Day 4 Petite St. Vincent

Day 4 started with a review and test for our ASA 103 certification. Dave is getting the hang of taking tests again. 

Steve finished his test early and caught a little nap.  He’s such a show off. 

We all passed our test with flying colors and had this view of Tyrell Bay to look back on as we prepared to take off the rope bridal from our chain and weigh anchor for our docking lessons and practice. 

 

After lessons from Jenni, Bill demonstrates the technique of lassoing a dock cleat from midship as the first step to tie up a boat to the a dock. At this point we’re just throwing the dock line into the water. 

Personally I think Thumser shows better form.... 

Bill is now practicing pulling up to a real dock, but only parallel at this point, not too close!  Jenni watches and coaches throughout. 

Steve demonstrates his skill by actually docking the boat this time. He was doing so well that Jenni had a chance to relax for a moment and check out his backside*.  I’m not sure if she was impressed by what she saw back there but we were all impressed by Steve’s docking skill.  Did I already say he is a show off?  It’s so hard not to hate him. 

*Just in case anyone at LTD Sailing reads this Jenni was really just checking on the rear fender between the boat and the dock, hand to heart!.

😬

Dave is getting ready to use his dock cleat lassoing skills for real this time. 

Everyone admires our stratgically placed fenders which protect the boat from the dock.  Not too bad. 

After a full morning of learning and practicing Jenni helped us pick our anchor for the night and develop our sailing plan. We decided on Petite St. Vincent about 9 miles away but having to tack almost half of the sail into the wind it would be more like 14 miles. We sailed north along Grenada to its northern edge then started tacking to the east into 20 knot winds. 

Petite St. Vincent is a .2 sq. mi. completely private island that operates as a comercial entity and is part of the Grenadines, a different country than Grenada.  A special arrangement with leisure sailors means we didn’t have to clear customs or passport control. 

I’m almost getting sick of seeing that smile on Dave’s face. He’s so happy sailing. 

Our pirate flag flies well and true as we sail in fresh easterly tradewinds. Aahhrrggg!

I had the opportunity captain the boat for our anchor.  Unfortunately the anchor chain roller that protects the boat as it guides the chain out of the chain locker is in the process of breaking. Steve and Bill who were manning the anchor were concerned the roller might come off and drop to the sea bottom so we took a pause to figure out a strategy. 

Dave and Jenni motored around to the bow to be under the anchor stem fitting as a backstop while Bill and Steve worked to extract the roller and its holding bolt in order to temporarily replace it. The broken broom stick is evidence it wasn’t strong enough to successfully replace the roller/bolt that’s in my hand. Steve was able to re-insert the roller bolt and tighten it at least one turn which he thinks will hold. We’ll have to watch it. 

Steve and Jenni dinghy off to happy hour...

While Bill and Dave got some exercise by swimming to happy hour. 

I volunteered for some “me time” on the boat by myself which involved another beautiful sunset as seen from under the Bimini and a hot shower.

Jenni made us a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice and Callaloo (Caribbean spinach) that we ate outside in the cockpit and Dave and I washed dishes. Not a bad trade and not a bad day!