yachtmaster hell week, 27 aug to 2 sept 2013

or summer vacation part 3…

well back in antigua there was no rest for the weary, i was hoping to get some uninterrupted study time but alas boat projects to get palapa “charter ready” seemed to take up all my time.

the day before my course was due to start the genset died and when i opened it up i found salt all over the place from a leaking raw water pump. so much for my “study day” i went through and hosed down all the salt replaced a fuse and the genset still refused to start. finally after multiple high pressure spray down and fuse replacements i got it to run again. alas this was all in vain as i was out of seals for the water pump and the leak was massive. how can a water pump seal fail after 400 hours is beyond me (this is about a month if you run the genset during the day to run the air con which we where doing).

i finally finished just at happy hour and aimee quizzed me on yachtmaster trivia. flashing lights for different cardinal marks, difference between ocluded, flashing and isophase where some of the fun ones. not to mention 3 red balls not to be confused with 3  day shapes. yikes.

i showed up the next day for class and discovered the normal process was for us to stay on the training boat. it was a 40 foot racing boat nowhere as nice as the palapa so this was not going to be an option. two of the other guys where local as well so that left the one brit, ian, to stay on the boat.

the event turned out to be a major endurance challange with no shelter from the sun and no power anything i think i dropped 10 pounds sucking down water slathering sun tan location on while constantly grinding and hauling on lines.

we did things like navigating with a hand bearing compass and “blind” nav where you had to navigate from below with no chart-plotter using depth and info from your crew. other fun activities included picking up moorings under sail (and not by stalling the boat at the pin). the last day we did man overboard which was different than any i have ever done. basically tacking into a heave to above the casualty then letting your self be blown down while using the engine to position for and aft. there was another procedure for sail only.

we also got to do some night trips up inside a reef again navigating with hand bearing compass and chart only. fortunately navigation came back to me combining boy scouts, marine land nav and flight school. one night we did not get home until midnight so the next morning i moved palapa over next to the school boat so it would be a short dingy ride.

finally on exam day(s) the wind of course came up from 10 to 15 kts to 25 to 35. fun fun. there ended up being only 2 of us doing the exam, me and local ian, mario the local pizza master discovered he did not have enough tidal miles (you need 2500 total half tidal) and uk ian was just auditing the course for “fun”.  i had over 30k miles so the prereqs where no issue plus i had plenty of  tide especially w/ time  in darwin.

the trip started out with me giving a safety brief on all the equipment during which i learned how the link on the life raft worked from the examiner (our instructor had hooked it up wrong). getting off the dock was a major cluster as was the main raising and reefing but i was not skippering at this point. ian managed to pick up a mooring under sail the non rya way and then it was my turn. i got it on the second try remembering aimee saying it was better to “try to do the rya way” than come up with your own approach.

after this it was out into 35 kts and the ocean where we spent a couple hours jibing the boat back and forth for this i was exhausted crew. i took over again as skipper after ian had anchored. for the next leg i made everyone wear life jackets, after the work out i did not feel like swimming while waiting on pickup. i started out with a not quite accidental jibe as i was avoiding a reef and answering a question from the examiner.  i saw the boom coming across and yelled jib ho to my two deck guys working on the main sail reef. after a bit more disorganization we got the second reef in. i am not a racer, and this extra reef  turned out to be a very good move later in the day.

after this i managed to pick up a “man” overboard flawlessly, still not sure how it went so well.  i tacked the boat a second or two after loosing my “guy” then got into position above him hove and then used the engine to stay centered on him as we blew down and picked him up at the stern quarter.  way better than any practice runs.

we headed up the coast inside the reef on a nice sail with me outsourcing hand bearing compass bearings to the uk ian. we got up to another little bay in the afternoon just as a squal came across we where up on our side with two reefs a small head sail blasting along close hauled. quite fun except i had to navigate around a submerged rock using bearing to mountains etc.  here my land nav skills came in handy as i had the folded chart in a zip lock in one hand and the wheel in the other. the whole time mario kept pointing out the rock did not exist (he lives here) and why was i making him work so hard taking. it turned out the rock did not exist but i did miss it on the chartploter.

along the way we got to do another man over board this time w/ no engine. this went quite well as well as the squal had blow through but apparently our instructor had taught us to pick the dude up under sail on the wrong side, windward vs leeward. we all looked dumfounded when the instructor pointed this out but did not make me do it again.

the examiner wanted us deep in this anchorage so i took us up tacking when ever i had 1.5 meter under the keel, reminiscent of charlie barr in san fran but with a better depth meter. i finally dropped the hook with a meter under the keel (of course all under sail).

at this point it would normally be happy hour but not today. we waited on the sun to go down and then ian was tasked with taking us into jolly harbor at night. this went reasonable smoothly. we had some dinner and bought some more provisions for the next day. again you would think it being 9pm we would be done but no, the instructor wanted me to take us out to an unlit anchorage about an hour away. did i mention their was no moon.

in any case we got out of the harbor passed the dredge and using a back bearing on an island just barley visible i navigated us back inside this reef until i got another bearing on s light on a mountain and brought us into the Anchorage. it want very smoothly but i was quite happy to see the anchorage appear where it was supposed to out of the darkness. we anchored when the sound of the surf was getting loud with 2 meters under the keel. fun fun

the next day it was ians turn to take us home and do his man overboards, things did not go quite as well for him but he eventually got the “dude” on board. he had to do another mooring pick up under sail and this did not go well we did at least 10 trys jibing and tacking between each one. by the time we finally got one i was exhausted from pulling the main in and out by hand.  at least it gave aimee ample time to take photos of us.

at this point, all i had to do was get the boat on the dock.  we where back at 20+ kts of wind and i had to back in but i thought no problem. in the end i over thought the whole thing and it ended up being another goat rope when mario did not come back far enough in the boat to get off and tried to recover with power. in any case we got things under control and did not scratch the boat. it did not help the dock has no cleats either.

in any case i passed, “you meet the standards” was the exact quote of the examiner i believe. ian unfortunately did not pass. aimee had made us banana bread and baby quiches as well and sandwiches on the first day. i told the examiner she did not want any excuses for me failing due to lack of food. i invited him over for beers as he and i seemed the only people keen to have beer after the event.

the rasta dude is our instructor, all dressed up for the examiner’s visit.

cheers,
Roger