Well, had a better day today. Got started on boat work this morning, washed the deck, folded the two headsails (it is impossible to fold a big sail on deck when it is windy at sea, so ended up dumping them in the cabin, wet and all).
Then I climbed the forestay again to work in the jammed rolling furling gear. It turned out that the `car’ had rotated itself (the tubes are profiled) and that is why it was stuck. Went up there with a hammer, no luck, then with a big wrench attempting to rotate it, nothing, then attached a rope to it and had someone pull on it sideways, no movement. By that time I had climbed up and down at least 4 times, was getting pretty tired.Â
After lunch (found some real Dutch cheese, jonge kaas, lekker!!) I ran a jib sheet through a block and tried to winch it (at sea I had tried to winch it up, but that didn’t move it at all). And under high tension, I was able to slowly move it down. Finally! Managed to get it all down, and at the bottom there is place where the profile is taken out, and there I was able to turn it back to the proper position. It is now moving up and down fine.Â
Still need to have a closer look at the roller furling tubes, because I think that two of them have come apart, that will be a job for tomorrow.
Also made a start on changing a block on the club foot. The sheet runs through a block, but under such an angle that it eats up the line when you have to pull hard on the sheet (going in strong head winds, like I had been doing). So I took the current block of the deck, plan is to replace it with an eye and then attach a free moving block to that eye.Â
Have walked around a little bit in Oranjestad, still not seen much more than just the center of town here at the waterfront. Lots of jewelry stores, and tourist things. But it is a very nice place.
Also took advantage of one of the perks of the resort that the marina guests are allowed to use. After 5 (yes, that is also the end of the work day for me) I went to the pool, swam around a bit, then sweated out in the sauna. Those are some great accomodations for someone that has been washing from a bucket on the back deck (that is one of the disadvantages of being at sea for a long time: you are always in a damp and salty environment, after a good washing you will be sticky within a few hours).
Had a little chat with some of the boats around me, I am still enjoying being able to talk Dutch.
Tomorrow another day of boat repairs. Maybe on Friday I might go sailing, my neighbour in the marina takes his boat out for day charters, and I might join him for one.
Unfortunately there will be no pictures posted from here, can’t upload for now.Â