From our very first contact with the people of the Seychelles their friendly helpful spirit impressed us. Victoria harbor control cleared us straight into the anchorage, and when we had trouble steering the channel because of the broken pintile, the coast guard came out and helped guide us in to a safe anchorage. Customs, immigration, and health officials were all very efficient and trouble free to deal with, actually coming on board.
Truth be told those first few days in port we just rested and did small jobs on the boat. Peter and Wil managed to distinguish them selves by going on a marathon 36-hour binder, finally coming to their senses sleeping under an old yacht in the yacht club. Meggi returned to her running, and the skipper did his best to stuff tons of soft tack (fresh bread) into his face.
Then it was down to the serious business of repairs. There are only two real ship/boat yards in Seychelles. Of those two Charlie’s boat yard by the airport, a father and son yard, is simply miles ahead of the other one. Not only were their prices very reasonable, but the level of professionalism, and accumulated experience, were impressive. Their open honest friendliness had a great deal to do with our choice. Being the best yard around meant that they were scheduled weeks in advance, so it was back to the small improvements while we awaited our turn.
On the given day out she came, smoothly and with out the least problem. While the boat was out of the water we did a complete bottom job on her. Caulking all her little leaks, the ones I didn’t have time for in Cape Town, along with a whole long list of “need to do things”.
The steering was repaired; Charles actually found a design fault in the system, which was putting strain on the steering ram causing it to break. This was repaired along with the rudder then it was back into the water again. It was a week of very hard tiring work, but well worth it.
All of that waiting and work took about a month, which ate heavily into our modest store of provisions, not to mention our almost non-existent finances. The big worry was how to feed ourselves during the next, and longest, stage of the trip. That is until we met Terry and Amitish from the Seychelles Marketing Board.
Together they arranged the donation of an amazing amount of “out of date” and “slightly damaged” goods. Which not only made all the difference in the world to our pantry but also did so in a very logical manner. Many were the time we blessed them during the 3,000-mile trip to Malaysia.
Before I go on I would like to formally thank Alistair Maiden, of Sun Sail, Seychelles. We had always been very short on light weather sails. With almost nothing for running at all. I approached Alistair to see if he might have any old sails we could adapt for our use. Not only did he have several old sails they didn’t need, but also he was very fair about getting them to us. Looking back, this last leg would have been a lot longer and harder with out those sails. In fact hardly a day went bye with out their being used.
As the time to depart came closer Wil started having second thoughts about the whole business of deep-water sailing. His experiences during the cyclone had deeply affected him. At last he decided he didn’t want to continue with us for the final leg of this journey. So, we all bid him good-bye and good luck as he signed off of the Vega.
On the ninth of April the three of us filled the fuel tanks with our last few dollars and left on the next stage. This would be the longest leg of the trip, 3,000 sea miles non-stop.
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