The French Non-Connection

Our time in the French Caribbean was wonderful... mostly.  Despite being some of the most beautiful and first-world places with some of the most picturesque anchorages in the Caribbean, there are connection issues - literally and figuratively.  Linda has admonished me to be culturally sensitive in this post. She will redact the testimony if she thinks I've crossed the line.

c'est la vie

Capt. Bob

Language Connection

The thing about the French Islands is... well, they speak French.  We are both high-school level Spanish speakers (which means we are sadly mono-lingual like most Americans). However, it is surprising that even around very touristy areas (like near cruise ship ports and in big cities), there are relatively few people in shops and restaurants who spoke anything but French. Even the Customs/Clearance people often spoke only French and, by definition, they are dealing with people from somewhere else all day long.

I'm not complaining. We faced nothing on the scale of how non-English speakers are treated in mono-lingual America. Normally, our "Je parle anglais?" or "no francais" would be met with "ah, okay... I'll try".  Occasionally, it was met with an eye roll or sigh, but never a "if you don't speak the language, get out of the country" type thing.  Overall, most people were polite or neutral. Mainland Guadeloupe was an outlier as it was much more common to be faced with blatant rudeness at our lack of French. Les Saintes, Martinique and Marie-Galante seemed to be much more forgiving.

So, not complaining, (well a little) but the language barrier does make things more arduous, complicated and harder to connect.  Basic purchases and restaurant ordering is fine, but more complicated interactions can be extremely challenging if not impossible. Our few phrases along with Google Translate and generous locals trying their best with Anglais mostly worked.  Directions, numbers, technical support for a non-working Orange SIM card... that's a different story.

Us being ready with our first two questions for a Car Rental

Designated Feeding Times

Oui, it is very French here. The daily schedule takes a bit of getting used to. When not working, we like to be on the move when we come ashore and pop into different places. We like to sample "a quick bite" or a quick drink at several places or secure provisions and boat parts. There is no such thing as "quick" on the French islands. Many of the restaurants say they are "Snack" places or have a "Snack" section on the menu. A "Snack" on one menu is a Burger with egg on top, salad and frites.  Now, that's a snack!  Budget at least an hour and a half for your quick bite. And be sure to hit the shops in the morning before the 1PM shut down or between 3-5PM (which means another trip to shore later in the evening for the 7+PM restaurant feeding times).

Dinner is late by American standards and especially by cruising sailor standards (9PM is known as "cruisers' midnight"). Dinner is an event. I should say that the food itself is usually incredible, but, an American who is used to attentive service with the periodic "Is everything alright here?",  "Can I get you anything else?", "Would you like another glass of wine?" may feel quite ignored and forgotten. Don't take it personally. What amazed me was how much money is left on the table (literally) by leaving customers with empty drink glasses for the last hour of the feeding or not quickly getting us to pay and move on to open our table for waiting customers. We have learned to go to them to pay; don't wait for the check.  There are skeletons of Americans waiting for checks in some restaurants.

We can decipher menus now (mostly)

Nearly every shop and service closes for a couple (or more) hours in the middle of the day. This is when the designated lunch feeding happens. Once the lunch feeding is over, don't expect to find anything to eat until the dinner feeding time at a million o'clock. During our first time in Les Saintes a couple years ago, we had the misfortune of being starving at 5PM after a long hike and no lunch. We eventually bought a can of peanuts and a bottle of wine at a market we found open. We ate and drank on a public park bench sipping directly from the very nice bottle of Rose de Provence (screw cap).

Because our time is already very regimented by boat tasks, and day jobs and other logistical needs, these regimented feeding times and business closing times can further complicate things. But we are getting used to it and make an effort to adjust when we dinghy to land.

Data Connection

Ugh - this is by far the most difficult thing.  Connectivity is very hard to come by and expensive! Many things conspired against me trying to do my day job here. There were several work telecons that I simply had to drop off from because the connection was so bad. I found it incredibly frustrating because up until that point, the connectivity had been so great in all more third-world countries. If I didn't know any better, it was almost as if the French didn't want me to work.

