Z E P H Y R

M y  S t o r y
P A G E   2 2




December 2008 to..


The first order of business once back at TTSA was to stock-up with food. Before going back to South Africa and Croatia I went through all the food on board and packed the items that would have expired by November 2008 and donated it to the Trinidad Orphanage. So these and other food items had to be replaced but I ended up only getting what I needed for the next 2 or so weeks knowing that Vanessa was due to arrive around the 30th November 2008 and so I thought she should also be given a choice in food selection.

In the mean time I did a few odd jobs on board in preparation of Vanessa's arrival and also to start preparing for the trip northwards through the Caribbean islands. As soon as I had a confirmed date of arrival, I arranged for Jesse James from Maxi Taxi to collect Vanessa. It was good to see her again and to have company on Zephyr. We also made friends with another boating couple, Peter and Astride from "Voyager". The funny thing was that Astride was also German and was from a town not too far from where Vanessa comes from, Frankfurt am Mein. And Peter, well he was from Namibia believe it or not - so the four of us had a lot in common and hung out together quite a lot.

A hole lot of trouble here...
A few days before we planned to leave Trinidad I discovered a potentially serious problem on my engine. At the back of the engine's heat exchanger there was a greenish foam coming out of one of the manifold joints. And when I cleaned it all away I found a perfectly round 3mm hole in the manifold itself. I was very fortunate to have found this problem when I did because if we were underway and using the engine or even coming into a port, the cooling liquid would have been pumped out and the engine would most probably have seized, resulting in a dangerous situation and very expensive repair bill. After thorough cleaning I applied a good layer of flexible epoxy putty and the next day ran the engine for a couple of hours. All seemed to be OK but I made a note in the log-book to do a proper repair or to replace the heat exchangers casing as soon as possible - probably in Panama or Australia as I doubt very much any of the islands will have spare Vetus/Peugeot/Mitsubishi parts.

In the mean time Vanessa kept herself busy giving Zephyr a very thorough cleaning including re-painting the companion-way in a nice bright white and "Einstein" (the wind pilot) in a royal blue. Zephyr is looking the best ever and it was time to get going. We went on a big shopping spree and stocked up well on all sorts of nice food goodies. Our departure date from Trinidad was set for the 11th December 2008 and we worked hard in getting away on this date. After booking out of TTSA we walked the 2km to the Chaguaramus Customs and Immigration office and cleared out of Trinidad for the last time. We were really excited at the prospect of leaving to explore the rest of the Caribbean Islands to the North. Our first stop will be Prickly Bay in Grenada which is only 24 hours away but quite challenging as the sea currents are very strong from the East and one can be pushed off course very easily.

Filling up with water just before leaving Trinidad - 11/12/2008
But, not all plans go according to plan..... When we arrived back aboard Zephyr, there was no power. Nothing at all. I discovered that the boat's main 50Amp fuse had blown. I checked the wiring but could not find anything wrong. So I replaced the fuse but when I turned the power on again, it blew immediately. For this big fuse to blow can only mean one thing, there was a dead short somewhere. So I switched everything off on the board, replaced the fuse and started switching the circuit breakers on, one by one. The fuse held for about a minute and blew again. I had no idea what was going on but by chance I touched the thick wires coming in from the wind generator and they were quite warm. I then isolated the wind generator and jury-rigged the main fuse (by this time I was out of 50Amp fuses!!!) and everything seemed fine when I switched the power back on. Mean time, back at the ranch, we were supposed to have departed Trinidad by 11am and it was now 3pm. So I decided that as it was only one day to Grenada, we will leave Trinidad and I will tackle the wind generator problem in Grenada. So we slipped our mooring and headed for the water jetty to fill the water tanks on our way out. This done, we motored the 5 miles to the first exit, Boca De Monos getting through just in time before the sun set.
Going through the 1st Boca at sunset


Just before we arrived at the first Boca, Vanessa decided that it was time to cook something as we were both starving only having had a light breakfast earlier that morning. I warned her that as soon as we cleared the Boca and the shelter of the island, things will get much rougher and the boat will heal over quite a lot as we get into the wind. Just before we turned into the Boca I raised the Main sail and put about 50% of the Jib out in anticipation of the 20 knot winds we should get once clear of the island. Vanessa was below busy with final food preparations when we cleared and within 5 seconds Zephyr went into 2 - 2½ meter swells and a 20 knot wind on the starboard side. The boat healed over quite a lot and the look on Vanessa's face was priceless. A mixture of shock and surprise. I eased the sails allowing for less heel so that dinner won't land up on the floor. We ate a delicious meal in the twilight and settled in for the night sail to Grenada. I took first watch but Vanessa did not go below to sleep, she preferred to snuggle up in a sleeping bag in the cockpit where we both stayed for the night.

