Yacht Repairs in Beautiful Places. Or Where We’ve Disappeared To

Sailing across a hundred seas during a pandemic means that even if you do find yourself close to land, you will have neither the opportunity nor the time to go travelling around it. Because the only thing you can do off those hot, heavenly shores is repair the yacht. And the captain has a repair list for that. Here it is in all its glory. Yacht repairs in Polynesia: 2 partly torn shrouds (the cables holding up the mast) — replace Complete overhaul of the watermaker, ordering a new membrane and inspecting the failed Clark pump, ordering spare parts for it (the most expensive item) Complete overhaul of the windvane self-steering system, ordering new parts made from 5 mm stainless steel, patching holes with epoxy resin In the absence of spare parts: build one heater out of two, weld a new stainless-steel exhaust pipe to replace the old one, which burned through after seawater boiled inside it Major mainsail repairs — resew the entire leech, about 15 metres of heavy sailcloth, cunningly curved with a cord threaded inside, plus various contraptions built into it: reinforcing patches and crosspieces known as “battens” Minor repairs to the genoa and staysail (the two sails forward of the mainmast) Purchase and installation of a new solar panel (the old one was destroyed in the storm, short-circuited and cracked into a million shards, like the troll’s mirror in The Snow Queen) Inspection of the wind sensor on the mast — repair or replacement. This does not include: patching up the battle-worn awnings; cleaning the hull sides of the brown microalgae that grew a metre above the waterline in warm latitudes because of our severe heel while battling against the prevailing wind; various little jobs such as sealing leaks in the windows and where the shrouds are attached to the deck; Cleaning the bottom; coating it with antifouling paint right up to the waterline. But that is on the verge of falling through, because there is neither time nor money. The battle-worn awnings have been standing watch for eight years, lowering the temperature inside the boat by a couple of degrees. Now they are killer-good: not only does the sewing machine stubbornly snag and snap the upper thread, but we have also run out of patches. So we had to patch the holes with scraps of blue awning fabric that had been placed under the sewing machine’s presser foot when we bought it. As a result, our fabric roof now looks like Cinderella’s apron from the cartoon. Though at least it is clean. About the land It is close by, even though you have plunged headlong into yacht repairs. Wafts of flowers and smoke drift over from the land. Smoke smells like this only in the tropics; it is special here. Even as we were approaching the infamous Christmas Island (where we were refused an emergency stop and water), we caught its scent long before land appeared. Mmm... that is what Polynesia smells like. And coconut paradise. Or, more precisely, coconut firewood. The Cap collects coconuts Now we have a breather, sound sleep and bananas for breakfast. And after New Year, guys, get ready: we will tighten our superhero belts again and set off for the continent. A passage of about three months; the last thousand miles promise to be a bit brutal. But that is if we head west. We are planning to arrive in the Russian Far East. But alas, it is not yet ready for us. We still have not resolved the problem of entering our homeland, and there is no information about an electronic visa for Korea. If we have to push on to Panama, that will be the worst possible turn of events in our voyage. Our dear friends, thank you for your support in the comments! We truly appreciate that you are keeping your finger on the pulse. The satellite tracker is switched off for now; it will begin showing Lady Mary’s route again as soon as we get underway. Wishing you a festive New Year mood! Join us live! And to keep that mood going and get fired up for victory together, we have found a way to get online and go live on our YouTube channel. Join us on 22 December at 19:00 Moscow time at youtube.com/c/travelyfamily See you there, and we will tell you everything in vivid detail. As usual, we will answer all your questions. Thank you to Vitaly R., Sergey G., Vladimir K., Olga A., Sergey P., Mikhail Ya., Zufar S., and the owner of card ..2896 for topping up the expedition budget through Yoomoney and Paypal, and for making us feel that what we do is worthwhile. Hugs! See you live, friends. P.S. All photos are from Suwarrow Atoll