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Welcome
to the website for 'Teka Nova' the sailing home of Terry Baverstock and
Christine Jarvis |
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16th June 2008 Dear All,
19th November 2007 We left Puerto La Cruz - Venezuela for Margarita. Motor sailing all the way as winds and seas were right on our nose. We dropped anchor at 21.00 hours after 14 hours of punching into it. We only intended to stay for one night but the weather forecast for the next few days was not in our favour, so we sat it out for 9 days along with approx 110 other boats that want to head north. However, Harold and Diana of 'Zephrus' have joined us, which makes our stay pleasurable and of course always fun if these two guys are around.
29th November 2007, gives us the weather window to set off to Los Testigos for a night stop before heading straight up to Antigua on a 3 day passage - 360 miles.
We arrive in Antigua on the evening of 2nd December, tired (3 hours on and 3 hours off watches) but Ok after a pretty uneventful passage. We decide to stay for 7 days, however, once again the weather is about to change and we need to take the opportunity of 2 days of weather window to get to the BVI's. So on 5th December we pick up anchor for a 2 day passage to Tortola.
The seas were lumpy and once we started to get in amongst the Islands it became quite busy with ocean liners. At 02.00 hours on 6th December Ocean Liner 'The Crown Princess', doing 18 knots tried to run us down from astern. We tried to contact the vessel by radio but no reply. So we gave him 5 flashes on the search light, which sorted him out and he reluctantly turned to port. Now we are not saying he was close but the gentleman in cabin 204C should really close his blinds at night!!
For those of you who are not sailors:-
The overtaking vessel is the give way vessel, added to this we could not turn to starboard as we had another Ocean Liner coming up on our starboard side. We could not turn to port as the 'Crown Princess course alteration would have to be to port owing to the position of the other Ocean Liner. If we alter too soon we could place ourselves back in danger.
Anyway we arrive safely in Village Cay - Tortola - guess which Ocean Liner is docked here also!!
Here we are measured for our new set of sails and that is one of the reasons for being here. We also check with the boatyard to be hauled out in March for re-antifouling plus replacing the shaft, which got bent in Antigua. In addition, have a second auto helm fitted - all work we planned to have done in the BVI's.
We also meet up again with John and Christine of 'Timentide' who we got to know in Venezuela and old friends Dave and Jan of 'Irie' ex 2006 ARC.
After negotiating with boatyards etc. and making sure we were set for Christmas, we take a 10 mile leisurely sail (with Irie) over to Norman Island to pick up a buoy in 'The Bight'.
Here we spend a pleasant 3 days with 'Irie' and new friends Larry and Elisabeth of 'Singoala'. It is also where we find we have a problem with the generator. The generator starts and runs fine but is not putting a charge through to the batteries.
After a few days of staying in bays on a couple of different Islands we head back to Village Cay Marina to get someone to take a look at the generator. Bad news - we need a new one - Oh well it is 25 years old and they have an average life of approx 10 years, so its not done too bad - c'est la vie. As the new one cannot be fitted until early Feb, we set off to visit a few more Islands and get in some really nice sailing.
On 22nd December we go into Virgin Gorda Yacht Marina for Christmas.
With our Christmas Tree and Cockpit lights up we sit back, relax and watch the comedy about to unfold before us.
The comedy being the charter boats with people onboard who have little or no experience in sailing or boat handling.
Well we saw just about everything over the next 3 days. The poor Dock Master by Christmas eve had lost all his pateience, sense of humor and Christmas spirit.
Just a couple of example:-
1. Yacht coming into jetty bow first, one man on the helm one man on the bow. The helmsman asks the bow man to tell him when they are nearly there. There is a great thud as the bow connects with the jetty and the boat is jolted violently backwards. 'Ok we are there' shouts the bow man.
2. Medium to largish power boat (Gin Palace), reversing onto jetty with a pontoon on the starboard side and another Gin Palace the other side of the Pontoon.
The Gin Palace is about to cut it abit to fine round the end of the pontoon - not a problem as this can occur quite frequntly especially if the wind is pushing you on. Just gently go back out and try again.
Dock Master:- 'Go forward please sir'
Gin Palace is still coming in reverse.
Dock Master: 'Go forward please sir'.
Gin Palace is still in reverse.
On the 5th time of the Dock Master telling him to go forward he is now at screaming level and waving his hands frantically in the air, shouting Go forward!!, Go forward!!.
