Caribean

[Gerry]

Well we are about to take the big 'leap; and sometime in mid-november leave the Canaries for the Caribean. I am starting to feel excited but not a little nervous! This will be our longest passage and quite an adventure. Our boat is well founded and we have an excellent inventory of spares on board.
The boat is bulging with water, stores, diesel, medical kits and books..... what could I have forgotten? We are doing it with just the two of us aboard. We did consider taking crew but felt the stress of adapting to others on board when we have only ever sailed two handed would probably negate the advantage of another pair of hands. Insurance company have agreed cover, albeit at what seems an enormous premium , the liferaft is new and the epirb has been tested.
All you old hands out there what else should be on my check list.....?
So many people seem to think its a 'milk run' to cross the Atlantic but I feel its an enormous challenge am I worrying too much?

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[mike_bryon]

You may already have done so but I would rig some heavy preventers to the end of the main boom going forward to blocks and then back to the cockpit. When under way get them nice and tight and stop any movement, which would otherwise means unwanted wear and noise. The will also stop a crash jibe if the steering gear losses it unexpectedly.

Extra sun cream, spare sun hat and glasses!

enjoy.

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[Gerry]

Yup, we have double preventers coming back to the cockpit, wouldn.t sail without them give such a wonderful sense of security. Takes a bit longer to tack but we usually have plenty of time to think about that!

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[ChrisE]

A couple of items: strobes for your lifejackets, Cockroach killer spray.

Best of luck.

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[Gerry]

Interesting. Just found our first cockroach- freaked out! Have put out traps and sprayed liberally with Baygon and found no more...yet. Think it came aboard in a towel after visiting showers. Don't usually stay in marinas but have been doing lift out things! Any advice on dealing with these things? I wash all fresh produce before it comes on board but find it almost impossib;le to get rid of cardboard which I have read you should do. Wjat about the inside of loo rolls etc?

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[snowleopard]

re cockroaches, live with it, they are there to stay but you can keep them to reasonable numbers by sprinkling boric acid powder in your lockers.

there are two main types, the little ones 1/2" long which invade boats and the economy-sized 'mahogany birds' you see on shore. normally the big ones leave boats alone though we saw plenty on the dockside in las palmas. we also had a good laugh when one landed in a crewman's hair in a bar in antigua.

for the crossing: fishing line, 'bimbo' bread keeps amazingly well.

i put together a list of tips for people going to the caribbean which you may find useful <A target="_blank" HREF=http://cwsnowleopard.projectcomputers.co.uk/tips.htm>here</A>

(sorry, server's gone to sleep this morning)

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[AndrewB]

It would not be natural not to worry! But I'm sure you won't let it stop you.

One thing though, beware of a sense of anticlimax if it is all a lot easier than you expected.

Pity about the cockroaches, nothing short of bringing the yacht back for a northern winter is going to clear them.

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[ChrisE]

I don't agree about living with it when you don't have to. In Hiscock's time there wasn't a great deal you could do. Now with modern insecticides you can Nuke the bastards. We had them and successfully eradicated them. The short answer is you have to be vigilant.

You are right, the first thing to do is to try to ensure that they don't get on in the first place and that means assiduously checking all stuff coming on board. We found several in cardboard boxes that had been used to transport goods from supermarket to boat.

Secondly, realise that the damn things fly and the smaller ones, which we knew as German cockroaches, will fly a bloody long way offshore to seek light. Nets help but you can't be netted in all of the time. So inevitably some will get on board.

So, how to get rid of them? Find and spray their lairs with anti-roach spray. And keep on spraying until they don't come back. We found the charmers half way across and it took us until we got to the far bank before we had got rid of them. Whatever else you do don't tread on them or otherwise splat them, their last act is to lay their eggs!

Just to finish off this tale. To give you some idea of how infested a boat can become. A mate of mine used to work for a large boatyard in Lymington and was asked to replace the headlining of a boat that had been in Caribbean for a season. When he prised the old stuff off the saloon ceiling he was covered with litterally thousands of the big brown bombers. Fortunately they had all died in the UK climate,so you've been warned!

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[Sea Devil]

It is a challange and very exciting - I wish you fair winds and a safe landfall - reef when you first think about it and never trust the wet green stuff.

Other than that it is down wind sailing and you sound like you have prepared well so do enjoy the adventure.

