Good follows bad, of course!
After our night of rockin’ and rollin’ in Roadtown, things could only get better, right? They certainly did too. We had a fantastic sail up the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Virgin Gorda. Perhaps there was some mystery current helping us along the way, I don’t know, but we were sailing at over 7 knots for a good portion of the trip, up wind! Over 7 knots up wind? That never happens!
After arriving in North Sound, as we were positioning to drop our anchor astern of our friends on Ainulindale, our buddy Shane surprised us again by motoring right up behind us. This is the second time that he has snuck up on us while we were anchoring (read about the first time here). Perhaps Ninja would be a better name for his boat than Guiding Light. Speaking of boat names, Shane just wrote a post on his blog about boat names. Check it out.
After getting everything on the boat squared away, Rebecca and I, Kirk and Donna, and Shane and his two guests (Katie and Juan) made our way to Leverick Bay Marina to check out the Michael Bean pirate show. This show is very popular and Shane had, unbeknownst to us, planned ahead by making reservations for all of us. Wasn’t that nice of him? We thought so. It was a lot of fun and we’re glad we could attend with our friends. We even ran into Seth and Jamie, formerly of Slapdash, at the show. Once again, they were hard at work so we only got to chat with them for a moment or two. Next time!
One other good thing about being anchored where we are is that there is reliable, free Wi-Fi. This allowed me to upload the following video of Rebecca on our windsurfer. It was filmed the other day in St. John using our GoPro HD Hero 2 camera. Note the board breaking once again at the end of the video!
- Note: If you have the bandwidth, be sure to watch the video in HD.
Hi Mike, Ricardo Here.
About the windsurf, can you position your mast foot a litle back on the board?
Also, try to raise the sail with your body weight not your arms and keep your knees bent , that helps your back.
try to get the harness to connect you to the boom, that also avoid problems with your back.
You need a new mast foot.
R
The mast foot was the initial piece which broke on the board. We got a new (used) one in Tortola but the install was a bit makeshift which is why it broke. Since having it break again (in the video) I have attached it myself. It is now further back and MUCH more secure!
There are ways to rig up a temporary universal joint when one fails far from shore and like all boats, its good to have a way to get back when something goes wrong if help isn’t near. As you begin to sail farther away you may want to think about taking along some gear with you in a small waist pack. The more advanced rigs have a U-joint that has safety nylon straps on the side of the rubber if it breaks.
Enjoy the simplicity of sailing light winds and big boards while it lasts, soon enough you’ll feel the “need for speed” and stronger winds, smaller sails and boards and waist harnesses.
Perhaps. We’re in no hurry at this point.
As for the universal joint backup straps, I am familiar with what you’re referring to. Our friend’s board had that.
Mike and Rebecca,
Nice W/Surf Vid….
I would like to pass along a tip I learned while in Jamaica…
Rust stain on sail ( clothes , misc. ) Safe removal.
Dampen rust stain area with water…..squeeze lemon juice and salt on….lightly rub…..set out on metal…..(.cooking pot upside down in sunshine)… and let mother nature do its thing in reverse….
Pretty neat trick……I think ! Keep the Posts coming……I really enjoy reading them…..Canadians always seem to have more FUN…..grin JmG
Interesting! Thanks for the tip.
How long until we see ya’ll doing that kite boarding thing?
We are convinced that, for us, windsurfing makes more sense than kite boarding.