Hey again sailors…. I know I have been a little bit quiet lately…. sorry for that. My life, as usual, has been upside down again and as usual I have been trying to align myself with my reality. The main thing has been my search for new crew. I have been making new cruiser friends and have been working on boat projects as I sit alone on my boat. I did find crew for a week or so, giving me time to find my next crew. As usual nothing ever goes according to plan out here on the ocean. I went to go sailing yesterday and my engine failed to start. BIG DISASTER for me personally.
Cruiser Life
I am still in Falmouth Harbour in southern Antigua and apparently this is a popular playground for the ultra rich people. I have been watching a parade of Mega Yachts coming and going past me for the last week. There are 4 of them anchored across the bay from me right now and half a dozen more over in the marinas. I suppose some people are wowed by these massive ridiculous boats but it doesn’t really appeal to me personally.
A real sexy boat would obviously have to a sailboat not a motor boat and it would have to be a salty boat not a shiny boat.
I have been replying to email responses to my request for crew ads and trying to find someone to come onboard. I understand that since I am stuck here until the end of Covid, which will not be anytime soon, I will hopefully be able to find several people over time to come crew for me. What has been interesting is the array of responses I have gotten. There seems to be many dreamers out there Covid locked down in the winter dreaming of coming down here to the warmth. I get a lot of responses saying they are in total lockdown and are not allowed to travel but they want to come crew for me…? I’m not sure what to say to that. If you cannot travel here why are you applying to crew for me?
I also had one American lady who said she currently has Covid and has lost some of her vision but wants to come here to crew for me anyway…? Ummm….. what?
Two big requisites to come crew for me… you gotta be able to travel to the yacht…. you cannot have Covid.
Maybe someone good will contact me eventually… still looking….
I have also been making friends among the great cruiser community down here. There is a morning cruisers radio net I listen to for social events and I have now twice been to the Sunday Dominoes tournament. I do not know how to play but it has been fun to watch.
Cruising really is a sea of grey hair, there are very few young people out here, as we are mostly all poor and debt ridden paying for the glory of the Boomer past. Maybe this was the party Alex was looking for out here in the cruising world.
New Temporary Crew
I have been contacted by several potential crew who are already here on the island, which surprised me. It seems there have been several yachts arriving here from Europe and the crew, passage finished, have been staying in BnB’s and the hostel trying to avoid going home again to be locked down.
Weirdly most of the young crew here are also looking for the party and the exciting life and want to come aboard to get to the other islands. They are all still closed people. Or the crew here only wants to come aboard for fun day cruises to great snorkeling destinations like I am a charter yacht for free.
I did get contacted by this one cool bloke from the UK named Joe. He just crossed the Atlantic from the UK on a Westerly Tempest 31 foot boat with two other guys on it. It took them two months to get here and Joe was staying in the hostel when he contacted me. We met and talked and I decided he seemed level headed and would be good crew. He can only stay about 10 days but it gives me the ability to move around a bit until I can find someone else.
The famous sailors Riley and Elaina from sailing LaVagabonde are here now in Falmouth harbour with me. Last night they dinghied right past the back of WildChild with little Lenny going to the beach in front of me. I do feel a little bit bad for them, as they get mobbed like famous people everywhere they go. It must be annoying. But then I know they make $30,000 a month for their YouTube content and I do not feel so bad for them anymore.
One of the little projects I have wanted to work on has been to put netting and bungee cords in to protect my food shelves from spilling out everytime I go hard sailing. It is annoying having to pickup food from the floor after every rough sail. Joe was a good sport and was willing to help me work on the project.
I have had no income for more than two years now and my savings accounts are rapidly dwindling down too close to zero so I am very hesitant to ever spend money on anything I do not deem essential but this little project cost me $50 and I am hoping lasts a long time.
Yesterday in the morning I wanted to go snorkel the reef that is like 100 meters away from WildChild. It would be a shame to be here for over a week and not go check it out. After diving, with Joe’s help, I would sail WildChild over to Jolly harbour. Then we will go on to Barbuda again as there were a bunch of reefs there I missed last time.
Joe is very polite and super easy going. He is great as crew and I wish I could keep him longer. We spent yesterday morning diving the entrance reef to Falmouth Harbour and it was a great dive. Interesting rock formations and lots of sea life to see. I love the schools of needle fish that swim in bands circling around you.
After a lovely morning dive we returned to WildChild to lift the anchor and make the easy sail over to Jolly Harbour.
As Joe is not staying long I have not invested too much time training him. If he can help with the 5% that I cannot do alone I am happy with that. Joe and I were up on the deck as I was going to get his help to lift my sentinal anchor up, it is very heavy for me to lift alone. The weather was perfect, the winds calm, and the nasty Christmas winds have abated. All calm as we are working to bring up the chain and I am explaining things to Joe.
I decide, as is my cautious nature, that perhaps to be safe I better have the engine running as we do this just incase the main anchor pulls free as I am lifting the sentinal anchor. I quickly run back to the helm and flick on the engine switch, hold the preheat button for a few seconds and hit the starter button…. click… nothing…!
Uh-Oh….
This is super bad.
