Morning
After doing office work in the wee hour of the morning I went ashore to AYC. Our 10:00AM taxi pickup to Jolly Harbour and Dream Yacht Charter for the committee catamaran delivery. We had 3 cats to pick up, one for committee “A”, one for “B” and one for the VIPs. We had 3 skippers sign for the boats and originally I’d been allotted one that was but 4 months old; but then it got taken away from me because it was felt that the paying VIP guests should get the best.
Because of this switch, I ended up with the only committee boat without AC and without a generator. Luck of the draw, I suppose. I feel a bit sorry for those staying aboard, as air conditioning would have been wonderful for them.
Noon
As expected, the boats weren’t ready despite mails to the contrary the day before. I wasn’t surprised. The committee catamaran delivery was proceeding along the same lines as in years before.
I was joined aboard by a new volunteer from the USA, Myron, who’d flown into Antigua to visit the island and then volunteered at the last minute and who’d found a slot on the committee boat.
After finding several problems with the boat, both before and during the checkout process, we proceeded to leave the dock and motor upwind to Falmouth. I was taking care to follow a predetermined course inside Cades Reef and to monitor the depth very carefully so that I could take Zanshin through at a later date. The depths were more than sufficient for me to attempt this trip.
Afternoon
We arrived at the docks to find that, contrary to expectations, there were still boats and dinghies tied up at the AYC docks and that prevented us from entering.
After hovering behind the first committee boat for a lengthy period, we were waved onto a different dock and made fast there for the evening. The dockmaster said that they would move the offending sailboats the next morning.
Alec, Myron and myself opted to avoid disappointment at the buffet for the volunteers. We ended up at Trappas for an excellent dinner. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a shock when I boarded my dinghy for the trip back to Zanshin. While scooping out the rainwater, I noticed that some person or persons unknown had cut my fuel line! At first I accepted an offer of a tow back, but then I realized that I had a spare dinghy from Lou Roustidou (the committee boat) and I used that for the journey back aboard.
