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Queen Emma gets renamed
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New Year's eve saw the official renaming ceremony for our new (to us) Oyster 45, Queen Emma (nee Rainbow Spirit). We looked up all the nautical lore regarding this allegedly fraught act and decided in true B-B spirit to make up our own. Officially sanctioned ceremonies involve a great deal of trouble and can take as long as two days. Besides, we had already violated some of the injunctions. They all involve champagne and earnest entreaties to Poseidon and Neptune and a good deal of purging of the old name and humble invoking of the new. We stuck to sparkling wine, a few friends, and a brief speech at sundown. It worked for our marriage ceremony, why not for boat renaming?
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Renaming Ceremony
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I have promised the Queen's namesake to avoid working-on-boats stories but we have in all honesty done little else since our arrival. Excepting, of course, for a great deal of lying around reading, visiting friends, swimming, shopping in the markets and watching old episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Susie has developed a lively computer repair practice which has gained us entre to a number of excellent boats. We joined the Saint Lucia Yacht Club's farewell parade for the World ARC's gala departure for their around-the-world journey from Saint Lucia to Saint Lucia. 14 months. It was fun meeting all the excited sailors making last minute preparations and we learned at least one handy trick: a creme brulee torch doubles as a rope/hose heater on board. We took our Swiss friends on the parade/sail to Castries and had a wonderful lunch on the way. Later in the week, we took a newly wed Aussie couple and their aunt and uncle for a sail around the north end of the island. More wonderful food and conversation.
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Bonne Annee |
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Market in Martinique |
Rodney Bay St. Lucia slowly started to wear on us. The social hustle and boat traffic became sufficient and we moved over to Martinique for a long planned appointment with the Swedish Volvo mechanic, Frank Agren. First step was to address the questions raised in the survey about the state of the engine and then to order parts and make an appointment to have the work done. His expert minions came aboard and fixed a number of really annoying problems (low idle, loose alternator, rattling/squeaking water maker pump mount) while changing and cleaning the fuel filters. With used filters, the engine sea trials would not be meaningful. Frank joined us for a motor about in Case Pilot, Martinique and agreed with the surveyor that we could not get to full RPM. He feels that the problem is 1)a dirty tankful of old Caribbean diesel and 2) worn fuel injectors. We paid him for the first appointment, made arrangements for the follow-up appointment and prepared to leave the dock for a short ride to a more beautiful and peaceful anchorage 10 miles away. Frack me. Once in gear, Queen Emma shimmies, shakes and rattles violently. Both the sea trial and leaving the dock to which we were pinned by the wind involved a good deal of engine revving. The difference is that now the boat would shake and rattle violently when put in gear. We let Queen Emma blow back onto Frank's dock and resolved to investigate at first light in the morning.
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Diver and propeller remnants |
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QE on Frank's Dock
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Frank's dock is in the fishing port and the obvious conclusion was a bit of discarded rope had gotten sucked into the propeller. Early the next morning, regarding the greasy water with just a little distaste, I went overboard with knife at ready to solve the problem. No rope. Only part of the propeller was left attached to the shaft. Well, I'll be fracked. However, if it had to happen anywhere, we did chose the best possible spot. Frank both had a prop which fit the shaft (although it is too large and too sharply pitched) and could get a diver to put it on. Queen Emma now has lots of pick-up but not much stamina. We were able to get out of the fishing port as the pickup in reverse is now excellent. The desirability of moving was considerably increased when his mechanics removed two leaking diesel tanks from a catamaran upwind of us while we waited for the diver.
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Haitian Relief |
We are now in lovely clear waters along the east shore of Martinique awaiting the arrival of the right sized propeller and new fuel injectors. We got lots of stuff done while waiting for the diver (reversed and marked the chain, installed a new VHF) and have witnessed a remarkable number of green flashes. The African dust is in the skies and that makes for spectacular sunsets. We have concluded that the little episode with the prop is more akin to a newly wed's spat than a sign we have deeply offended the gods of the sea. When the gods are well and truly offended, they go all Haitian on you. This was nothing.
We remain,
your eager-to-be-one-boat-owning sailors ,
Lance & Susie
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