Allgemein

A Day in a Skipper’s life.

29.04.2020

12:00

I have just gone up the mast to dismount my VHF antenna because it’s cable inside the mast was torn. I had to climb up the mast with my climbing gear.
On the way down I had problems to hold my antenna because I needed to have both hands free for the descent. Then I ran into trouble when my grigri (a special climbing  gear) jammed and I was hanging half way up the mast and could not descend. It took me a few minutes to get it free, but with such a jerk I fell a meter down into my harness that the antenna slipped out of my hand. It fell on deck and rolled into the sea.
Sh!t! The water is 20 m deep and I don’t know it it’s worth trying to dive down to get it.

15:00

I decided to dive down. Luckily I do have scuba gear on board.
And… I’m totally happy. I found my antenna. It was easy, because the water was clear. So I spotted it right away when I initiated my dive, very close to my anchor chain in 20 m depth.

And because I had my diving gear on, I just cleaned the hull and the propeller after I brought it up.

The torn cable is too short now to mount the antenna on the mast. So I soldered the torn cable together.

It’s a temporary jury rig, but it works and is essential to me, because my AIS runs over it, and I need this for collision warning especially at night time when I sleep.

After fixing it, I could see four other boats on my iPad/iPhone. One boat is even 1.8 nm away. That shows that my antenna works again. The real range that I will get with this setup I don’t know yet. I will notice it once I leave here. But definitely, the range that I can see now is long and safe enough for me.

I pulled the antenna up with a spare halyard. You need to zoom in to see it. I’m relieved that my AIS is working again.

You remember what the Skipper looked like in 2018 when he stayed too long in the Caribbean, turning into a pirate, with a long beard?!

Now again, after smoking joints all day long  and listening to reggae music 24/7 to fight the curfew boredom, he turned into a Rastafarian. 

 

A few weeks ago when when I was anchoring at Simson Bay at Sint Maarten I dived down to my anchor to check if it has properly set. Close to my anchor I saw something in the mud that looked like another abandoned anchor. I decided to check it. I go up and put a rope on one of my fenders and with the other end of the rope I dived down again and attached it to the anchor. I pulled it up on my boat and first I thought it’s not worth cleaning. It was totally covered with mussels. But when I got them off, it was clear that I had just found a little treasure. It took me a few days to get the rust off, but it was well worth it.

There is nothing wrong with it. It’s in excellent shape and worth at least 400.- $US. This will replace the spare anchor that I have, because it’s a lot better and has got the right size as well. Bruce Anchors are well known and have a good holding capacity.

On its fastening point this anchor had a broken shackle. Most likely the skipper who lost is wasn’t able to dive down that deep (8 – 9 m) to retrieve it. Good for me. I wonder though, what happened to his boat. If somebody claims it’s his, I don’t give a darn. I put too much work in it. It’s mine now.

After visiting St. Kitts  (checking in at Basseterre) Faule Haut and crew anchored at  Frigate Bay, a nice beach on the island of St. Kitts.

Right now, Faule Haut is at Nevis, at Pinney‘s Beach. Skipper went ashore for some sightseeing. It’s a nostalgic trip because it’s the skippers third visit of St. Kitts & Nevis.

The skipper loves beaches. And here on Nevis you find great beaches either for yourself alone or with some infrastructure, but never crowded.

Columbus named this island „Nevis“ („nieve“ = Spanish for „snow“) because to him it appeared as if there is always a white cloud sitting on top of this Mountain.

And in fact, the skipper never saw it without this cloud.