On the morning of the 14th we went over to the sail loft to check on the main repair. Herve, the owner said the repair was already completed. He showed us where the luff tape pulled away from the bolt rope at two full batten points. He said he sees this all the time on in-boom furling because the batten does not attach to a car as it does with slab reefing making it very weak. He added an additional piece of thin carbon fiber looking backing material saying it should make it stronger. Our sail maker at Quantum insists it is a furling issue. Latter in the day the sailmakers came out to the boat and we attached the main. The work exceeded our expectations and the cost was a fraction of a similar sail repair in Tortola. Yes!
Tomorrow we head south to St. Lucia. We are probably close to being banished from this island because our poor communication attempts demerits. We have seen few if any cruisers from English speaking countries. Martinique has a charter fleet that rivals the BVI and seems geared for French visitors. You could spend a week here and only hit a fraction of its anchorages. We have read very few cruising articles over the years on Martinique and we are happy to have been able to experience and learn more about this unique island.
