Year: 2014

The Beneteau 40 yacht Cheeki Rafiki has probably been abandoned some 620 miles east of Cape Cod. This is an ARC 2013 yacht and will be well equipped. The crew will be well trained. They will take ditch bags into the liferaft. We were trained in Sea Survival by military trainers and we are sure they will have endured the same. The crew set off locator beacons and their location was recorded. A cargo ship appears to have photographed the hull, upturned, the keel gone. The weather in the area was poor. The loss of Cheeki Rafiki and her four

Here we are looking for hydraulic bits and pieces in the odd bucket whilst tons of the stuff goes straight over our heads…now all I need is a stepladder!

Get your camera airborne near the runway threshold…these are our going to be amongst our last photos of the Caribbean seaside. Everything is getting so much easier; there’s nobody here! But even with our addition of a 6,000 BTU air conditioner in the companionway we are still hitting 32 deg C in the saloon. Ha! Last night we thought it was getting a bit chilly as the airco got us down to a low of 28. We had a quick peek inside the airport to see how the majority travelled – at 440 knots!  

We were very well cared for by the guys at FKG. It’s a very professional rig shop and not only are they seriously tooled up, backed by loads of supplies from metal stock through to hydraulic parts, they are also knowledgeable and efficient. Our furler came straight from stock and was fitted in the space of a day and a half. The bill followed about 10 minutes after completion, on a Saturday, completing the job.

Most of the big stuff has moved out and there are hundreds of meters of empty pontoons. But occasionally something new turns up. We think the motor yacht in the final picture is undertaking an oil change and it looks like the third or fourth container tank carrying old engine oil is being craned off.

The bridge into Simpson Bay Lagoon feels tight even when we go through it and we have nothing to be concerned about. Some of the superyachts inch their way through at such a painfully slow pace that they appear jammed never to move again. Lots of boats amble up to the bridge and they always miss the entry opportunity. When they complain to bridge control over VHF they unleash a torrent of abuse from the bridge. Sometimes it’s third time lucky. Standard Dutch practice and familiar to anyone that has passed through Holland. We used to get yelled at on

Mahoooooooooooo! Look over your shoulder….

It’s been raining for days. Heavy, continuous rain. The tender is our alongside paddling pool that has to be bailed every day. Shortly afterward it fills again. Sometimes it’s suspended and drains through the transom bung but as the wind is beam on it has a tendency to fly; it glides well but the outboard’s a worry. We have rail clips to tether it but it’s not taking much notice. Thoughts on getting wet? We’re Trintella people. We don’t do wet! Our rig is loose now the furler is off and it squeaks in the wind with every little movement.

So, Jim, is it looking Furly nasty? Yep furly. You can have some of your old unit rebuilt with parts coming in at around 12k USD and we have yet to hear about the expensive bits that haven’t been quoted. The leadtime is about a month (Oh Stuck!). But there’s the Reckmann unit and that’ll be about 25k USD (what is it with the boat inustry; a new 103 inch Harley v-twin engine at the dealership here is just 3.5k USD!). But your hydraulic unit does not produce the flow rate required (several week’s leadtime uh oh….Stuck!). A Selden hydraulic