At this point the Gin Palace goes into 'FULL' throtle ahead, however his wheel is over to port. As the Gin Palace hauls forward and to port the sun anwing supports connect with the other Gin Palaces anchor which is in its anchor housing on the front of the boat - but not for long. The long and the short of it was that the anchor (albeit pulled from its housing) won and the Gin Palce with the sun awning became a convertibule - Och!!
When the last boat was coming in on Christmas eve the last thing we heard the Dock Master shout was 'Did you get any instructions before you took the boat'?
Harold, we now know what you mean about the BVI's!!
Christmas day was peaceful and quiet and yes we had the traditionl Roast Turkey with all the trimmings plus Xmas Pud, all cooked onboard Teka Nova of course.
New Year's Eve was spent in Trellis Bay on Beef Island. Entertainment on shore followed by a firework display.
We then set off back to Norman Island and picked up a buoy in 'The Bight'.
Along comes a charter catamaran with 3 ladies and 3 gentleman roughly around our age upwards. They drop anchor in front of us. By the time the boat has drop back they are quite close to us but not too bad, however they are even closer to the shore.
A great debate then takes place on the 'Cat', which resulted in one of the gentleman diving over board to check to see if the anchor is holding - by the way this particular gentleman has only got 1 arm.
In the meantime (its quite windy - 25knots plus), one of their roll up sun mattress blows over board and drifts past us on its way to the shore. This is followed by another gentleman in the dingy to go and retireve it, which is then followed by the one armed man floating by on his back to assist.
The mattress is retireved but the one armed man can not get into the dingy, as he is holding on by the one arm his got and does not have another for the guy in the dingy to haul him in by. So he is hanging over the side for the journey back to the 'Cat'
One of the ladies is standing on the sten of the 'Cat' ready to take the dingy line. The man with the one arm manages to get on the stern of the 'Cat' just as the lady takes the dingy line and gives it a good pull, however as she gives it a good pull her elbow comes out and knocks the one armed man back into the water - it doesn't end here...........
A few moments later the dingy comes past again with the 3rd gentleman and the one armed man. This time to retireve a shoe that has gone over board. The shoe has now drifted onto the shore, so the one armed guy jumps out to fetch it. However, the dingy has gone aground and the one armed man needs to give it a good shove before he trys to get in. The shove works but they are back to the senario of the one armed man having to hang over the side (this time at the front) for the journey back to the 'Cat'. As they go past they shout to us 'You know we charge for this kind of entertainment'
Anyway now its dark and the wind is still around 25knots plus and the sea is choppy. All six of them decide to get in the dingy and go ashore to the bar.
Well the first thing we heard was ahhhhhhhhhhh as the first wave must have come over into the dingly, followed by someone shouting 'This was one hell of an idea'!!!
Entertainment value - Priceless!!!!!!!!! for everything else there is Barclaycard.
Over Jan and Feb, we have our new sails, second auto helm and new generator fitted, plus a rigging check and some replacements to that as a result. In between we have had friends and family visit us, which has been great plus get to see some lovely places and get some great sailing in. Also met up with Paul and Mhairi old friends of Terry's who happened to be chartering a boat out here.
On 4th March we were hauled out for the re-antifouling, new sea cocks, new water maker and a new anchor housing for the big new anchor we bought. We will be out of the water for just over a week - if were lucky (Carribean time), after which we have Terry's daughter coming out to visit, followed by the new davits fitted to Teka Nova. Hopefully, that will tick off all the big items we had planned for the boat before going through the Panama Canal next year.
5th March had dinner with Bob and Sally of 'Exceat' ex 2006 ARC, which thinking about it we probably have not seen them for a year now. Great to see you guys.
We are still really enjoying this life and are both well.
Thats all our news for now, please let us know your news, we would love to hear from you. Please bear with us if you do not get a response for some days as the internet connection is still as frustrating as ever, up sometimes but mostly down or intermittant and of course we could be out at sea where connection is not possible.
Also we have discovered that we have not been receiving some E-Mails that have been sent to us, apologises to anyone that has not receive a response from us, we are not ignoring you, please don't give up and try again.
