With just a little while left before I take a flight home, we set our sIghts on a sail into Annapolis to get some warranty work done. Up early, it was a beautiful morning. Unfortunately, the winds only allowed us the sail part way. We had to motor for the first leg.
We sailed into get a new windvane put on since the old one had been acting strangely. It was the second one in 18 months since the lightening strike. For that reason Ian and I replaced all of the wires leading up to the windvane. We had to have the marine electrician install the actual windvane to certify our work for insurance. Yantina has lithium ion batteries which needed a new heat sensor, we were able to get this done as well while we were in Annapolis. Curiously, the batteries were from Holland, a replacement was installed in Antigua under warranty, but Ian still had to return the original battery to Holland. It had been sitting on the boat for 4 months. It is very difficult to get shipping for a 80KG battery back to Holland because lithium ion is considered hazardous. After much conversation we were able to get the American distributor to take the battery for us. That was a big relief. That was quite the international transaction!!
The sail back to the South River was great! 16-22kts winds most of the way. We had to tack against the wind, but even by going out of our way it took us a half hour less time to sail back than it did to mother there in the morning! Given the strong wind there were sailboats, sailboard and all manner of sailing craft out on the bay in the afternoon.
The picture above is the culmination of 3 days straight of work laying wires up the mast and installing LED lights on the spreaders. They sure turned out nice!