The Beat Goes On
A fresh bottom, a shakedown with no gearbox and no cooling water, and a race that was not a race to Tanna.
Small boats rafted together off the Port Vila waterfront as the light goes.
Cloud Nine went back in the water at Vuda with a freshly protected bottom and a fibreglass repair that had been overdue since the Galapagos to Gambier crossing, which is a long time to owe anybody anything. I was back from Canada, she was back where she belongs, and for about a day that felt like the whole job.
Then my Shore Crew arrived and we took her out for four days around Fiji to shake out whatever a spell on the hard had shaken in. There were a couple of dives, a visit to Mana, and an afternoon at the floating bar called Cloud Nine, so Cloud Nine went to Cloud Nine and nobody aboard either one thought that was strange. It was a good thing we went. A short list appeared almost at once, and at the top of it sat no gearbox and no seawater cooling. Either one is a show stopper. Together they make a sailboat in the strictest sense of the word.