Very Best Wishes to all Christine and Terry
Date: Friday 26th October, 2007 Pleased be advised that our Mobile phone does not work in Venezuela, at present we can only pick up E-Mails. 24th May 2007 After being launched back in the water we visited, with Neil Jarvis onboard, a couple of bays around Grenada before departing on an overnight passage to Los Testigos Islands (90 miles). We had a fabulous night sail averaging 7.5 knots. Teka Nova was going like a train, what a difference the wash off and re-anti-foul made. When we started reaching speeds of 9 knots plus we thought it would be a good idea to slow her down. The auto-pilot coped all the way. Los Testigos Islands were lovely, only 168 people live on the mainland. You first have to check in with the Coast Guard (friendly and helpful) before anchoring off the Islands. The snorkeling was particular good. On one particular day we were both reading in the cockpit, when we noticed a fishing boat of medium size with 10 men onboard getting very close to us, we began to panic when they started throwing lines onto our boat. We then noticed that they had Teka Two (the dinghy) in tow. Teka Two had come untied and drifted out to sea, neither of us had noticed. The fishermen went and retrieved it and brought it back to us. If it had not been for the fishermen we would have quite wrongly thought Teka Two had been stolen. The fishermen well deserved the beers we were able to give them. Los Testigos Islands are well worth a visit if you are sailing in the area. On 3rd June at around 06.00 the Dutch set sail, followed by the German yacht, then us at 06.50 and Fabio awhile later to Margarita (Porlamar). Well once again we had a great sail. The winds picked up and we started to catch the German in his lighter weight fibre glass yacht and make on the Dutch concrete yacht. We just drew level with the German when the winds dropped and he pulled away from us but we are still making on the Dutch. The winds pick up again and we take the advantage of this. We catch and overtake the Dutch yacht. The German just slips into the harbour before us but we have our anchor down and the beers out before him. The Dutch yacht comes in and salutes us shouting over "you won". Now we have to say we were not really racing but this was a bit of fun and we have never caught up, let alone overtaken another yacht, so we were particularly pleased with Teka Nova's performance. About an hour later Fabio sails in, grinning, he has caught a big fish, (hence his delay) and invites us to dinner to share his catch, what a gentleman. Fabio starts with sushi - he has marinated the fish with olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and capers. This was followed by lightly baked fish and vegetables - it was absolutely wonderful and a perfect end to a perfect days sailing. The latest update on our fishing is still nil to us and 2 lures and a complete line to the fish. A couple of days later we were chatting to the Dutch:- Dutch: “You were sailing very well and fast that day”. “But our boat is very heavy, she is made of concrete and weighs 26 tons”. Us: “We are steel and weigh 32 tons”. YEAH!!!!!!!!! We stay in Margarita, at anchor for approx. 3 weeks whilst we have a sun cover made for Teka Nova and covers for Teka Two. Whilst we were there an unexpected storm bounced off main land Venezuela and came through the anchorage. Teka Nova started dragging her anchor and we just managed to start the engine in time to avoid hitting another yacht by inches. The wind got up to 50 knots, yachts were dragging their anchors everywhere and some collided with others, (approx. 80 yachts in the anchorage), Genoa sheets were being pulled out of their furling and shredded and sun covers were ripped to pieces. We were OK and did not sustain any damage but had to hold Teka Nova on engine power for an hour and ferry glide around our anchor, as we could not get the anchor up in the weather conditions. On 26th June we pick up anchor at 05.15 and head for main land Venezuela – Puerto La Cruz (Bahia Redonda Marina) to berth Teka Nova for the hurricane season and the trip back to the UK. We had concerns regarding coming to Venezuela owing to the bad write ups surrounding the area. However, we are very pleased we came and the local people are really friendly and try to be helpful. You just have to be careful about walking out of the Marina at night etc. Really no different to some parts of the UK and in St Lucia, Rodney Bay people were mugged in the Marina, you just have to be sensible. There is a good write up in August’s edition of “Compass”. So don’t be put off it’s a great place to come. There are a great bunch of cruisers down here, majority are Americans who are very sociable and great company to be with – we are having a “blast” On 17th July we head back to the UK. Once again, unfortunately, we were not able to get to see everyone we would have liked to. However, many thanks to everyone for your hospitality and putting up with us, especially Neil Jarvis who ended up with us for an extra 2 weeks owing to Christine having an accident and damaging the base of her spine. A special thanks to Geoff Green who got Christine back on her feet and moving around again. We arrive back in Venezuela on 17th September. We would like to say a huge “Thank You” to:- Cathy and Ken of “Chill”, for looking after Teka Nova in our absence. Many thanks Guys!!! We will stay here for a few weeks, whilst we carry out maintenance tasks on the boat, changing oil and fuel filters etc. the usual stuff and wait for the hurricane season to pass. We will probably go out for 1 or 2 day sails to the islands close to Bahia Redonda before heading north to St. Martin. Very Best Wishes