Whenever I complain to people about difficult connectivity issues in the islands, I'm always met with "oh poor you... you can't work in paradise". The thing is though, if I can't work, I can't be in paradise. This lifestyle is possible for us because we are able to work. When I can't work, I get very stressed and it quickly becomes the exact opposite of paradise.

Combining data and language connectivity issues, I had an Orange Mobile SIM card left over from the previous year which I could not get working. We went to an Orange Boutique in the Martinique Capital of Fort-de-France for help. There was zero English spoken here (3 blocks from the cruise ship terminal in a huge metro city).  Google Translate slowly helped but dealing with a technical issue was incredibly difficult and time-consuming. In the end, they got me going (after I threw enough Euros at them) and I was able to finally have my data for the painful price of 15EUR per Gigabyte.  (We use more than one GB per day.  This was going to hurt!)

One of the most frustrating encounters - at the Orange Mobile store.

Google Fi worked so-so or not at all depending on where we were. I believe they are using the French Digicel (not Orange) network and that was only 3G (or non-existent) in many places.

Orange is LTE.  Digical F is NOT. (Google FI is using the latter)

But, the Beauty

Linda wrote at length about Martinique already. I would say, that this is one place I could return to and charter a boat for a couple weeks.  There are so many great spots on Martinique that you would never need to leave the island in that time.

Sitting Pretty in Saint-Pierre, Martinique

If you prefer swanky urban settings, Martinique has that as well

Les Saintes is amazing. You take a well-maintained mooring for about $12USD/day and have easy access to town. The island seems to be replacing their handful of gas powered scooters and cars with electric golf carts and bikes. We love renting electric bikes to explore the island. You can cover a lot of ground and make it up some pretty steep hills in just a few hours on one of these. If you like a challenge, there are some great hikes here as well.

The mooring field in Terre-de-Haut from a e-bike ride. Can you spot Argon?

Covering some ground on the e-bikes

Getting there was half the fun

We had a fantastic day-sail from Dominica to Les Saintes. Seas were fairly flat with moderate winds over the beam. We kept sails up right up very close to the mooring field. We arrived on Dec30 and things were already filling up for New Years Eve. When we arrived, there were three moorings left. By the end of the day, people were racing for them and fighting (in French) over them.

Sailing on a reach toward Les Saintes from Dominica

Sitting on our mooring in the popular neighborhood near town.

Lodging Upgrade

We went ashore to a hotel to try and harvest their wifi password. In general, we found that wifi was a very protected commodity in the French Islands. It is very common for them to insist on typing a password into your phone or computer so that they don't reveal it (we have the technology to thwart this). But this particular hotel would not even do that unless we were guests! It occurred to me - we're safely on a mooring in sight of this hotel. Let's ask how much a room is. We needed google translate to do this even though there is a giant sign in the reception area that says "We Speak English". So I bought a wifi-password for 160 Euros and they threw in a hotel room, shower and pool. And of course they insisted on typing in the password. Using our technical advantage in the wifi arms race, we were able to harvest the password and use it in the bullet router aboard Argon for the last couple days of our time in Les Saintes. This was a major help. The hotel let us lock our dinghy to the dock overnight (fortunately Linda found a guy who really did speak English to clarify that with).

My 160 Euro wifi password came with this free room/shower and air conditioning!

After leaving Les Saintes, we stopped for just one night in Deshaies, Guadaloupe. It is a good jump off point for a 45 mile sail to Antigua and also a Customs port. Deshaies is a very pretty little town with cool shops and restaurants. You can also rent a car here (with help from Google Translate).  Deshaies is a challenging harbor to anchor in sometimes as it gets deep quickly and the katabatic winds commonly kick things up to 25+ kts.  We were able to get in close enough this time to anchor in 24 feet of water. Not bad. People arriving later in the day (and that night) had a difficult time finding a place in shallow enough water. Often they were getting shooed away by skippers who felt they were trying to anchor too close.

