The Demise of our Home Frolic

We finally got permission to go into the BVI and we contacted our friends Loren and Jo on Ragamuffin. They graciously agreed to take us aboard for a week and take us to Virgin Gorda to check out our boat.

Our first look at Frolic did not look good

We motored up against 20 Kts. of wind to Virgin Gorda and anchored inside the reef. Since it was late, our first foray to the boat yard was just to take pictures.

The star sugar scoop is torn away from
the hull and the hull broken

The port rudder is twisted and bent

The dinghy is wrecked and bottom
of hull at sugar scoop torn up

Frolic is dismasted and the mast broke

The port keel is bent and crushed and
torn open

The starboard keel is driven 2' into
the ground

All mast top devices are gone

Starboard chain plate is distorted

The solar cells and all aft lifelines are
gone and davit is twisted

cockpit table and debris block the door

The wheel didn't escape destruction

even the starboard jib sheet winch was
destroyed. we found all the pieces, but
not the winch drum

The hardtop and solar panel are gone
and the frame destroyed

More debris to get in

Inside was a mess

stuff was everywhere

The port hull is deformed and aft cabin
door ripped off

Port fuel tank is driven into the aft cabin

Port bilge should be 3' down not  against
the floor boards

Starboard bilge is full of water and
floor boards floating

water in starboard aft cabin went over
the high pressure water pump for water
maker

wind around the door turned 2
circuit breakers on

starboard grill support driven through
hull

both engine hatches were torn off
and engine compartment ripped apart

Carl puts tarp over engine compartment

tarps on sugar scoop and deck holes
taped up

The next day we worked to mitigate any further damage. I drilled a hole in the starboard keel to drain out the water and prevent further water accumulation. We cleaned debris off the boat and cleaned off mud and dirt before taping up all the holes on the deck and putting blue tarps over the sugar scoops to keep any more water out of the engine compartments.

Ragamuffin then took us back to St. Thomas via Marina Cay, Cane Garden Bay, and Jost Van Dyke. We are now making a blog of pictures of the Virgin Islands, but as we speak more places are opening up, and more places are being repaired. The charter companies are saying they will be in full operation by 1 Dec. and many other spots are shooting for the same date.

Now we await the insurance adjuster to declare her a total loss. Then it will be back one more time to remove all our personal items, and then move on.

The End of the Season, Maybe the end of Cruising

 

the floats were aplenty

neat floats

While Carl was in Florida Leslie went to the Floatapolusa in Brewers Bay. It was a great time with lots of funny floats and of course lots of splashing around and drinks.

 

Carl the new baker!

They had some neat floats

Carl started to bake croissants and breakfast goodies, then we started to get ready to end the season. We went to St John for 4^th of July as our last big hurrah before heading to the BVI to get ready to haul out for the season.

biggest butterfly ever

 

some people were scary

there were a lot of dancers

the USA group

Leslie dances with the Zulus

fireworks were great!

who knew there was an air filter to change

We relax with a game of Dark Tower

We started to do our end of season routine change the fuel and oil filters back flush the engines, clean and the boat and put things away. Once we hauled out it was wax the boat, put away the engines, take down and tie up the sails, secure the dinghy and outboard, and strap down the boat.  I finished my rebreather certification with a dive on the Rhone. We caught a ferry to St Thomas and stayed a night in the hotel before catching the plane back ending the season.

Our last stay at Maho Bay

I was underwater 100 minutes and it
said I had a 100 minutes more I could
stay down. I only stayed 150 minutes

The side of the Rhone

These fish loved me

We have a nice ceremony for Mom

We are packed up in St Louis and
ready to go!

We traveled a lot helping our son Aron move from Tampa to his new posting at the Pentagon and then heading to Cody Wyoming for a celebration of life and burying of ashes for Leslie’s mother who died this past March.  We went to St Louis to pack up our stuff as our son Eric had sold his house, bought a 47’ cat and took his family sailing.

The total eclipse was awesome!

Carl backs the truck up to our new digs

On the way to Florida we were able to watch the full eclipse in a Walmart parking lot. We bought a place in the pan handle of Florida so we could stow our stuff and have a place to stay now that Eric was sailing. Carl drove the truck from St Lois and we unloaded our stuff in our new place. We had only just unpacked our stuff when Eric came by to drop off his Bronco and some stuff for us  to store for him. I guess turnabout is fair play.

Eric's stuff and his Bronco "Robin" at our new shop

We watched with batted breath as Irma started coming down the Leeward Islands with a direct hit on the BVI. Then Maria came through and side swiped the BVI. We have only seen some aerial pictures of the yard where we store Frolic and it looks bad! Our sailing days of Frolic may be over. We are now waiting to be able to go to the BVI and see the results of Irma.