Just put cockroach poison everywere. the jelly and 'hotels' and you will get rid of them - Cardboard wrapped in plastic is not really a problem - its the boxes that have been sitting around in wharehouses that are the problem.

regards

Michael

<hr width=100% size=1>If you have time please visit my web site -
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing>http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing</A>

 

[AndrewB]

Cockroaches aren't the only 'bugbear'. Another common one is bed-bugs. I've been caught by these after an evening visit to other yachts in the Caribbean, come back covered in bites and with little dark red dots crawling all over my shirt. Only thing for it was to strip off and dive in the sea, before getting back aboard. Clothes left in the 'quarantine bag' dangling in the water off the back of the boat.

However the only bug we've actually had aboard are flour weevils, which have been a perennial nuisance. They can seemingly penetrate the most air-tight of plastic containers. I regret to say we got so we just sifted them out, rather than condemning the flour. Still a few black specks in the bread though. If you have any patent method of getting rid of them I would be grateful!

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[Gerry]

Oh lord I sqished the bastard thing on the heads floor- have gone and pored hot water all over the place now.... Do you know how long the eggs take to hatch? Should I leave the roach motels out all the time? AAAH I have to go to the supermarket again and stock up on the death traps!

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[Gerry]

Blimey! I thought cockroaches were as bad as it could get! Haven't had to deal with bedbugs ever but am an old hand at weevil control. If we have access to one I put flour in the freezer for 24 hours before stowing away, if not I add a bay leaf or two to the container, it sort of works, well sometimes I don't fimd any weevils buit that could be cos there were't any there in the first place!

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[abraxus]

Have you tried any of the ultrasonic pest repellers, I'm sure I've seen them for roaches. I hate spiders and when I first bought my boat it had loads which would always re-appear both in the cabin and the cockpit, and would hide out in the fixing loops for the canvas canopy. I then discovered the ultrasonic battery repellers and keep a couple in the cabin and a couple in the cockpit and in the two years I've had them I haven't had one spider in either cabin or cockpit.

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[Gerry]

wow! I want one.... where did you get it??? Only 24 hours more in the UK for final shopping this is URGENT!!!

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[jeanne]

3 weeks to the fresh crop Gerry! We found roach hotels the most effective thing to keep them at bay. Just kept them scattered round the boat. Some friends who were badly infested researched thoroughly with a university boffin in Holland and tried all the usual boric acid, insecticide bombs etc, and didn´t get rid of them ´til the hotels were used. Does something to the reproductive system.... NEVER squash the blighters; last thing they do as they die is squirt out the eggs.

Re flour weevils. it is said that you should keep some bay leaves in the container to put them off. Tried it and not sure how effective it is, but didn´t seem to have many after that. Sifting flour is the only way really. With rice, I soaked it in water before use and they float to the top...

Hope you´ve got lots of books we were reading one a day and when you get somewhere a swap is a good way to break the ice.

Have a great trip

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[Gerry]

Thank you. Boat is likely to sink from amount of books on board! Am ruthlessly culling them as we go, we read so fast that its an almost impossible task to have enough on board- I've asked Santa for one of those new ebook things so I can download from the net but I'm not holding my breath.... just finished major engine overhaul and new propshaft installation. Oh well back to the cross stitch .....

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[abraxus]

The spider repeller I can definitely vouch for and is from Nauticalia. The one's I use are the 9v battery ones (pentagonal in shape) and are about a tenner each. They take a few days to become effective as apparently they do something to p*** the spider off and prevent it making webs, but after driving off any that exist, they keep new ones away.

Can't vouch for the roach repellers as I haven't tried any, but these people may be able to help :

http://www.izola.co.uk/products.htm

Otherwise a google search for cockroach or pest repellers should throw up plenty of alternatives.

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[dart]

You can get them in www.elcorteingles.es but I have heard they get used to it.

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[ChrisE]

Weevil free flour

Simple, decant the stuff into tupperware or other airtight plastic containers when it comes on board. Narry a weevil on Rival Spirit!

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[jeanne]

Re: Weevil free flour

Sorry to disagree with the decanting bit keeping them at bay, but buying flour in some out of the way places means they are already there even if you can´t see the blighters. I had some great tupperware containers, but still got the weevils once we were in S. America and the Caribbean.

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