Sunday, December 13, 2009

Change again... SXM = St Maarten it is

Hello Kiki and Thomas,/ and the rest, I have limited time so this to all... (Kiki and Thomas were/are also in Trinidad)

I'm here at Mc Donalds, my only way to connect to the world in St Maarten..

My phone receves your sms, I see 5 call's missed but i can not call or sms, very strange..

OK, I decided to do more sailing when I was at Grenada aftre one night sailing (I left Trinidad 09/12 at 1600), so i did not go in but went on,
i tried to mail from ther boat but it would not work, so sorry for that.
I had a lot of wind but was very nice, only thing I arrived ad 3 am (13/12) and it was very dark, so I waited outside.. (Tired and with a lot of wind anchoring in between I do not know how many boats is not a good idea) This waiting was the real hard part, boat not rely moving, left right about, so things broke.. Also your XMAS chocholate thing, i had put in fridge (otherwhise it melts) but now it was squashed and I have a layer of chocolate every where.. ahh, pitty

I came in this morning, tried phone.. nothing.
Anchor was draging, etc etc. I just cleared in an went for thr yachtclub.. no internet, so..

Mc Donalds it is, where there is free internet, and my only way to communicate at the moment, sorry.

Well, the new rigging works very well, I had 20+knots of wind almost all the time, and the new added backstays work very well, no pumping of the mast any more, a safe situation.

At Grenada I already heard my auto pilot hydrolics pump make strange sounds, but was still working, so that was also a reason to go on, see what the problem was/is and if it failed, I would find a way out. It still works, but makes other alarming sounds, but here at St Maarten is probably a solution to be found, and for the rest, problems are never over. The wind meters (2) worked at the beginning, one stoped after a day and the next a day later, so I could not see how much wind it actually was, and notr the direction. That is nice when going up wind to see how good everything is compaired to the wind etcd etc.
The mail thing did not work, so no wind info, just go and see. The installer is here at SXM, a electo expert, so maybe he cvan help me with the auto pilot. windexes and also with battery problems, or he will hopefully know where to go..

I payed 3 weeks here (20us/week just to anchore) so I will be here for XMAS and old/new I think..

Probably I get internet to morrow on board, so beter connection with the rest of the world.

I have to find my 'chippy' phone card and other phone, then you can try

00 599 58 11 695

my antillies nr if it still works

I go on.. to sleep, it is 1300 here now, 34gr blue and windy.. no sleep, relax, maybe a book, and a rum or so and coke..

cheers

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your adventures. If your wind indicators really stop working, the Beaufort Scale is always reliable. Congratulations on your extra backstays - Pumping's not good. I wish I had good advice for your other problems but there's not enough information. Best wishes and happy holidays!
    - Jerr

    ReplyDelete
  2. with windindicators I ment the meter showing how high I'm pointing. In the sun I have my bimini down and I cant see the indicator on top of the mast easily, and the meter is acurate and best indicator..

    In the end (after taking whire out of mast and testing every thing else 2, there is a 'zekering' in the compu, ahhhh, well, working again now..

    ReplyDelete