Sitting Pretty in Deshaies

On Balance

This lifestyle is a balance between blissful moments and misery and everything in between.  The end of the leg south last year and the start of the leg north this year were difficult and frustrating for various reasons. Our time in the French Islands, was definitely on the bliss end of the spectrum despite the challenges. Having had the time to get used to the pace and limitations, I would go back any time!

Working Day Jobs While Cruising

Unlike most long distance cruisers, we have retained day jobs while sailing. The cadence of our days is a bit different from many of the other sailors around us as we plan our boat projects/maintenance, land excursions, and sailing schedule very much around work commitments and the ability to secure reliable internet.

Captain Linda Perry Riera

What Do We Do?

Linda:  Clinical Operations and Clinical Research Scientist

When on land manages studies for investigational drugs for rare and neurological diseases in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. When cruising cannot (and does not want to) be available to the extent needed to do this work well. Therefore shifts to document writing (e.g., standard operating procedures) and document review (e.g., study protocols) related to clinical research when cruising (about 10 hours/week).

Bob: Software Engineer

Primarily hands on coding in support of the internal business processes for a corporate travel and technology management company based in Massachusetts, USA. Able to do the same type of work when living on land or a nomadic aquatic lifestyle (but decreases to 25-30 hours/week when cruising).

Typical Daily / Weekly Schedule

The pattern of our lives maintains a Monday through Friday cadence centered around day jobs, as when living on land, followed by a change of pace on the weekend. However, we enjoy more flexibility than when we are working full time on land. A typical midweek schedule is:

5:15	Alarm goes off, perhaps a snooze or two.
5:45	Bob is working. Linda makes coffee and takes in the sunrise from the cockpit; reads.
7:30	Linda goes for a long exercise swim (if anchorage is safe). Bob continues working. Both bathe off transom followed by a quick cockpit freshwater rinse.
9:00	Linda begins working. Bob continues working.
11:00	Bob does some boat projects.
	Linda jumps in the dinghy and goes ashore; walks to a bus stop, finds a couple of markets, buys only what can be comfortably carried back.
14:00	Both jump in the water to cool off, scrub the bottom of the dinghy or water line of Argon while in the water.
15:00	Dinghy back ashore to work somewhere that laptops can be powered (so we do not drain Argon's batteries too much) and with free WiFi (to ease off on our usage of paid data).
	While access to free WiFi may update apps, download podcasts, books, videos, do life logistics on line (personal emails, studying weather and where to sail to next, reading articles).
17:00	Dinghy back to Argon. Do some boat tinkering. Cook dinner.
19:00	Final swim off transom to cool off. Relax in the cockpit.
20:00	Last check back in to work. In bed reading, listening to a podcast, or watching a downloaded video.
21:00	Usually asleep.

Of course the above is just an example. There are all sorts of permutations including sometimes getting on to land for part of a day to hike or explore, but that is normally reserved for the weekend. Or a significant boat issue may need attention. And, when we are actually sailing, there is time to prep the boat to weigh anchor, then perhaps several hours or most of a day or more actually sailing to the next harbor or island which is sometimes done midweek depending on work commitments. If the new island is in a different country there is quite a bit of added time to check out of customs & immigration of the departing country, and then check in to the new country.

Once re-anchored, there is a myriad of small items to attend to that have become quite routine including organizing lines, covering the main sail, deploying the dinghy from the davits, snorkeling on the anchor to check the hold, setting up the forward hatch awning, monitoring the swing on the anchor (and re-setting if needed). And, critical for our day jobs, confirming data / reception and connecting to WiFi (see below) so we can get back to work.

Ultimate in Open Office Design and Flexible Workspace

Argon is mostly at anchor while we are cruising and we spend much of our workday on board. However, we regularly get to shore seeking free WiFi and to couple working with some land errands, or just for a change of scenery.

