Saturday, January 28, 2012
Although I’d done nothing special the day before and had gone to bed relatively early I slept in for the first time and didn’t get going until 08:30 and at breakfast in La Sucrière I met Heinz-Dieter from Pinta, who had spent the summer with his wife, Hafida, south in Grenada and was now back in the northern islands. We arranged to meet at Barnacle’s happy hour but when I went there they weren’t present although I did meet Rick from the sailboat Sophisticated Lady and spoke with a number of other sailors before heading back in the dark.
I’d just cleared the French side bridge channel and was out in the swell in Marigot when the dinghy engine suddenly stopped working and while I could get it started it stopped as soon as I put it into gear. I checked the propeller and, sure enough, the long black towing line that I used had gone overboard and into the prop, fouling it. Luckily it had quickly choked the engine and it was easy to remove once I cut it free with my pocketknife. I’ll have to splice a new line on the dinghy tomorrow.