Neil tooting the horns
Neil tooting the horns
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2022-05-05 Antigua Sailing Week Day 4

ASW Day 4

We were joined today by Lorna Saunders, who had previously run the ASW event, and David as well as Jack, another sailor from the HMS Medway. With this larger crew we headed out to the Rendezvous mark for the day’s races. The wind was against current, something that had happened to me twice before so I knew that it would shift back to normal before the races were to begin. But that did mean that I needed to keep the motors running and in reverse to keep from wrapping the prop. I later found out that the other committee boat had not known of this current and they, unfortunately, needed a diver to untangle the fouled line from the rudders.

The water in the port hull had run out and the starboard side was still well filled, but since there was just one water pressure pump it meant that we couldn’t use the water on the side, either. And due to the toilets being plumbed into the freshwater system it meant that the heads were also inoperable. And to top it off, the watermaker was on the fritz because of a major leak in the water filter. I ran the watermaker for almost an hour to get enough water in the port tank so that the water pump would prime, but it wasn’t fun to see the engine room bilge pump running constantly. And later at the docks the water system started running constantly again – most likely because the galley water is plumbed into the port tank and people had been using it.

The races were exciting to watch as the contestants got bolder and bolder. We had one start with 4 boats OCS (on course side) and they needed to return back to behind the line in order to start. Despite this punitive measure, Scarlet Oyster managed to win their two races despite being OCS both times!

Afternoon celebrations aboard the committee boats led to front row seats for the prizegiving ceremony which in turn led to dinner. We walked to Roti Sue’s and found her closed again so ended up at Paparazzi yet again for pizza.