The Best Laid Plans
By now, those of you who have been following our tracker and our blog may have noticed that the 2024 World ARC departed Saint Lucia towards Panama in early January without us. We reluctantly decided in mid-December that we and Saltair simply weren’t ready to cross the Pacific. As you know from our previous blog posts, we’ve been struggling with a long list of new-boat issues since we left Sweden last summer and they continued to challenge us on our Atlantic crossing. Shortly after we left Las Palmas our starboard rudder bearing, which had already been previously repaired twice by HR, began leaking again. Then to make matters worse our port rudder bearing, which had until that time been water-tight, also started leaking. With the pumps that HR added to the steering compartment in Las Palmas we felt comfortable continuing on across the Atlantic but the continual water ingress highlighted by the noise and lights of the cycling pumps added a significant amount of uncertainty and stress to our crossing. We also experienced significant challenges with our downwind sail plan and other more minor issues.
While we had accomplished a tremendous amount over the prior six months, sailing Saltair as a family some 5500 miles from Sweden to Saint Lucia, with stops in Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, France, Madeira and Gran Canaria, the continual parade of new-boat challenges had taken a huge emotional toll on us and our excitement at the prospect of exploring the Pacific islands had turned into dread at the thought of what might go wrong next.
So after some serious consideration we withdrew from the 2024 World ARC. Instead, we will focus on getting Saltair properly repaired and cruise the Caribbean this winter at a leisurely pace. We’ll then head up to New England for the summer months to continue our exploration of the Maine coast. Our working plan is to head back to the Caribbean in the fall and join the 2025 World ARC across the Pacific.
Hallberg-Rassy has been highly apologetic and cooperative throughout our challenges. They were fully prepared to make the repairs in Saint Lucia prior to the early January World ARC start and those repairs will now take place in Martinique in early February.
Sounds like a great plan. Stay safe. Aunt joan
Adam, Guillaumette, Really happy to hear you decided to change plans. As we say in France "Il n'y a que les imbeciles qui ne changent pas d'avis", and you are not idiots...:). I am sure it was not easy to abandon a very well planned adventure, but you needed a sound, dry boat to do it! You have now a few months of relaxed time in the Caribbean in front of yo... not a bad trade. Laure and I are pretty familiar with your new sailing grounds and happy to share some suggestions when you are ready to leave Martinique. Have a great time! Cheers, D&L
Disappointing but so smart to get it fixed and well sorted now and not stress about it for your whole trip! And your revised plan sounds pretty awesome so I'm sure you won't regret changing to the 2025 World Arc. Rainy and stormy here in the Bay right now so the Caribbean sounds like an excellent way to spend the winter. Have fun!! and take lots of pictures xoxo, Melinda and Bill
Sounds like a good plan. Would love to chat. All the best, Susan
What a trip this has been. I’m impressed by your resilience! Given the new plans... Come visit Chebeague this summer!!
So sorry about the change in plans but I admire your positive attitude and sense of adventure. And in any case, you're on a boat...in the Caribbean...:)