SLEIGH RIDE TO MARTINIQUE

Transatlantic to Boatyard Paradise

by Amanda Seltzer

“The mechanic said he would not come out to the boat,” Darren relayed as we grimly weighed our options, looking over our to-do list before an Atlantic crossing to the Caribbean. The major outstanding item glared back at us from the top —  saildrive repair. “Well, good thing we have a sailboat!” I replied.

After our first passage from the south of France with our “new to us” NEEL 45 trimaran Panda Rosso, we were safely anchored on the south side of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, getting ready for the next leg of our journey across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Unfortunately, the extent of the saildrive repair was beyond Darren’s mechanical engineering and race car background. After many attempts at diagnosing and fixing at sea, we were still experiencing issues engaging forward gear. Without reliable propulsion, we were not keen on maneuvering this beamy boat through a narrow channel and into a marina for the mechanic’s inspection with the possibility of getting delayed due to the scope of work or availability of parts in the islands. We were determined to not let this stop our passage or momentum for the miles ahead to the Caribbean and beyond. We had quite an ambitious schedule to ultimately get us to the United States where we were launching our first voyages with Outer Passage, an adventure-charter company that specializes in providing sail-training and offshore opportunities.

First and foremost, we reminded ourselves that Panda Rosso is a SAIL-boat, the engine is auxiliary, and what better passage is there for sailing than in the tradewinds? Lucky for us, we only needed the engine for charging the batteries every few days and possibly maneuvering us into the anchorage once we made landfall in Martinique. So we thought maybe we could get the work done in Martinique instead. Sure enough, we found a Volvo Penta mechanic at Carenantilles boatyard in Le Marin.

We made a quick call to describe the issue and check the availability of a mechanic and parts, and they told us it was no issue at all to come out to the boat on anchor, especially since the engine access is a lot easier on the NEEL 45 compared to most sailboats. We were elated by the prospect of this seemingly quick solution!

Sixteen days of downwind sailing later, we found ourselves greeted by sea turtles surfacing in the crystal-clear Caribbean waters, the familiar smell of earth and palm trees dotting the horizon as we brought up the lush island of Martinique. What a postcard-perfect landfall!

Fingers crossed, we shifted into forward gear and maneuvered our trimaran into the crowded bay of Le Marin, anchor ready to drop in case of propulsion failure at any moment, and carefully found a spot among the hundreds of boats. Finally, the hard part was over. I felt like a weight was lifted, we made it to the Caribbean, the mechanic would come out the next day to fix the saildrive and we could enjoy exploring the island before we had to leave for the United States.

Once on the boat, the mechanic quickly and quietly went to work. Darren stayed aboard while I went ashore to provision fresh produce and get a local SIM card for internet. Luckily, both stores were close by. In fact, this modern seaside town was not what I expected. It resembled more of a kind of mini-southern France in the Caribbean. I was delighted with the familiarity of the French bakeries, good wine and European food brands in the grocery store after our recent months in France; a taste of France in the Caribbean, what a treat! I could definitely see ourselves enjoying it here and I looked forward to finally trying the Ti’ Punch everyone raved about.

By the time I got back to the dinghy, I noticed the mechanic at the dock and greeted him enthusiastically. He did not share the same emotion. He went on to express his concern in broken English that “saildrive no good, need new one” as he held pieces of our transmission in his hands. My heart sank into my stomach. This guy just took apart our engine, leaving us dead in the water. All those awful stories of boatwork gone wrong started rattling around my brain. Were we being scammed? 

When I got back to the boat, Darren looked defeated, but told me there was a plan! Feeling apprehensive, we followed the mechanic into the shop with the pieces of our transmission laid out on a table. After further inspection, Darren confirmed the mechanic’s diagnosis. He explained the mechanism in the saildrive which contains a forward and reverse clutch set for engaging forward gears had seized to the extent that servicing wasn’t possible. Most likely in the boat’s history perhaps a rope had wrapped around the propeller; the clutch discs slipped, heated up and ultimately failed. I guess this was a good lesson for us on pre-purchase inspections as this was the first saildrive boat we owned. 

Since the saildrive was deemed unserviceable, the best course of action, albeit the most expensive, was to install a new one. Luckily, they had one in stock and it would come with a warranty, the most guaranteed way to have a reliable transmission for our future miles ahead with our sailing business. This option also presented us with the opportunity to fix a few things on that growing to-do-list while we were hauled out.

We coordinated a tow in the early morning before the tradewinds woke up. A small but powerful tender between the port ama and main hull easily pushed our lightweight trimaran all the way to the haulout slip. Once there, we realized it was going to be a tight fit for our 28-foot beam. The yard had assured us that our NEEL 45 could fit, but this looked sketchy. Slowly, we inched her in with the line handlers, carefully adjusting the fenders within only a foot of space between each ama and the concrete until the slings of the boatlift were in place.

We took some comfort knowing that this boatyard had lifted NEEL trimarans before, but there’s always trepidation seeing your boat lifted out of the water. It’s simply unnatural when a boat is being suspended in the air. However, these guys were truly professional, and as soon as the boat was blocked and secured, the mechanic got to work on removing our saildrive.

Honestly, having only gone as far as Puerto Rico on our previous journey, we had no idea what to expect from the Caribbean as far as boat supplies and facilities. We soon found out what the French know well: Martinique is one of the best places in the Caribbean for European boat parts and getting boatwork done. Somehow we had stumbled upon an island with fully stocked chandleries, rigging facilities, sailmakers, mechanics and boat repair companies accompanied by very friendly people eager to assist. This was the silver-lining to our mechanical disaster story.

In addition to gathering spare boat parts in this plentiful paradise, our brief time in the yard gave us an opportunity to work on unexpected projects like repairing our boot stripe. After sailing 5,000 nautical miles, we soon found out vinyl wrap at the waterline doesn’t work on fast boats. It’s not exactly how I planned on celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary, but we spent this time working productively in all the precious daylight hours to sand, prep and paint the boot stripe on all three hulls.

It wasn’t all work and no play during our stay. When we weren’t in the yard, we enjoyed nice date nights in town, Caribbean Creole cuisine with Ti’ Punch a plenty, and walks along the beautiful beaches and hiking trails. We absorbed as much as we could from this little slice of paradise during our pit stop for boat repairs.

And although we didn’t get to explore the whole island of Martinique, we can’t wait to visit again under better circumstances. We left the boatyard with a little less cash, but a lot more knowledge and experience. That’s what cruising is all about, right?  

Sailors Darren and Amanda Seltzer are owner/operators of Outer Passage, a passagemaking and American Sailing Association ambassador school, aboard Panda Rosso, a NEEL 45 Trimaran (Outer-Passage.com).

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