Up the Mast

Dave photographing the jib box from atop the mast

Since we...I...broke the jib halyard back on the ICW, we are still looking for a solution.  When Jeff went up the mast back in Charleston, he discovered that the sheave (roller) for the jib halyard was missing, which meant that either it failed OR the pin holding the sheave went cockeyed causing the sheave to drop down the mast.  Either way, we need to repair it.  Sleuth that he is, Jeff found a guy up in Rhode Island who worked for Freedom Yachts (out of business for many years) for eleven years and knew exactly what Jeff was talking about.  Paul said that this failure was not uncommon and Freedom designed a modified jib box to resolve the issue.  I emailed the previous owner for more information and sent this plus sketched dimensions from a yellowed fax dated 1996 I'd found onboard.  Anyway the Freedom guy, Paul, said photos would enable him identify the jib box and help him to figure out what we would need.  This meant that someone had to go up the mast. 

Dave rose to the occasion (pun intended).  Yesterday morning while it was still calm, we enlisted Don to be the liaison between me at the winch and Dave in the bosun's chair as he went for a 63-foot ride straight up.  He got the necessary photos as well as completing a few minor repairs.  We sent the photos off to Paul who quickly replied with some options.  Now we have to decide how to proceed.  We seem to spend a lot of time on the Internet, when we have it, to help us with repairs.  We are fortunate to have that technological luxury. 

Jib Box

After his space flight, I asked Dave, who beforehand was a little nervous, how he felt.  He was tangibly exhilarated and said he really liked going up the mast and once he knew that the halyard would not break, he felt great.  He even said he felt like diving into the water from up there.  I'm glad his enthusiasm did not take him that far.  Great job, Dave!

Yesterday we went for a long walk to get some nice views of the island.  After we returned to town, we visited the All Age School for their little festival.  It was winding down by the time we got there, but we had some snacks.  We also donated money to the school for the use of filling our five-gallon water jugs at the community faucet to replenish our stores.  We are very careful about conserving water.  Most of these island do not have a fresh water source.  Water is shipped in huge tanks on barges so is quite precious. 

While at the festival, I asked one of the mom's about the school.  She said that it goes from Kindergarten through grade nine.  Students go to Nassau to finish high school and either stay with relatives or rent a place.  Kids were playing relay races when we got there.  It was a modest school but with familiar looking bulletin boards.

Last evening we ate dinner at Lorraine's, one of two restaurants here in Black Point. Even though we'd made reservations and it was a fixed menu of barbecue meats and side dishes, we waited an hour for the food. Island time, mon. We didn't know what we were getting ahead of time as Lorraine told us that it would be a "surprise" and cost $16. Turns out it was a chicken drumstick, white fish fillet, mystery meatballs, mac and cheese with hot pepper, rice and peas and mixed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots. It was a lot of food and pretty tasty. We were satisfied.

Another cold front will be coming through in a couple of days, so today we will travel about three hours to Galliot Cut to anchor out and prepare for the sail tomorrow out in the ocean.  Thusfar in the Exuma chain, we have stayed in the western lee of the islands and sailed or motored southeast along the shallow, protected banks.  Tomorrow we will arise before dawn and go through the cut at first light.  Fortunately the tide will be slack so the current should not be strong.  We'll then "turn right" and hopefully sail, or at least motor-sail, southeast along the eastern shore of Great Guana Cay.  All of these plans are contingent upon where the wind is.  We listen to weatherman Chris Parker every morning on the SSB radio.  It's fun to hear other people in such places as Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Yucatan, and even Marathon, Florida ask about the weather for their journey to the next place.  Chris says that here the wind is supposed to be from the south and clock around to the southwest.  We are hoping it will be more southwest so we can turn off the motor and just sail.  It is 36 miles in the ocean, then another 6 miles or so through Elizabeth Harbour to George Town.  After that, as the cold front passes through, the wind will clock around, to west, north, then east.  Then the winds are predicted to be 20-25 which, although the harbour is fairly protected, means a wet ride in the dinghy, so we may stay on the boat for a couple of days.  And that's the way it is.