Dear readers,
We have a huge amount of luck! We immediately found two companies for making two emergency steering tillers and repairing the reduction gear of the steering system. That thing didn't look right. (From the inside). The two ball bearings of the central shaft had completely perished. It contained a kind of soup of old grease, ball bearings and water. Fortunately, we were able to dismantle the thing quickly. And we were able to take a quick look at the interior. What a gang! No wonder we couldn't send me more. But in the capable hands of a Dutchman in La Reunion (Ian Kreft of the Waterland company!) we will probably be able to reassemble the thing next week and then we will have done a complete overhaul. It's amazing that such a transmission lasts so long without any form of maintenance. We also dismantled the steering column, which is also equipped with a transmission box, and it also had a broken bearing. The stuff will all function wonderfully again if
it's all been coaxed and put back. Perhaps having two emergency steering tillers becomes a bit unnecessary, but if you have been let down by the steering system in the middle of the ocean, you want to have backup. Redundancy is Life!
Furthermore, we are of course sitting on a terrace pouring ourselves with beer. The local stuff. Bourbon. And we try to communicate with the French, which is of course a hell of a job because those guys only speak French! What a bunch of Frankophiles. Impossible. And the young people who might still want to practice some English fail. big time. And then with that very thick French accent. Horrible.
But hey, people aren't bad. Paddled home a few times already. My doctor would really complain about it.
Our arrows are not really focused on the rest of the trip yet because we want to see something of the island. But we may get to it early next week. We hired a car from the local rent a wreck shop so we chug around in a Dacia with ARKO. It's about three times less in cost and we're having the time of our lives.
So all good.
Regards Ton and Mark