Below are photos of some of the places we set up shop for our day jobs while cruising.

Linda's favorite workspace:  Argon's cockpit in a breezy, beautiful harbor while at anchor.

Most common workspace: On board Argon in the salon.

Although working at home (on board Argon) is often easiest, it can be difficult to stay comfortable. Temperatures in the salon are often in the high 80's or low 90's.

This on shore workspace has everything: Breezy restaurant with access to power, free WiFi, cool beverages and feathery company (perhaps he's someone's dinner).

Finding shelter from a downpour. (Bob is on a teleconference.)

Modern coffee shop with not only power, WiFi and great lattes, but also the rare air conditioning!

Tiki Bar restaurant Prickly Bay, Grenada. Lots of power outlets but non-ideal due to music playing and/or TV on.

Bermuda. Another great find: comfort, power outlets, WiFi, air conditioning and quiet!

In the cockpit of Argon early in the morning, Grenada.

Porch in St. Lucia with a lovely vista.

Corner office on the Dutch island of Saba.

At anchor somewhere in the US Virgin Islands.

Turks and Caicos.

Turks and Caicos. Overcast to allow Bob to barely see his screen.

Dominica. Another beautiful view.

Satiating a Voracious Appetite for Data

 

Our appetite for data is huge compared to any other cruiser we have encountered. We chow down 1-1.5G/day mostly due to our day jobs. Needing this generous amount of data, as well as reliable connectivity daily, have been major challenges. Many people will offer advice related various methods but we usually find out that the thresholds for data usage are way too low for our needs. During our first extended cruise (2016-2017) we learned that WiFi options in anchorages (as well as on shore) are massively unreliable causing tremendous stress as we needed connectivity regularly to deliver on work commitments. We made many data-related mistakes and spent an average of nearly $500/month! A prior blog post outlines our approach and many learnings.

Shroud Cay Exumas, Bahamas back in 2017 during our first cruise. To my dismay, we stayed only a few hours because we had no data and Bob needed to get back on line for work. There were too many times that we skipped over an interesting place or minimized our stay because of data issues.

Our second extended journey 2018-2019 brought improvements all around including decreasing our spend to about $300/month. Our main strategy was an unlocked cell phone (separate from our two regular personal phones) with stripped down apps (to avoid any inadvertent data usage). Then securing local data SIM cards from the current country. Some key challenges included:

• Sometimes having much difficulty finding or getting to where local SIMs could be purchased (would require a long and expensive cab ride and/or the store had scant business hours, especially on smaller islands)
• Figuring out how (or remembering to) top off balances before the data ran out (especially difficult in some of the French islands where all info/apps were only in the local language)

Some of our collection of local SIM cards: Chippy (St. Martin and Saba), Orange (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, Marie Gallante), French Digicel (Guadeloupe but crazy expensive; Orange is better) and Dominican Digicel. We also have SIMs for Flow (Antigua) and BTC (Bahamas).

Now at the front end of our third extended cruise, we think we've got things figured out. Fingers crossed anyway. Our approach is to combine the local data SIM card method with Google Fi leveraging 4 cell phones now:

• Bob's personal and Linda's personal (roaming off of course, and settings set to no automatic updates when connected to WiFi... as our WiFi is usually metered)
• Unlocked stripped down with GoogleFi
• Unlocked stripped down with local data SIM card - for both data and local phone calls

Having two cell phones to use as hot spots (local SIM and GoogleFi) also allows me to take one with me when I venture to shore while Bob remains aboard. This affords the luxury of connectivity as I do errands or go on land excursions. 

Four unlocked Androids: 2 are our personal phones, the other 2 are for local SIM cards and GoogleFi to serve as hot spots.

GoogleFi is a great option but only up to 15G in a month, then it's less attractive due to the cost:

• $10/G up to 6G, then free up to 15G. Once 15G is reached, the data speed is slowed waaayyyyy down (unusable for our needs) and it is back to $10/G. 

