Top-Down view of Simpson Bay
Top-Down view of Simpson Bay
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2024-04-03 Hot aboard the boat today

Windless morning

It is only 09:00 in the morning and already it is promising to be a scorcher. The skies are cloudless so my solar panels will be doing a good job of producing power, but with no trade winds cooling the boat down it is hot.

The night was a bit uncomfortable as the swell hit Zanshin broadside on and caused a bit of rolling, enough to keep me awake for a significant portion of the dark hours.

Noon
Almost broken snubber
Almost broken snubber

I was about to depart the boat when I felt an odd movement on the boat, and I went forward to check on the anchor. This was fortunate, as the snubber line had chafed through and was held on by a single strand of line. Had I waited any longer it would have snapped, and my anchor snubber hook would have disappeared into the waters of Simpson Bay.

Quick short splice on the snubber
Quick short splice on the snubber

I got out my splicing kit and proceed to cut the broken ends of the line off, tape them so they wouldn’t come apart during splicing and then did a quick short splice that should hold until I can get a new line made up. I didn’t bother to clean up the ends, since the line is going to get thrown away in a day or two.

After finishing the splicing job, I dinghied ashore after lunch and found a rental car for and acceptable daily rate at Paradise Car Rental along the Airport Road strip. Once I had the rental car going (with the air conditioning blasting, of course), I drove to the airport hangar housing the cargo services and picked up the 2 packages that had been sent via air freight. They’d arrived just in time for Easter shutdown, so I couldn’t pick them up any earlier.

SCS and Four Star Cargo pickup
SCS and Four Star Cargo pickup

Then I took the drive into Philipsburg and the marine cargo shipping warehouse for the 2 solar panels. As always, traffic was terrible, and the relatively short drive took almost an hour.

Will the 2 solar panels fit?
Will the 2 solar panels fit?

I got the paperwork sorted out and waited a long time to get the 2 panels, then had a bit of fun trying to figure out how to get the panels into the car for transport back to Zanshin.

Happy Hour
Dinghies at the Soggy Dollar Bar
Dinghies at the Soggy Dollar Bar

I unloaded all my acquisitions and then went ashore to the Soggy Dollar. By the time I arrived the dinghy dock was crowded, and I only found a spot in the 2nd row back, the dinghy equivalent of “double parking”.