The last week has been very productive in Antigua. They have a saying here “if you can get one thing done every day, you are doing well” so in that case I have been kicking butt.
My plan has always been to set sail for the BVI tomorrow and I am bang on schedule. The next regatta doesn’t start until March 31st but the race crew arrives in Tortola on the 28th, I want to get up early to finish off some maintenance on winches and engine and enjoy the change of scenery.
The last week has been busy with checking through race sails and getting everything loaded on for the next couple of weeks. We have been finishing off some of the smaller paint jobs and varnish damage from the RORC 600. The cabin top has had its first fresh coat in a couple of years, the heads had begun to start looking a bit well used so now has had the necessary touch ups to bring it back to life. Signal locker technicians are completing the alternator and charging system wiring upgrades today, they have been hard to nail down to Dorade as are extremely busy at the moment. The dinghy has been for a hull repair and service. Our old MOM (man overboard module) is also getting a service.
Yesterday I was in North sails to pick up our sails that are stored there and also drop off an old main sail to re cut as a delivery sail. The current delivery main is pretty shot now so this sail will be a nice improvement. Saying that, we are shipping Dorade back to the states now and I may have found a ship to carry her to Europe from Bermuda in July so may not be doing a lot of delivery sailing if I can pull it off.
So the reason I know the cabin top hadn’t had a coat of paint for a couple of years is that it was my two year anniversary on Dorade a few days ago. When I first got the phone call two years ago and flew up to St Martin the next day my brief was to get the boat ready for the St Barth’s Bucket, back to St Martin to pick up remaining gear and then down to Antigua for Classics and hand over. Well two weeks turned into two years and still going strong. In that time we have done the Caribbean, Bermuda, Newport, Bermuda, New England, built a cradle, trucked to San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Hawaii and back to San Francisco having made history in the Transpac race. America’s Cup celebrations and a State of California proclamation later and she was back on a truck to Rhode Island. Two weeks later sailing to the Caribbean winning IRC 3 in the RORC 600 and still its just the start of our Caribbean race season. Lots more to go but lots more than I realized I was getting into a couple of years ago!
Anyway the rest of the day needs to be spent putting things away, loading up with provisions and any spares I will need over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning we clear out for the BVI.
Ben