With our voracious data appetite (35-40G/month), GoogleFi would be well over $300/month. Therefore we aim to keep the GoogleFi data usage to 15G/month with the remaining data from SIM cards and on-shore free WiFi. And GoogleFi has worked well so far but we have only been in Grenada... let's see if it is as reliable as we make our way up the Caribbean chain. A back-up option (or two) is prudent and will surely be needed at some point.

The cost of data through the local SIM cards varies widely from country to country anywhere from $3-$15/G but will often be less expensive than the cost post 15G through GoogleFi, and will provide a back-up method.

Here is one of our cheap Androids with a Digicel and a Flow card.

Thus our monthly data usage and spend is likely to play out as follows:

• 15G through GoogleFi at $90 (includes direct data cost plus fees)
• 10G through local data SIM card at $30-$150
• remaining 10-20G onshore free WiFi

We very much hope to decrease our average data spend to $150/month!! Status report in six months.

Flexibility and Supportive Employers are Paramount

 

Linda: I converted to an independent consultant in my field of clinical trials and clinical research mid 2017 with the objective of flexing up my work when in land-life mode, and throttling back when we are cruising. It is working out wonderfully thus far. When cruising I work about 10 hours/week on document writing that, while less interesting perhaps, affords much flexibility requiring minimal scheduled meetings/telecons and I can mostly make my own schedule. The more interesting assignments will resume (along with heavier hours) when back on land. 

Bob: Before our first trip to the Caribbean back in 2016, Bob told his boss over dinner one night: "Linda wants to sail to the Caribbean. I can either go with her, or I have to move in with you". That settled it. Bob switched from full-time salaried, to full-time hourly to allow flexing down of hours while traveling (a bit), gave up health insurance and paid time off and has remained in this status with his employer ever since. Bob works 25-30 hours/week while cruising, and full time when on land. Note: We both must buy health insurance privately which is an important financial consideration.

Both:  We take our work very seriously and do our best to not leave our work colleagues waiting on us for anything. We are able to be very productive, and yes, it does cut into the fun part of cruising a bit, but it also makes this wonderful cruising lifestyle possible.

The perfect combination of work, adventure and pleasure.

Fixing Argon in Bermuda and Antigua

Bob Damiano

During our passage from Newport to Bermuda back in late October we had a failure of the outer headstay while crossing the Gulf Stream.  The following details the process of making Argon whole again.  Apologies for the geekery.

Disclaimer:

This post is not intended as a criticism of Tartan or of the Tartan 4000 (or any other modern Tartan model with a similar rig). We are huge fans of Tartan and the designs. We can not say enough about how helpful, responsive and proactive Tim Jackett and the team at Tartan were throughout the process. This post is also not intended as advice. We are not riggers. We are sailors who follow the advice of professional riggers. It is intended to just clearly say what happened, and what we chose to do about it based on the guidance of several helpful professionals. One of the positive outcomes of this experience is that we have a much deeper understanding of our rig now, and I find that I can't look at another boat now without fixating on how the various mast attachment points are done.  Other Tartan owners have asked "should we do what you did?".  My answer is always the same:  "Ask your rigger.  Don't ask us".  There's more than one way to rig a boat.

Rig details:

Argon has a Solent Rig... two headstays. The inner stay is the primary stay providing stability to the mast and carrying the 90% working Jib.  It is attached to the mast with a spoon (or lollipop) type fitting (more on this later). The outer stay is there mostly to carry the 150% genoa (reacher).  It is attached to a sheavebox near the top of the mast.   The mast is a keel stepped one-piece carbon fiber stick. 

Argon showing off her perfect dual head stays anchored in Guadeloupe shortly after the repairs were completed.

Upon arriving in Bermuda after the rig damage, a tired (but relieved) crew began the work of lowering the separated outer headstay.  The sheavebox that the outer stay attaches to broke out of the carbon mast.  It appears that a weld failed behind the mast wall at the top and that the box cantilevered out of the mast, breaking off a small bit of carbon at the bottom.

