MILES OF TEAL GREEN CANVAS ...........

In the end, Tropical Storm "ISAAC" turned out to be an non-event for us ...... A bit of 'rock and rolling' inside the mangroves, but within two days we were anchored again in the bay, in clear water and bright sunshine ............ Just look at "ARITA" floating again in the bay and out of the mangroves ....... Lucky us .... The genoa is still rolled up down below ...... As "ISAAC" intensified it did a bunch of damage in Haiti and then some more in the US .... These hurricanes are unstoppable disasters ..... And the moment it passed us we were back to work on "SOUTHERN COMFORT" ..... Nose down and tail up ..... We had a generator failure despite it being a brand new unit ..... Days of searching for wire faults and replacing various new parts sent from Florida ...... Eighty-two hours of flawless running, then a dead stop, then running again for ten hours and then another dead stop .... Change out the rectifier circuit .... Runs again for fifteen hours, then another dead stop ...... So now we sit and wait while a whole new generator unit is being shipped to us .... We have so little to get stressed about, but this will do it .....



Even though we cannot make fresh water we still have ample power from the solar panels ...... Enough to run all the 110V appliances like the sewing machine .... Our next big project is the canvas bimini cover over the whole cockpit to replace the blue one that used to be there ...... It measures ten feet by ten feet ..... Which is more than enough room to swing a cat ....



Speaking of cats ..... Our friends on the cat "KUHELA" have returned from their hurricane hidey-hole in SALINAS ....... Now this, our new bimini is made up of a roof section and a series of side curtains, each of which has eight pieces of teal green canvas to be sewn to the smokey vinyl see-through window ..... Some 'clever person' invented double-sided basting tape to make the job of positioning the canvas pieces so much easier .... But it still takes two people to feed the article through the sewing machine ..... Laurie is impressive in many ways and in many places like the galley, the aft cabin, and the shower, but especially behind a sewing machine ...... Perfect straight line stitching and 'grand-prix' cornering .... She is worth so much more than just a mere merit badge ....



First though, we need to do something about the shape of the original cockpit cover which was all straight up and down like a 'POPE MOBILE' ..... Shift the back frame to enclose the rear end of the cockpit and then lean the forward frames back to give it some 'style' .... We had already moved the traveler further back outside the cockpit coaming .....



The weekend that TS "ISAAC" came through was supposed to be the Round-Culebra Yacht Race which was thus postponed to the following weekend ..... So in the middle of our sewing project we took time off to see the colours ....... And raised our flags to help them along ....





All of the Puerto Rican racing boats did some lively jostling for position on an imaginary starting line ....... The start was all we got to see ...... These little boats are fast and all the more so with a down-wind start ......



The "KUHELA" crew came to the rescue in their inflatable, towing one of the entries to the startline ..... Perfect weather and perfect wind ..... The prediction is days and days of blue skies and balmy weather as a result of more tropical systems passing to the north of us in PUERTO RICO, but leaving us in a kind of moisture vacuum ..... Bring it on, especially now that it is September, generally the worst month of the season for tropical disturbances .....





And when the racing was all over, there was music and drinking and eating and dancing and hand-carved trophies to be presented ...... And all in Spanish .... Very festive stuff ..



And those who couldn't go sailing went bottom-fishing, like this local lady with a boatload of 'hind', a kind of red snapper ......



So back to work on the teal-green canvas project ..... With the top done and the front corner pieces in place, the weight of the side windows are pulling the middle of the top section down .... The two stainless frames are simply not enough support over such a long distance .....



Thus another trip to the PUERTO RICO mainland with Harry from "KUHELA" to hunt down another stainless steel frame ... We locate one in a boatyard even though it is narrower, but we can fix that ..... Now if the windscreen on the rented car holds out we will get it onto the ferry in one piece ......





And in the middle of all of that Harry and Linda on "KUHELA" celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary at a 'La-di-da' restaurant in CULEBRA...... Time to get dressed up and get out of my speedos .... So nice to do something like that .....



The last time we saw these velvet flowers was in CURACAO ...... Then again those wind-blown seeds could easily cross the Caribbean Sea ...



Might as well take another flower moment before getting back to the sewing saga ......



By now, we are two weeks into this sewing thing ...... Hundreds of feet of stitch lines and more to go, although it is taking shape nicely ....... The additional stainless steel frame expanded to meet the cockpit width has made all the difference ....... This is a major milestone as far as big projects go ....... There's nothing like a dry cockpit and we have had perfect weather in the last two weeks to do this job .....



Australia, our final destination on the next leg, is a long way off and good ventilation in the cockpit and dryness when we need it, are crucial features ...... Hence the 'smile' window in the front with its 'rainguard' zipper ..... That whole front window can also roll up ........



Proud as 'peacocks' we are of the finished product ...... There are some thirty peacocks quite close to us 'free-ranging' in the bushes ...... The "Queen of Florida" has done a magnificent job on this .... Just beautiful and tight ..... Half the side panels can be rolled up, as can the stern pieces when the winches are in use ....... And we've even added a 12V rope light that runs right around the entire roof section .... Time to test it out for those special occasions ....... Like our own wedding anniversary ..... We've clocked up ten years .... And they said " It wouldn't last " ......



Right there on the bow of "ARITA" is where our wedding ceremony took place ten years ago .... We are however celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary ...... You see, we spend so much time together, way more than most couples, that it has to count for twice the time ...... Twenty years I think is 'Stainless Steel" or maybe it's fiberglass ...... I think that twenty-five years is Silver .... Should be able to knock up something in stainless steel .... Maybe some shackles for ear rings or something .....



We invited our neighbours on "KIANA" and "KUHELA" to join us in our celebration ..... No shortage of food or champagne ..... There was bacon-wrapped olives, stuffed mushrooms, Caribbean potato salad with coconut and garlic, roasted vegetable 'pinchos' and marinated 'Churrasco' barbequed on the grill ... 'Churrasco' is melt-in-the-mouth skirt steak ..... And then there was the "Death by Chocolate" cake to finish, which nobody could finish ..... Longevity is kind of a target around here ..... Then of course, if you got chocolate on the new canvas you are guaranteed to die .....



Just look at these three cruising 'Belles' in their seventies, sixties and fifties respectively ...... The've had a few drinks, of course, but what's remarkable is that Lynn and Linda are still cruising when many of their contemporaries are in retirement homes and possibly worse places, instead of in paradise ..... Lynn, in particular, is a marvel for her age, and her wooden dodger on "KIANA" has taken on a shine of its own ....... All of us are attempting to make 'better boats' .....



That wooden dodger is not finished yet and the windows are stil to be cut in, but when that happens they will be able to enjoy the delights of the sunsets ......



I mean for healthy living, is there a better way of going to the 'gym' and showering afterwards? ......





If you recall when our sail-maker friend Tom White was with us, he had serious guilt repercussions about eating that lobster he had named "LARRY" ...... Well, Laurie discovered Larry's nephew on the bottom of her kayak and brought him home ..... He's in that plastic cup on Laurie's kayak.... We apologised on Tom's behalf, begged forgiveness and then set him free to pass the message along..... Larry's nephew is only 3/4 of an inch long ....... Now, as for this 4-wheel drive specialist ...... Well, he just backed up in the wrong direction straight over the concrete wall ..... He had to be 'airlifted' out of there ..... This is just to show that despite our living this cruising lifestyle we haven't lost our sense of humour, nor our camera .....

Now if I could only find my chart table .... I know it is under there somewhere ....