UNITED+STATES

We are almost there! The new floor is down and everything is being put back in place. The Team recommended the installation of a reinforcing strutt, which will run the length of the underside of the bridgedeck. You can see from photo 1 the smooth underbelly of our bridgedeck and the strutt, in photo 2, in build. I think Beesmej will be ready to refloat on Friday, Maggie’s birthday. The yacht will rquire serious cleaning, both inside and out. I am going to employ cleaners to do the job for us; we are supposed to be enjoying ourselves, after all! Our electronics team will arrive next Tuesday to install our replacement Autohelm and connect the ship’s radio to its new grounding plate. If all goes according to plan, we will, then, do a “shake-down cruise” around the island of Tortola; stopping at Jos van Dyke, Soper’s Hole and Road Town. If Beesmej is OK, we will clear out of the BVIs and head for Barbados…..as soon as the winds are in our favour!

Posted from British Virgin Islands:

posted Tuesday January 2009