April 2009
Grenada
Gypsy Dancer was hauled out at Spice Island Marine in Prickly Bay for the hurricane season earlier this year than normal as I had to go back to England to work.
Back in Prickly Bay I spent sometime replacing the sealing in the hatches and the windows which had been leaking in some of the torrential tropical downpours. At the time of writing (Jan 2010) it looks like the repairs have been successful as the boat was very dry when I came back at the end of the season. No more jumping up in the middle of the night to find pans and buckets to pout under the leaks!
I also invested in a small solar panel to keep the batteries charged during the summer.The process of putting the boat ashore is hard work once you're in the yard as it's hot and buggy. There's something rather depressing about stripping everything moveable off the deck and stowing it below and lashing down everything else. Boats belong on the water!
However in compensation Prickly Bay is a great place for catching up with cruising friends over rum punch sundowners. Everyone seems to end up here at the beginning and end of the season, and indeed some people spend all season here!
During my time in Prickly Bay I assisted Tim and Val (Valkyrie) to take down and fold up their sails. Valkyrie is a 58' catamaran so the sails are huge and heavy, and took three of us to fold and lift them.
I also managed to get the picture shown here of Tim looking very small at the top of his mast - a long way above the sea! Tim also helped me get my sails down and folded - a very quick and easy job compared to his!
Work called so I had to fly back a week after Jacky had left.