Why did it break?

The $64K question.  The winds were in a good range and direction for using the reacher, however the sea-state was not so ideal. We found ourselves in a suddenly degrading sea-state with steep/confused waves which continually rounded us up into the wind. Our hindsight being 20:20, we should have switched to the Jib as soon as we were no longer able to stay off the wind due to the confused seas.  Interestingly, most of the gulf stream passage was quite benign and this all happened just as we were exiting the stream.  We thought we were home free!

We don't know exactly when the separation occurred.  It was a very dark moonless night (this stuff always happens at night).  We were struggling to control Argon and keep her off the wind.  At some point, Linda turned on the deck light to examine the rig and it was clear that something was not right as the luff of the genoa bowed out in an exaggerated curve.  We were unable to furl in the genoa so I went forward on a tether and saw that the outer stay was loose and the furling drum was trashing itself to death in the bow pulpit rails. After about an hour of manhandling with two of us tethered on the foredeck wrestling with the drum and two in the cockpit trying to control Argon's position in the confused seas, we were able to get the genoa furled, albeit sloppily.  We now hobbled along with a flailing outer headstay still two days out from reaching Bermuda.

The state of argon upon arriving in Bermuda

The sheavebox. Note that the missing baking tab on the right (top) side. This is the weld that failed.

During the passage, we could have chucked the whole stay overboard but we were hoping to save the sail and the furler foil.  The stay hung on the reacher halyard safely during the passage.  Ultimately, the foil was so bent up, we ended up chopping it up in dumpster-sized bits. But the sail was repaired and salvaged.

Lowering the outer stay upon arrival in Bermuda

The outer stay foil sadly chopped up for the trash.

We immediately contacted Tartan with photos and details about what happened. Job one was to go aloft and inspect the carbon for significant damage. Linda went up with a gopro and got some very close-up detailed video which we shared with Tartan. The good news was that it appeared that other than the tab of carbon broken out at the bottom of the sheavbox opening, there were no other stress cracks or signs of the weave splitting or de-laminating.

At this point, we were dealing with Steve Hollis from Ocean Sails in Bermuda. Originally, we assumed we would need the stick taken out and the full repairs done in Bermuda. This was quite stressful as we really didn't want to be pinned down in Bermuda that long (for weather and expense reasons). 

Linda doing a close-up inspection and video

Hello, what's this? 

During one of Steve's many trips aloft, he noticed a broken strand on our inner stay wire!
We now had zero functional stays.  This was also one of those silver-lining moments.  If the outer stay didn't fail, we probably would have never noticed the damaged inner stay.  A failure of this stay offshore would have been catastrophic.  This is another learning experience and we would definitely not miss a detail like this in future rig inspections!  But, now we worried that with the even more substantial repairs needed, our Caribbean trip might not be feasible. Happily, the plan evolved into getting the inner stay repaired in Bermuda providing stability to safely sail; and continuing south to our next destination (Antigua) with only the inner (primary) headstay. We would continue and finish all repairs in Antigua. 

Subtle but critical failure: broken strand of the inner stay serendipitously discovered.

So, now the process was all about having a new inner stay built and installed.  This is when I first started getting educated on spoon/lollipop fittings.  Turns out that the original manufacturer of this spoon is no longer operating so they had to build the stay with a different brand.

The old and new lollipop fittings

Steve Hollis got the new stay ordered and it arrived from Florida within about a week.  We did careful measurements to compare the old and new fittings and Linda went aloft to verify that the new lollipop would fit in the existing backing plate.  Steve (with a little help from Linda and I and a few other folks along the docks) got the new inner stay built and installed.

Preparing the new Stay for installation.

Tim Jackett at Tartan had very quickly sent us a drawing of a modification to the outer stay sheavebox.  The backing plate would be lengthened downward and a "doubler" plate welded in to fill in the extra opening in the carbon. Steve arranged for some initial modification to the outer stay sheavebox including drilling out the pin hole for a clevis pin instead of the barrel pin that was originally holding the stay in.