Date: Thursday 24th May, 2007 Dear All, Firstly, we have our mobile phone back and working, although we are unable to retrieve our voice messages from it, text messages are OK. Our website is back up and running, many thanks Philip. WARNING this is a long E-Mail as we have not written for so long - apologies. SPECIAL NOTES We would like to send our Love and Very Best Wishes to Terry and Nicola Flinn of "Flinesse" and James of "Apparition" for a safe and speedy Return ARC. Good Luck guys and let us know how you got on. Hi Paul Tyminski, how are the repairs going - let us know how you are getting on please. UPDATE After spending New Year in Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua with Terry's daughter Julia and her friend Clare, the weather (strong winds and high Then came the three stooges - Terry, Mike and Chrissy. Well what a laugh we had, it was something crossed between Benny Hill and Black Adder. So off we take them to Guadeloupe, calling in at the Saints, Dominica, Martinique, where we bumped into Bob and Sally of "Exceat" and then Rodney Bay in St. At this point we still had our fuel contamination problem. So we bit the ballet and opened up all 4 fuel tanks and pumped £600 worth of fuel away. However, on the good side we re-met up with:- Terry and Nicola Flinn of "Flinesse". Terry Flinn and Terry Baverstock were in the RAF together - small world. Here we also made new friends:- Tom and Colette of "Prim Teaze of Leith". All above were ARC yachts. We then left and headed back to Antigua to pick up the "Boys"- Terry (he who came back for more), Geoff (neckachief that doubles up as a spare Q flag) and Tim (I'm in the Pink). Here we also bump into:- Bob and Sally of "Exceat" again - hope you guys are well and that we catch up soon. Tony and Kay White, who were on holiday in Antigua and thought they would just pop along to Nelson's Dockyard to see if we were around. Tony was a colleague of Terry's with Monarch. Great to see you guys, please keep in touch. We leave Nelson's Dockyard with the boys only to get a rope (an entire slim Once again, we take leisurely sails around Antigua with the "Boys", as they only have a short time with us. Again this was a delightful week, spent with three very dear and gentle friends. We guess they must have enjoyed themselves as they are already talking about another "Boys" week with us. Here we have included a note from Geoff Green:- February 19th 2007 "In what became known as, ‘The Boys Trip to Antigua’, Terry Bown, Tim Melton and I joined Teka Nova at English Harbour. Apart from a one day outing, this was my first proper sail; eight days on the ocean waves. Christine and Terry never failed to amaze us; Christine produced fantastic meals on a cooker the size of a matchbox and Terry’s ability to overcome problems on board and still make our stay great was remarkable. My cough, which I’d had for months, disappeared and I experienced the best sleep I’d had for a very long time. Secluded coves, swimming off the boat in turquoise seas, magical white beaches, sundowners at the end of the day and a memorable trip around Antigua. Fantastic. Thanks a million to you both. Much love, Geoff" We finish up in Falmouth Harbour where we are along side with the likes of Leander Check them out on their websites. Here, we once again meet up with:- Brian of "Scraatch" James of "Apparition". Great photo Colette - many thanks for that. Unfortunately, after all our efforts with the fuel tanks, we still have the problem. So we order a fuel conditioning and polishing unit. Time to go back to the UK and do a whirl wind tour to catch up with as many friends and family as possible. Many thanks to you all for your understanding that we had a very limited time but it was great to see all of you that we did manage to get to see. On 8th April it was back to the Caribbean - tough life. After we arrived back at the boat in Antigua, we were joined by Peter and Lynne Mallen. We headed south back to Guadeloupe, The Saints, Dominica, Martinique and then St Lucia - Rodney Bay where we collect the fuel conditioning unit. From there we started further south into new water for us, first being Soufriere Bay (still in St Lucia) where the Pitons are. If you have not heard of them there a a set of pointed hills that made a fabulous back drop whilst we were at anchor. On the way down (between Antigua and Guadeloupe) we came across a pod of Sperm Whales (30 - 40 feet in length) who gave us a wonderful display of jumping out of the water, doing somersaults then crashing back down again. Then down to Bequia (Beck-way) - population 5,000. When you hear the Conch Shell being blown it means one the the local fishermen have just come in with their catch and you go and buy it from them. So far our efforts of fishing have produced a big fat zero!! Thanks Martimus for the tips, we will let you know how we get on. Peter and Lynne depart for the UK, hope we did not wear you guys out too much and that you enjoyed your trip as much as we did. We stay in Bequia a few days to fit the fuel