We arrived back on Saturday evening and after a pretty manic Sunday of preparation, Tumi was launched on Monday morning and we were able to move back on board. That's about where the good news stops!
Little of the work we had asked to be done while we were at home has been completed and as I type at 1.30am, unable to sleep because of the slamming spindle inside the mast, I could quite merrily swing for the sail loft who in seven months failed to find a few hours to restitch the seams on our main sail. Hence the disturbed night's sleep: without the mainsail wrapped around the spindle, thereby cushioning it from hitting the mast, the spindle slams from side to side inside the mast, metal on metal, and reverberates through the entire boat as Tumi rocks from side to side with the small swell. We've been promised the sail back by Friday ... fingers crossed.
We also returned to find that the mousing line we bought in March wasn't UV resilient and had perished over the summer. So as soon as Paul tried to pull all the lines (halyards, sheets etc) back through the mast using the mousing lines he so carefully left in situ, they collapsed like tissue paper. So we need a rigger to go to the top of the mast to drop three halyards (ropes) down inside it and hopefully be able to hook them out at the bottom.
The electrical work we had requested also hasn't been done by the but conversations on Monday and Tuesday with a different marine engineer may bear fruit ... in about 3 or 4 weeks time. Looks like we'll be in Grenada for a while!
And finally, to cap it all, the rig survey we requested before embarking on our Pacific crossing yielded a lot of problems with rusted and pitted cabling and swages bringing the integrity of the standing rigging (the bit that holds the mast up) into question. We are not very impressed: most rigs last into double figures years, indeed insurers only demand a survey once a rig is 10 years old. Ours is 4.5 years old! We have taken it up with Jeanneau but aren't holding our breath.
So all in all not a great start but nothing that time and throwing money at it can't solve. Welcome to the world of yacht maintenance in the Caribbean!! On the upside, it's sunny and warm ☀