Emily, Beneteau Oceanis 41 St. Martin – Ponta Delgada May 2024
You know the joke about the guys who wanted to sail across the Atlantic?
They didn’t go :-/
Sunday, May 12th St. Martin
The trip to St. Maarten was long: from Amsterdam to Boston, Than Boston – San Juan, Puerto Rico, overnight stay and the next morning to St. Martin. Thankfully, everything went well with my luggage, and I must say, JetBlue is an airline to remember.
May 8th
I arrived, Aleš let me know they would also arrive that afternoon, so we agreed they’d pick me up at the dinghy dock sailors bar once they got there. That worked out great because it gave me a chance to grab some lunch.
Aleš picked me up around 5 PM, and after a short but intense rain shower, we headed to the boat. The welcome was great. We grabbed some food at the Marina bar and
had a couple of drinks. The first evening was mainly about getting to know each other.
The following days were mostly spent working on the boat. There was quite a lot to do, but the boys, under Kaaya’s leadership, had things well under control. Of course, I did my own checks and came across a major issue: water in the saildrive!
I made it clear right away that this was a showstopper for the crossing. The boys took it seriously and fully understood that this had to be fixed before departure. In fact, they were actually happy I had come aboard since this was exactly why they hired me for the trip.
There was a Yanmar dealer in the Marina who was willing to help, but of course, that required hauling the boat out. This turned into a bit of an issue because the crane wasn’t available that Friday. Eventually, we managed to schedule the haul-out and meet with the dealer’s engineer for Tuesday, May 14.
That was quite a setback, but there wasn’t much else we could do. Over the next few days, we got nearly all of the other jobs done on the boat, including provisioning, and we had a couple of nice dinners at the Marina bar.
Sunday was a day off, and we took a tour around the island. That turned out to be great. Tomorrow, Monday, all the groceries will be delivered, and we’ll need to get them stowed away.
Tuesday morning, we’ll grab the last few things so we can leave on Wednesday morning. Hopefully, the wind will be in our favor because no one accounted for this delay.
Wednesday May 15th, departure St. Martin
Thuesday went according to plan. We got the last provisions, cleared out, refueled, and hauled the boat out at 1 PM. The saildrive repair went fairly quickly, and we also cleaned the bottom of the boat. Unfortunately, they couldn’t splash us in time to make the last outbound bridge. Oh well, we hadn’t really counted on that anyway.
This morning at 8:30 AM, we made the first outbound bridge, and we were finally where we wanted to be: at sea.
Today was all about getting a feel for the boat and figuring out the crew’s sailing skills. The language barrier is going to be a bit of a challenge, but we’ll figure it out. In that sense, it wasn’t too bad that we only had 12 knots of wind.
Friday, May 17th, back in St. Martin
Around 4 PM, we cleared the island. With a NE wind, we had to tack our way around St. Maarten and Anguilla. After that, we were on a nice course heading north. Kaaya had already put his fishing rod out, and within 10 minutes, we had a bite: a small barracuda.
Around 6 PM, Stepan had cooked dinner, and I went below to eat. Petr was also below and noticed that water was running over the floorboards in the galley…. When I lifted the floorboards, all three compartments were full of water!
We opened all the floorboards! The bilge was also full of water. Someone had (accidentaly) turned off the bilgepump. We turned it back on, and a good portion of the water was quickly gone. Since heeled a bit, we scooped the rest out with a bucket. Thankfully, the water wasn’t coming in too fast, and the bilge pump could easily keep up.
The question, however, was: where was the leak? It wasn’t easy to find. All the seacocks were dry, but the boat has a double hull in many places. If a fitting on the outside was leaking, water could seep through the walls into the boat.
That was a real problem! I couldn’t determine where the leak was or how serious it might be. With that uncertainty, I decided to head back to St. Maarten. We hadn’t even covered 100 NM yet and still had over 2,000 NM to go!
Once back in the Marina, we started a thorough search. It was clear that water was mostly coming in when we picked up speed and were on a starboard tack. Once in the Marina, sitting still, the ingress was far less.
I got a great tip: put water-based paint in an empty dish soap bottle, mix with water, go in the water, and carefully spray a little around each fitting. Wherever it gets sucked in is the leak! It sounded like a super idea and would undoubtedly have worked if the leak had been bigger or more water was coming in while stationary.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. While stationary, nothing seemed wrong. After this, we still had no idea where the leak was. :-/ The only thing I could think of was to go back out to sea and systematically rule out possibilities while underway.
Sunday, May 18th, Leak found!
Since we couldn’t find the leak in the marina I decided to go out again. Once at sea, we motored straight into the wind and waves for a while. Nothing happened. Then we got the sails up and sailed a while close-hauled on a port tack—no water in sight. However, after tacking, that changed. Water clearly started coming in, first a little, then more steadily.