Here is where we have to say how awesome Steve Hollis and and is family treated us. Ocean Sails was in the middle of a huge custom canvas project while we were there as well as many other sailboats arriving in Bermuda with various sail and rigging issues, but we never felt pushed aside by him. Steve's wife Suzanne and their son Austin (Austin also did a couple trips up our rig) were immensely helpful and friendly.  In fact, we found ourselves invited to a lovely pot-luck dinner at their house after this was all done.

 

And we're off...

With a few other repairs complete (nav light replaced, lazy-jacks rebuilt), we were ready to set off for Antigua with our single stay fractionally rigged Tartan 4000 after just three weeks in Bermuda.  As it turned out, the conditions for the passage would never have required a reacher anyway as winds were light and way in front of the beam for most of it.

Before leaving, Steve sent an email to Stan Pearson at Antigua Rigging to give the overview and tell him that we were on our way.  The response from Stan (which came while we were under way) was "I hope they're not in a hurry".

Nine (yes nine) days later, we arrived English Harbor, Antigua.  That passage was slow.  (Should have been only six!)

Antigua Rigging

Upon arriving in Antigua (and getting some sleep), we contacted Stan Pearson at Antigua Rigging and arranged to meet him at his office. We went over what happened and the proposed solutions from Tartan.  Although Stan's shop was way too busy to start any work for another several weeks, he did arrange for his local carbon expert to go aloft and have a look at the damage, and he started working on the repair plan.

Apart from the outer stay, Stan was quite interested in the inner stay and was suggesting that we should not be attaching it with a lollipop. He showed us a typical "nose tang" from a Selden Rig he had at his shop and really wanted to pursue somehow having that kind of attachment with a toggle.

A Selden Mast with a nose tang for the inner stay attachment.

Since Stan was buried in other projects, I gathered up the info I needed and contacted Tartan about an alternate attachment point design. Tartan's opinion was that the lollipop is adequate and they certainly have the track record on many hundreds of boats to back that up. Ultimately, on advice from Stan and following the opinions of other pros we consulted, we explained to Tartan that we really wanted to try and come up with a tang/toggle type attachment point instead of the lollipop and we would appreciate the help with a design.  Within a few hours, I had a detailed engineering drawing of a modification of the lollipop backing plate that had a nice hefty tang protruding through the mast suitable for attaching a toggle. Stan and his machinist and carbon expert were all very happy with the design. We just can't say enough about Tim Jacket and the guys at Tartan for coming through with this.

A snip of the modification drawing

Ok, but what about the one that actually broke?

The re-design of the outer sheavebox was fairly straightforward. The design from Tartan was generally agreed to in Antigua but with the addition of a toggle on this stay as well.

A couple of proposed toggles for the outer headstay

Christmas on Argon

We were really looking forward to Christmas. Not so much because it was Christmas but because "After Christmas" was when Stan figured he could get to us.  As expected, things started to move forward late December and early January.  Phil Hopton from Antigua Slipway Marine would handle the carbon work and his shop would do the final modifications to the outer stay sheavebox.  We tied up at slipway and Phil went aloft with a grinder and cleaned up the broken carbon. He got an accurate measurement of the new opening so that his shop could do the final welds and modifications on the sheavebox.

The modified sheavbox in progress.

Within a few days, the new box was mounted and we were able to do a point-to-point measurement on for the new wire.  Stan had already ordered the new furler and foil sections and they were expected to arrive the week of Jan7.

The next step was to move the boat to Catamaran Club Marina (near Antigua Rigging) for the final work. The furler and foil arrived at Antigua Rigging and the guys were busy building the new outer stay.