Pringle Bay, Grenada.
Dawn broke bright and clear and we were nicely on course for Pringle Bay having made good passage during the night. We also managed to go past two oil platforms on their eastern side which was a good thing meaning the sea currents were not pushing us west. Just after dawn, while Vanessa was making us breakfast, I noticed the Main sail was snagged on one of the stack-pack lines so I lowered it and we had breakfast before I sorted the lines out and raised the Main sail again. We sailed straight into Pringle Bay, Grenada at 2:15pm on the 12th December 2008 feeling very chuffed with ourselves. We found a nice quiet spot in the bay, dropped anchor and launched the dinghy. Taking our passports and boat papers with us, we went ashore and cleared in at Customs and Immigration. We then went back to Zephyr, had a swim and something to eat. While we were eating I felt a lump in one of my pockets and realised that I had gone swimming with a bunch of money still in my pocket after visiting Immigration. So there we were hanging money on a line to dry. I am sure the people who were watching us must have thought we were crazy...
Money laundering in Grenada


















More to follow soon...

In the mean time, here is an extract from my logbook from December 2007 to January 2010

From To Depart Arrival Hours Days Distance (NM) Distance (Km) Crew
Mossel Bay Hout Bay 18 December 2007 09:06 AM 20 December 2007 01:15 AM    40.2    1.7                 223 413 Tertius
Hout Bay Saint Helena Island 20 December 2007 03:40 PM 04 January 2008 11:55 PM  368.3  15.3              2,027 3,754 Tertius
Saint Helena Island Fernando de Noronha 07 January 2008 09:30 AM 22 January 2008 03:30 AM  354.0  14.8              1,955 3,620 Tertius
Fernando de Noronha Island Trinidad 24 January 2008 12:35 PM 06 February 2008 11:45 PM  323.2  13.5              2,121 3,928 Tertius
Trinidad Grenada 11 December 2008 05:30 PM 12 December 2008 02:15 PM    20.8    0.9                  83 154 Vanessa
Grenada Carriacou 22 December 2008 07:15 AM 22 December 2008 05:15 PM    10.0    0.4                  45 83 Vanessa
Carriacou Union Island 30 December 2008 10:45 AM 30 December 2008 02:20 PM      3.6    0.1                  17 31 Vanessa
Union Island Tobago Cays 02 January 2009 02:20 PM 02 January 2009 03:40 PM      1.3    0.1                    5 9 Vanessa
Tobago Cays Bequia 07 January 2009 07:20 AM 07 January 2009 12:40 PM      5.3    0.2                  27 50 Vanessa
Bequia Antigua 10 January 2009 09:10 AM 12 January 2009 06:10 AM    45.0    1.9                 264 489 Vanessa
Antigua Antigua 2 12 January 2009 11:20 AM 12 January 2009 03:40 PM      4.3    0.2                  21 39 Vanessa
Antigua 2 Barbuda 1 12 February 2009 08:00 AM 12 February 2009 04:40 PM      8.7    0.4                  43 80 Piotr and Lizzie
Barbuda 1 Barbuda 2 15 February 2009 10:10 AM 15 February 2009 12:30 PM      2.3    0.1                  10 19 Piotr and Lizzie
Barbuda 2 Anguilla 16 February 2009 03:50 PM 17 February 2009 04:20 PM    24.5    1.0                  86 159 Piotr and Lizzie
Anguilla Virgin Gorda 18 February 2009 06:15 PM 19 February 2009 07:30 AM    13.3    0.6                  77 143 Piotr and Lizzie
Virgin Gorda Totola 21 February 2009 08:10 AM 21 February 2009 11:10 AM      3.0    0.1                  16 30 Piotr and Lizzie
Totola Puerto Rico (Culebra) 23 February 2009 06:00 PM 24 February 2009 03:45 AM      9.8    0.4                  47 87 Piotr and Lizzie
Puerto Rico (Culebra) Puerto Rico (Ponce) 25 February 2009 01:25 PM 26 February 2009 10:25 AM    21.0    0.9                  93 172 Piotr and Lizzie
