Pasarelle and a new use for the Booms

A little diversion from the passage posts. When we arrived at Marina Taina, we had to med moore the boat. Process consisted of backing the boat in between two other boats while deploying the anchor. Once in position, a marina boat retrieved the bow lines and passed them to us to tie up. Our lines were used on the stern. Funny to watch the super yacht crews rush to the rails to deploy bumpers. I assured them that Iron Lady was tough and a bump here or there wouldn’t hurt a thing on her. The humour seemed to be lost on them.

Once docked we needed a pasarelle to bridge the gap from the boat to the quay. Not having one aboard, we asked the marina office who graciously furnished us a (very unstable) wooden plank. We made do and lashed it into place but being aware that the Admiral would be none too happy, Steve and Roger came up with the Mark 2 version.

A life line stantion from Iron Lady’s spares was mounted to the plank thru a hole and held in place with hose clamps. I line was strung to the stantion and, while it was dangerous to put too much weight on it, provided some level of comfort when crossing. At this juncture, all the super yachties were really impressed and wanted one for themselves. We even gave some thought to varnishing it.

Well, we still knew that the Admiral wouldn’t be impressed, so there was a spare bridge down the way covered with bright green indoor outdoor carpet. Much more stable and much wider – but a little short. WHen we came back from town, the quay end was dangerously close to coming off.

Hence Mark 3. We used the spare lines that we use for the flopper stoppers on the boom to secure the shoreside end. Problem solved – and Admiral Debby should be happy.

And now the super yachties are really jealous.