simpsons Bay marina fuel berth (strong 30kts of wind and current of course).
We get off the boat and kiss the ground. It’s been a wonderful experience – happily on shore with no injuries and no major problems with the boat. A big relief to finally be on solid ground again!
It’s a bit of a shame we’re not in St Lucia to share our experiences with the other ARC sailors, but St Maarten certainly has its charms and its great to be in a nice sheltered marina (with plenty of chandlers near by!). Our first stop is “Lagoonies” for happy hour!
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