conditioning unit. Fuel unit fitted we then proceed to pass all the fuel through. Next day we sample our fuel.............we have clean fuel for the first time in 5 months. We can also condition and polish other boats fuel!!! There are quite a few boats around who do not know they have the fuel "bug" problem and it is only discovered when the engine stops. We have been fortunate (albeit painful) whereby we have a system that allows us to to be able to draw off the bad fuel from the bottom of the fuel tanks, thus keeping it away from the engine. Now having this new unit means we do not have to do this every other day. It cleans fuel at 500 litres per hour and you don't have to stand and watch it. Next stop was Union Island - population 2,000, where Christine saw a cute baby turtle as we were getting ready to drop the anchor - no I didn't drop it on him but Terry nearly ran him over. Christine's colleague back in UK Onward to Carriacou - not sure of the population but they all seemed to be very tall and there were quite a few handicapped, very strange place, also had a run in with the customs officer. One of the great things about the Carribean is that you have "boat boys" come out to your boat selling fresh bread, fruit and veg etc. beats queueing at Tescos. In Carriacou we even had our wine delivered £3 a bottle and home delivery - not bad. Then down here to Grenada, St David's Harbour - saw a couple of large turtles float by us on the way. People here are very friendly and try to be helpful. We have been hauled out to have Teka Nova's bottom scraped and re-anti-fouled. She has more growing on her bottom than there is growing on the coral reefs. The shaft to the prop also needs to be re-aligned as a result of the rope in Antigua being caught around it - it actually bent it!! We have also met up with Susan and Nick of "Flying Start". Its great listening to Susan and Nick, they have quite a few funny tales to tell, which have had us in stitches - a great couple. "Flying Start" was the yacht that came across the immigrants whilst on the ARC. They stood by them throwing bottles of water to them until a rescue ship could pick them up - 14 hours, in seas with big swells. They were awarded "The Spirit of the ARC" trophy, which was well deserved. Susan and Nick introduce us to new friends:- John of " Ocean Harmony" from Canada who was also on the ARC. Safe journey home and hope to see you back out here soon. And so the socialising continues........................ Neil Jarvis joined us on 22nd May, when we will start heading for Venezuela for the hurricane season. Well we are going to wrap this up for now, as you are probably bored by now (or have fallen asleep) with all our babbling. Miles to date since leaving the UK - 6,265 Hope this E-Mail finds you all well. Very Best Wishes Date : Mon, 1 Jan 2007 Dear All, We hope you all had A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Firstly, our mobile has given up and we are currently without one that can As per our previous E-Mail we arrived safe and sound in St Lucia on Friday The week before the ARC was amazing, over 200 boat crews working every day Some yachts had it harder than others i.e. the boat opposite us an Oyster The departure from Gran Canaries was terrific with the dock sides lined with For our particular group of boats the start time was 13.00 (26th Nov). We Well we were off and on our way, all hoping for a good crossing with The first 24 hours we sailed very conservatively in order to allow the crew The first few days saw very light winds with varying directions due to the Whilst we were still north of the trade winds the sea states became very We did get to see dolphins and catch one fish, which the two Ian's cooked Overall we faired well (just a broken bracket fitting for the pole and a On arriving in Rodney Bay, St Lucia each yacht was met day or night by ARC We arrived in the morning so all the crew retired to a local restaurant for In general on Teka Nova we had as a crew a relatively easy passage, with two The Atlantic crossing experience remains one of the World’s great Ocean We departed St Lucia (Terry and Christine) on 21st December for a night stop On 29th Julia (Terry’s daughter) and her friend Clare arrived to spend 10 That’s all for now. Best Wishes Dear All, We forgot to mention we logged 2,884 miles on the ARC crossing. Since leaving the UK on 18th Sept and arriving Antigua on 23rd we have done Best Wishes
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 Dear All Many thanks to you all for your kind messages. We are currently berthed in We will be writing at greater length over the holiday as we currently have This message is to wish you all a very special and happy Christmas and we With lots of love and best wishes Terry and Christine xxxxxxxx PS Important message our mobile phone has packed in completely and we are Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 Dear All, Just a short note to say that we arrived safe and sound on Friday 15th at An amazing trip and adventure. We will update you all with more details when we get up to Antigua - the Many thanks to everyone for your messages of Good Luck and Congratulations Very Best Wishes Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 Dear All, >Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:57:37 +0000
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