Steering shit

Heavy trip..  fast getting out of St Maarten for first 12 hours (75nm) but then hydraulics of steering (and auto pilot) gave up..  Tried to put more oil in it but to no avail..  found plenty of oil but not where is was leaking from..
So dug up the emergency rudder (steel rod that mounts on top of rudder and goes through deck so U can steer boat from there) , made a new tiller (2+m) and even found a joy stick and sailed the Condor by hand the next 3 days (300nm).  Some parts were up wind, which was nice because boat steers by its self then, but mostly it was very uncomfortable,  constant steering..  1 night i fell asleep every minute, so i rolled away the jib and slept for 8 hours..  then first made coffee etc before I roiled it out again..  even toileting had to be unpleasantly very quick..

Arrived at anchorage  St George Grenada after 3.5 days (normally 2.5 days) just after dark..  Parked next to the BOYO..  Bob and Lia..  Jolly Bob also there (30years of snooker competition..  nice to beat him last year at pool) and Ken and Jack Maan also here..


Cheers

Hurricane shit on its way to happen next week above me.. SXM looks safe on this prediction for Thursday 13th.. Windyty.com    NOAA 5-day prediction

 left the laser in St Maarten this time..

Condor, or Flying Door..  endangered species..

 
Dinner, no luck with fishing, so fished nice steak from the fridge..  Not enough time to be cook, only 1 unplanned jibe..

 Assembly of emergency rudder

 

 

Hmm.  it does works well.. thanks Jef..  but next job for me I suppose

Good luck SXM.. off to Carriacou/Grenada.. Bonaire.. back in 2 month

And thanks Jeffrie for the help..  many improvements and things working again on the Condor..

Nice 3day trip, and nice 15knts wind that will die in a few days when 'Florence' gets closer.. Tropical Storm Florence Forms Eastern Atlantic Florence will not hit SXM but the one behind her will get closer because the high pressure systems could block the way North like where Florence can go.. Windyty.com for Tuesday Sept 11th.  https://www.windy.com/?2018-09-11-18,19.767,-61.875,5 . (Computer model.. so nothing sure..)
 Actual Satellite situation.. (Anguilla = SXM) Philipsburg Satellite 

Cheers

This was Irma's path (hit SXM Sept 6th 2017)..

And Condor's sailing route for now in it..

Meet ANNABEL.. the new palm tree on board Condor's aft deck..

Thanks to Jim Drijgers who personally dug 'Annabel' out of the beach on Orient Bay Friday morning..  It's in a bucket with sand now on Condor's aft deck, to give me shade in a few years when relaxing in the bean bag there....

Annabel, et wordt niets zonder jou.... Hans de Booij


 Annabel was fairly deep in Orient's beach sand at short distance of the ocean water..  So she probably started growing there after Irma came by last September..