Leaving and Returning to George Town

Well, we did have a roaring sail north out of George Town on Sunday, March 18, as planned.  We sailed with reefed main and # 3 genoa in 18-20 kt winds with some impressive sized waves.  About a mile from Galliott Cut where we were going to come through to leave the sound and enter the banks, dark clouds brought a squall with pounding rain and gale force winds for a short time.  We rolled up the genoa and just sailed toward the northeast until it passed.  Our bimini and dodger were delightful to provide protection for us in the cockpit.  No photos of this excitement – just close your eyes and let your imagination run. It was exciting! After 30 minutes, we turned back west and motor/sailed through the Cut to anchor behind Galliott Cay for the night with two other boats.

Ever vigilant Captain Jay had felt some vibrations and heard some new “strange” sounds as we motored between anchorages the last few days in George Town.  Upon motoring into the Galliott Cut, he felt they had increased significantly.  Jay dove to check out our prop and found this black strip of rubber partially coming out of the cutlass bearing which supports the propeller shaft.

To make a long story short, our cutlass bearing needs replacing which requires that Priority be pulled out of the water.  Resident Terry Baines of Ocean Cabin Restaurant on Little Farmer Cay helped us get in touch with George Town Marine near Red Shanks. They can lift our boat out of the water and get a new cutlass bearing.

We stayed at anchor behind Galliott Cut for four days to wait for winds to drop below 20kt and to get calmer seas to sail back out on the Sound. Friday we sailed south back to George Town to minimize any further damage to the transmission or shaft. We are currently at anchor in Red Shanks which is close to George Town Marine. Unfortunately, a cutlass bearing is one of the few spare parts we did not bring along.  We are waiting for a new cutlass bearing to arrive in George Town and then we’ll be ready for hauling.  Jay has the tools and plans to do the work. Now we are on “Island Time” to see when the part arrives and when we can be pulled to do the job. We are thankful to have a flexible schedule to deal with these surprises of our adventure.