We woke up at noon with the small tourist ferries landing on Ilet du Gosier, and quietly headed into Marina du Bas du Fort. Interestingly, the Navionics electronic charts relative to the buoyed entrance to Pointe-à -Pitre show wrong depths, although on the conservative side. Whilst sailing on the western edge of the (large ship) channel the electronic charts will show 0 depth.
The marina is welcoming, with the harbor master’s tender giving us a delicate bow push to slot us in and the admin part carried effortlessly (clearing into Guadeloupe). After having secured a new tender and outboard engine (the famous 2 stroke engine, which are supposedly no longer on sale), the afternoon started with a mast climb to see what was wrong with the furler. A visual inspection with the binoculars had revealed a tangled and damaged genoa halyard, and that was confirmed once up there, pointing possibly to worn roller bearings. The surprise was that, as we attempted to bring the sail down, the top element of the furler would not slide down the stay. Not only worn roller bearings then. The very risk averse may imagine a situation where your furler refuses to furl and the sail refuses to come down…
This is where having contacted Jean Paul (Caraïbes Gréement at Marina Bas du Fort) way ahead whilst in Martinique paid off. He had seen our lost calls and various emails, and in spite of the very high season (Carnival holiday period in France) still showed up that evening to identify the problem and find a solution. This is the kind of situation that can get you stuck for a long week as you wait for the rigger and / or the spare parts to arrive. Instead, Jean Paul spent the full next day non-stop on the job, first securing the mast with skill (we needed to free the stay to replace the top of the roller, “emerillon”) and then bringing the emerillon down and installing the replacements which were readily available. Except that the roller was refusing to slide along the stay and, after attempting to align it back in place on top of the mast, Jean Paul had recourse to descending along the stay and hammer the roller down until it got free. When looking at the damaged part, it became obvious that some very significant forces had to be applied at some point to break the liners within the roller such that it would get stuck on the stay. The only such moment happened during the Atlantic passage, just before getting to Le Marin, when we furled the poled-out genoa without first unhooking the line from the pole or bringing the later close to the stay, resulting in the sail back filling and furling onto itself for too long before we realized the issue (we actually had to cut the lines to free the Genoa). Lesson learned.
After re-rigging the mast to its original setup (with a bit more tension to the Trinquette) that evening our helpful hand still found time to make a splice on the replacement halyard which was delivered next morning. We also took the opportunity to replace the same roller on the Trinquette and installing a loop on top of the mast to prevent shafting of the halyard on the furler.
Interestingly, Isa managed to lose her sunglasses overboard as I was doing getting my work done 25m above sea level. The marina’s scuba divers were not far, and with quite some technique she managed to get both gentlemen under our hull as I was observing the scene helplessly. No choice but to hang there patiently and contemplate the panorama. I think she enjoyed the feeling of complete control over the opposite gender. Once safely down, one of the divers had a familiar accent, and I asked whether he was from Spain. From Cartagena indeed, and had arrived to Guadeloupe only a couple of months ago after having met a French lady…..
As repairs go, Isa and I also took the chance of having the foresail on decks to stitch some areas of the UV band that were coming lose.
All in all, we left Marina Bas du Fort just 1 night behind schedule (no schedules in general, except that we were keen to have our visiting friends enjoy sailing and nature rather than the Marina) which is a small miracle.
After having refueled (no detax diesel in Pointe à Pitre any longer. 208L for 90h of engine since Gibraltar on November 14, about 2.3L per hour, less than my previous average of 3L, but there has been some battery charging involved, possibly 10-15h) we left for nearby Ilet du Gosier for a first bite of Caribbean coconut trees and white sand for our guests and ourselves to.