It was obvious the water wasn’t coming from the bow but somewhere in the stern. The exhaust was dry, but when we pulled some gear out of the lazarette, we found water there!
Looking further, we quickly found the leak. The transom and the hull turned out to be two separate parts that had been sealed together with what looked like epoxy. Over about 10 cm, the seal was no longer watertight, and water was coming in.
I was quite shocked by this discovery. It seemed the boat’s structural integrity was compromised. I decided immediately to drop the sails and head back to the Marina.
Once back at the dock, we could see that the seal between the transom and the hull on the inside also didn’t look good. In any case, it was leaking.
After discussing with Adam, the owner, we agreed that he’d first contact Beneteau. Perhaps they were aware of this type of issue and could suggest how to repair it.
Monday, May 20th
It took a bit of back and forth with calls and figuring things out, but eventually, we found a solution that Adam, the owner, was okay with. On the outside, the seal would be removed, cleaned, and resealed with Sikaflex. On the inside, the epoxy putty where the leak was would be removed, the entire connection checked for suspicious spots, cleaned, and then laminated with fiberglass.
Brad could haul the boat out again on Wednesday, and Noël could start working on it with two people. It would take 2-3 days, and the following Monday, the boat could go back in the water. In the meantime, the guys could stay in the apartment at the marina.
Also, I had arranged for my replacement. Both repairs had taken more than all the slack in my schedule. I had to be home in time for a hospital appointment that I had already postponed.
That was a huge relief for me. I was flying home on Wednesday, and I was happy that everything was now set in motion for what would hopefully be a good crossing.
Wednesday, May 22nd
When I arrived at the airport around 9:30 AM, I got an unpleasant surprise. My flight to Curaçao was canceled… This, of course, meant I would also miss my connection to Amsterdam.
At first, there was no one from Jetair around. No information or communication whatsoever. The flight board still said my flight was ‘on time,’ but above the check-in counter, it said ‘canceled.’
Long story short: it turned out the airline only had two planes, and one of them was grounded with technical problems.
Eventually, some Jetair people showed up, and their only solution was to give us vouchers for a nearby resort. They advised us to try and rebook our connecting flights with Tui for Sunday, but… they couldn’t guarantee we’d make it by then.
Yeah, that’s not how this works.
By around 4 PM, I made it to the resort. Once were checked in, I went to grab some food. We had also gotten vouchers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, these turned out to be valid for only one day, even though the rooms were booked for two nights. On top of that, they were only usable at one restaurant in the resort—the most expensive one—where the average menu price was double the value of the voucher. We had to pay the difference ourselves.
Of course, I tried every way we could to get in touch with Jetair to figure out what would happen next. In short: zero response whatsoever.
Friday, May 24th, Curaçao
Yesterday morning, after breakfast, I went to the airport to see if we could find an agent or someone to get ‘more’ information.
I had already informed the boys on Emily that I was still on St. Maarten. I had arranged with Kaaya that he would take me to the airport with the dinghy.
When I arrived at the airport, the first thing I noticed was that the Jetair office was closed. However, the information desk managed to get a Jetair agent to come downstairs. This led to a rather unpleasant conversation.
Anyway, she said that I had been rebooked on a flight that would depart on Friday. She claimed she had sent us all an email—she hadn’t! She promised to make sure we’d receive it… which also didn’t happen. Eventually, I heard from the hotel reception that I was on the list for Friday at 11:50 AM.
The flight initially started with a one-hour delay, which quickly turned into three hours, and I didn’t arrive in Curaçao until after five in the evening.
After some trouble at customs, I quickly found a ‘Bike and Bed’ in Willemstad that still had a room available. Finally, some peace and quiet. I decided we’d go to the TUI office the next day to see if anything could be arranged.
Monday, May 27th, heading home
It turned out there wasn’t much we could arrange with Tui. I had to buy new tickets. The only good news was that I didn’t have to pay for our luggage. My options were Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
Monday was by far the cheapest, so that’s what I went for. It was a bit nerve-wracking because I wasn’t the only one trying to book flights. Of the original four seats available, two were already gone. With the help of the Tui staff, I managed to snag the last seat for me on the 8:45 PM flight.
On Sunday, I decided to do something nice. In the morning, I visited Kura Hulanda, a historic UNESCO-protected area in Willemstad, which also has a slavery museum. In the afternoon, I checked out the newly opened mangrove park. Both were definitely worth it.
Monday, I didn’t fly until late in the afternoon, so in the morning, I visited Landhuis Chobolobo, the place where the original Blue Curaçao is made. The tour was super interesting, and of course, I had a little tasting at the end.
So, in the end, I managed to make something out of this bizarre journey home. I guess it fit with how this entire delivery had gone so far!
About six weeks after I got home, I read the article in the news that JetAir had gone busted.
