Sunday 28th May
... and I've just returned from the Caribbean. As with all good plans, you need to have alternatives. We skipped the sailing regattas to concentrate on the refits.
Almost complete, we just waiting on one more crew member before setting sail for Panama and to avoid the hurricane season (starting in a few days time on June 1). Katie is now on board helping to plan the route and provisioning, soon to be joined by Shylo.
Shylo, Ian, Katie
Last minute issues are:
- The autopilot. The main computer malfunctioned (kept tripping out) and we sourced a replacement from Florida. Some rewiring also elevated a power drain with the autopilot hydraulics,
- Satellite phone and delays caused by US companies not accepting credit cards with an Australia billing address, insisting on direct money transfers instead (but this still didn't stop them debiting my AMEX with not quoted charges).
If all things go well, Valdolese will be out of Simpson's Lagoon on Thursday (June 1), provision in Philipsburg, and sail a shake down towards Saba and St. Eustatius. With no issues, she'll set a course for Panama on or about the 4th.