Puerto Rico (Ponce) San Blas 28 February 2009 09:50 AM 07 March 2009 03:50 AM  162.0    6.8                 993 1,839 Piotr and Lizzie
San Blas Panama Canal (Colon) 11 March 2009 10:00 AM 12 March 2009 01:00 AM    15.0    0.6                  73 135 Piotr and Lizzie
Panama Canal (Colon) Panama Canal (Gautin) 21 March 2009 07:00 PM 21 March 2009 10:15 PM      3.3    0.1                    7 13 Piotr and Lizzie
Panama Canal (Gautin) Panama Canal (La Playita) 22 March 2009 08:10 AM 22 March 2009 03:20 PM      7.2    0.3                  35 65 Piotr and Lizzie
Panama Canal (La Playita) Las Perlas Islands 1 04 April 2009 07:20 AM 04 April 2009 04:25 PM      9.1    0.4                  35 65 Piotr
Las Perlas Islands 1 Las Perlas Islands 2 05 April 2009 07:40 AM 05 April 2009 11:25 AM      3.8    0.2                  16 29 Piotr
Las Perlas Islands 2 Las Perlas Islands 3 06 April 2009 01:45 PM 06 April 2009 05:00 PM      3.3    0.1                  16 30 Piotr
Las Perlas Islands 3 Galapagos 07 April 2009 12:30 PM 14 April 2009 04:30 PM  172.0    7.2                 875 1,620 Piotr
Galapagos Hiva Oa 16 April 2009 12:30 PM 12 May 2009 12:50 PM  624.3  26.0              3,215 5,954 Piotr
Hiva Oa Nuku Hiva 14 May 2009 02:00 PM 15 May 2009 08:00 AM    18.0    0.8                  92 170 Piotr
Nuku Hiva Tahiti 18 May 2009 04:40 PM 25 May 2009 04:30 PM  167.8    7.0                 787 1,457 Piotr
Tahiti Bora Bora 03 June 2009 09:15 AM 04 June 2009 02:30 PM    29.3    1.2                 156 289 Tavish
Bora Bora Palmerston 08 June 2009 12:30 PM 14 June 2009 12:30 PM  144.0    6.0                 755 1,398 Tavish
Palmerston Niue 21 June 2009 04:00 PM 25 June 2009 04:30 AM    84.5    3.5                 463 857 Tavish
Niue Tonga (Vavau) 29 June 2009 06:15 PM 01 July 2009 05:30 PM    47.3    2.0                 244 452 Tavish
Tonga (Vavau) Fiji (Suva) 16 July 2009 05:10 PM 20 July 2009 09:45 AM    88.6    3.7                 458 848 Tavish
Fiji (Suva) Port Vila (Vanuatu) 06 August 2009 04:30 PM 12 August 2009 12:30 PM  140.0    5.8                 757 1,402 Mark
Port Vila (Vanuatu) Cairns (Australia) 19 August 2009 12:00 PM 31 August 2009 10:40 AM  286.7  11.9              1,444 2,674 Mark
Cairns (Australia) Darwin 10 September 2009 10:30 AM 22 September 2009 08:00 AM  285.5  11.9              1,359 2,517 Mark and Jim
Darwin Cocos Keeling 03 October 2009 06:30 AM 18 October 2009 09:30 PM  375.0  15.6              2,042 3,782 Mark and Geoff
Cocos Keeling Mauritius (Rodrigues) 22 October 2009 05:30 PM 06 November 2009 09:30 AM  352.0  14.7              2,045 3,787 Mark and Geoff
Mauritius (Rodrigues) Mauritius (Port Louis) 10 November 2009 04:00 PM 13 November 2009 09:30 AM    65.5    2.7                 360 667 Mark and Geoff
Mauritius (Port Louis) Richards Bay 28 November 2009 11:30 AM 10 December 2009 11:11 PM  299.7  12.5              1,559 2,887 Mark and Geoff
Richards Bay Durban 19 December 2009 04:30 AM 19 December 2009 09:00 PM    16.5    0.7                  95 176 Geoff
Durban Mossel Bay 30 December 2009 08:45 AM 02 January 2010 10:00 PM    85.2    3.6                 588 1,089 Geoff and Tertius
Crew Nautical Miles Kilometers Sailing Days
Mark Strother (American) 9,566 17,715 75
Tertius Cloete (South African) 6,914 12,804 49
Geoffery Crowther (Australian) 6,689 12,387 50
Piotr Klopotowski (Polish) 6,517 12,069 53
Tavish Campbell (Canadian) 2,076 3,845 16
Elizabeth Stanton (British) 1,481 2,743 11
Jim Jones (Australian) 1,359 2,446 12
Vanessa Wessels (German) 462 856 4
Trip Stats:
Total distance covered: 25,629 nautical miles or 47,463 kilometers
Sailing time 198 days or 6½ months
Countries visited: 29
Islands visited: 47




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