Sunrise at Catamaran Club Marina

The Antigua Rigging team

On more than one occasion, Stan told us how awesome everyone on his team was. It was very nice to see so much respect from the boss for the guys and gals who make all this stuff happen. One guy in particular, Deron, was up and down our rig more times than we could count and usually doing some very tricky and difficult stuff up there. This was not a typical job! Stan later said in an email about Deron:  "While this needed the team to make this happen overall Daron was the MVP on this exercise for sure for dealing with the non-standard issues".

Deron up the rig (again)

On one particularly long day, Linda baked corn bread for Deron and one of the other guys, Vishal.  She also made cookies for everyone in the shop.  We really really appreciated all the hard work!

Building the new stay

Our shiny new furler

Toggle on the end of the outer stay.

The new outer stay went on without too much drama and for about twenty minutes, Argon had two headstays again.  But then the inner stay was removed for the more tricky modification of the attachment.

Attaching the outer stay at the bottom.

All pinned in.

New outer stay attached to the modified sheavebox with a toggle.

Detaching the inner stay.

Inner stay ready to go back to the shop to be rebuilt.

Once the inner stay was off, Deron, removed the lollipop backing plate and brought it down to be modified per the drawing from Tartan.

The stock lollipop backing plate.

Lollipop backing plate rear side.

The backing plate with the lollipop in it.

Inner Stay

The backing plate went off to the machine shop along with the drawing from Tartan.  Within a few hours, it was complete. Stan was so pleased with it, he made a special trip out to the boat to show us.

Modified attachment plate with tang and toggle.

Closeup of the new part

Now, how to put that plate in the mast?

We knew the backing plate would not go back in through the hole from whence it came. But how would it get back inside the mast? Originally, the plan was to remove the outer stay (again), remove the sheavebox (again) and drop this new part in through the hole and lower it down inside the mast.  The only problem is, that after going through all that effort, the part didn't fit through the hole

Deron wondered if it could be lowered in through the mast crane (on the aft side of the mast). We also considered opening the hole a bit for the outer stay sheavebox to allow this to fit.  Stan emailed Tartan and Phil (local Carbon guy) to ask about going that route. Neither were very enthusiastic about removing any more carbon from the rig. I must admit, I was not liking that idea either. At this point, I asked Stan if we should give up on trying to do this without unstepping the mast.  He said that was "plan B".

Linda going aloft to see if the part will fit in the crane.

In the meantime, Stan gave us the homework of sending Linda up the mast again with the backing plate to see if it would fit into the crane and around the 90 degree bend.  Linda went up with the gopro and the part and got some great video. The part would fit inside the crane with no problem.  But she did NOT think it would fit around the bend where the main halyard sheave and axle is.

The next day, Deron went up to give it a try.  We assumed it would not fit around the bend and so he was going to have to remove the main halyard axle and sheave.  The only problem is that this is the halyard he is hanging from.

After being up there a while and struggling a bit, amazingly, we saw him pull the plate through the mast. This was an amazing feat and very good news indeed.

Messenger line holding the part which has been fed into the crane opening.

SUCCESS!!! Deron managed to fish that thing around the bend and out through the mast.

Now, we really felt like we were on the home stretch.  The outer stay was attached again and then the newly built inner stay brought out and attached to the new attachment point with a toggle.

Both stays attached with toggles. Someday when the mast is down, we will clean up and paint all the bruises from the flailing attachment plate.

All that was left to do now was to do a dock-side tuning and put the sails back on.

This was a long time coming... two months after the damage, we've got two head stays again.

Argon on a close reach towards Dominica with the new rig. It's good to be sailing and exploring again!

Take-aways

We feel like Argon is better than ever now.  We also feel like we know Argon better than ever.  We have a new respect for the power in that 150% Reacher and will be much more judicious about when to use it and when to keep it rolled up.  And we know better what to look for in rig fatigue.

Although this cost us two months of delay in our journey, most of the delay was in a place we love: Antigua. Ultimately, we were able to continue moving south along our planned route, albeit several weeks behind. We've put quite a few miles on Argon since the repair and everything looks and feels great so far.  Tomorrow we sail to Martinique!