Engine no Worky
My heart races and I begin to panic. Holy crap… something has failed. WildChild has never failed to start before. What could possibly be wrong. Everything was fine when I last turned the engine off, or so it seemed. I get filled with feelings of dread. I am not a mechanic… the engine is the one thing I just need to work. I do not have thousands of dollars to pay someone to fix it for me. I do not have any money. I definitely cannot afford to replace it. And I do not know how to fix it myself. I am an electrician not a mechanic. I do not understand engines.
I am terrified.
Fear grips me and I am overcome with an urge to cry. Oh crap this is bad.
Despite my overwhelming internal emotional turmoil the logical part of my brain is struggling for control. I have to think, be clear, work the problem. I am a powerful human being because I can handle my strong emotions and bring my brilliant logical mind to bear.
I begin working the problem.
Voltage looks low on the panel volt meter. I go down open the stairway to expose the front of the engine and have a look. Yep lots dirty metal things and pipes and hoses looking at me. I do actually know a little bit about my engine.
The new build-a-belt that I had installed a month ago was rather loose. Like so lose I doubt it was turning the alternator. Maybe the battery is just dead. I remove a link from it and tighten the belt properly.
Lexi is always the plan A and plan B, C and D kinda captain. I had already built into my yachts electrical system a backup deep cycle marine starting battery. It is connected into the house bank of batteries. I get out my electrical meters and measure the voltage on the dedicated engine battery, 12.32Vdc. Hmm… should be enough to start. I check the backup house flooded battery its at 12.68vdc.
I swap out the batteries.
This should be a straight swap. Then we pray this works. I go setup the video camera and flick the panel switch on and try to start my engine… nothing.. !
Tears start streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks.
I sink emotionally into an abyss of misery. Terror grips me.
I am in big trouble here.
I call my friend Bryan in Texas who is a mechanic and ask him for help. Maybe his mechanic brain can guide my hands. He is wonderful and helping me to try and stay calm and keep thinking.
We spend hours together on the phone. I begin tearing stuff apart to get access to my engine. With his guidance and my hands we begin exploring the problem. I am not sure if it is sexy to see a girl in a pink bikini working tools covered in grease but I am clearly a sight.
Joe has no idea about engines and tries to stay out of my way.
After working the problem for hours and testing and checking a bunch of things Bryan concludes the starter motor must be the problem. You need to replace the starter motor. Now here is the other good news… remember Captain Lexi ever the think ahead plan A B C D girl. I just happened to have solved this problem years ago. WildChild just happens to have a brand new replacement starter motor for this engine.
But…. ummm… I have no idea HOW to change out a starter motor. I have never done this before. I have never seen this done before. I can’t do this. I barely have access to the old starter motor mounted on the engine. I am not strong enough to crack all the old seized bolts that I’m sure will have to be removed. Please… someone rescue me.
There is no admiral to turn to. I am the Captain, the tip of the spear, all authority and all responsibility lies with me. Joe goes swimming to the beach.
How many of you women reading this could/would face or handle this? What would you do in my situation?
Yeah…. exactly…. but this is not one of my options.
I summon my courage, face my fear head on, dig out all my big tools, and climb down into the hole beside the engine to begin making friends with it. I talk to it, look at it, touch it. I send picture thru my phone to Bryan and he explains to me what I am seeing. He begins long distance teaching me and I become a student of the unknown again. My freshly painted red nails are about to get wrecked again.
How hard can this be if men can do it… why can’t women do it too?
I have to remove bolts I cannot even see…
I have to remove bolts in awkward positions that are seized tight.
It was probably a good thing Joe had left to go to the beach for the day. My screaming and grunting and cursing the stubborn steel probably sounded like a murder. Defeat was not an option. I have to creatively solve leverage problems using only what I have onboard. My hands are getting cut up and covered in grease. I am performing an engine surgery I do not know how to do… I am so very afraid… BUT… I am facing it. I am doing it.
It takes me hours and hours but eventually… slowly… painfully… I am making progress.
New starter installed.
I go up to test my work. I am terrified again. If this does not work… I really am going to need to start paying professionals thousands of dollars I do not have to fix this for me.
I hit the start button… it tries to turn over slowly but dies quickly.
Still engine no worky.
I am crest fallen… the tears start streaming down again.
I did have Joe back aboard by this time for the test. I had him standing watching the engine, he said it was turning over a few time slowly. It just sounded like a car with a dead battery. Hmmm… I go back into the engine room and bring my multi meter to go recheck the fresh battery I just put in there a few hours ago. Its dead. It seems the old starter had killed it too.
I connect the engine battery to the house bank of batteries. We try the starter… just for a second… the engine is turning over trying to catch… I stop right away.
YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY… YAY…
It seems I had a loose belt problem which killed the battery which hurt the starter motor then had the old starter motor kill the new battery… a series of small things that kept compounding.
But right now… I only have a electricity problem (I think)
This I can solve. I get out my little Yamaha generator and run it all night to charge all the batteries. This should work now… fingers crossed.
I am about to try to go start my engine after I finish this blog. IF it works… Joe and I will lift the anchors and go sailing up to Jolly Harbour this afternoon.
If it doesn’t work I will have to schedule some time to be depressed and do some crying.
Cheers Sailors and sailor fans…
Captain Lexi
… ………. the nervous worried scared and brave ……….