31 October Action!

Sometimes things just happen and I like to think we are flexible to be able to accommodate change.

On Wednesday, two days before we are due to leave, we received an unusual offer, but it would mean staying longer. For the last 2 or 3 weeks a UK television company has been on island filming a reality game show called The Fortune Hotel. We saw last years' show, also shot on Grenada, earlier in the year in which ten couples compete in games and trials to take possession of a briefcase containing £250k. It's a knockout, last pair in get the dosh.

The final day of competition is Monday and the charter boat that was going to be part of the location filming dropped out at short notice and the production company are now scrambling to find an alternative boat...

filming in the marina

Which is where the unusual offer came in. A mutual friend who has supplied a safety support boat for filming suggested Jackster as the alternative. We, or rather I, was interested in a bit of fun and the weather forecast for sailing north on Friday shows very light winds, so we invited the location manager to come and have a chat and a look.

She thought Jackster would be perfect for what they wanted; a boat at anchor in the back of shot in a bay a mile north from St George as the winners are crowned. These winners would then arrive at Jackster as passengers on a two chauffeured jet skis. The winners alight on board to be met by the show's host and with glasses of champagne. The final shots of the show would to be the winners on the foredeck sailing away (if there was sufficient breeze to fill the sails). We were told the timings were cameras to be set on Jackster in the morning, leave the marina before midday with camera person and a production person, possibly the presenter and motor up to the anchorage. We'd sit there in the background while filming took place, the winners arrive and we'd be back at the marina at 6pm, possibly some pick up shots next day. For this we would be paid U$1000 / £800 for what the location manager said was half a days work. A long half day.

David and I thought we could do this. It would mean extending our stay in the marina for a week and renewing the cruising permit and David's visitor visa (I got a new 3 month visa when I came back from UK). Approximate cost £350 but it could be fun thing to do and we'd then leave when there was more wind.

Same day that this was happening was the last Wednesday of the month drinks at the Victory Bar hosted by the marina. When did you last hear of a cruiser passing on a 'free' drink?

We had just arrived at the bar and picked up a rum punch when I got a phone call from the location manager to say she had come back with three producers to show them Jackster. The producers wanted to have a look see and take photos to show the director. We had explained that we needed a definite decision no later than midday tomorrow, Thursday, because if we were going to leave as planned on Friday we needed to complete our Customs and Immigration clearance on Thursday afternoon.

The producers were three very pleasant people, but they added a list of extra wants to what we had initially been told. They would want us to 'lose' the dinghy and kayak by leaving them in the marina and to take down the bimini to allow drone shots into the cockpit. Mmmm. Our workload and the required time were expanding. The fee wasn't. The inconvenience of taking down the bimini is an hour to take down and store and another hour to put it back up. We know because we did it for hurricane Beryl.

After the producers left we both had our doubts; David about the time, effort and inconvenience involved for some pocket money, me about whether a 53' ketch was the glamorous, high end image they were trying to portray. A big power boat, or a huge catamaran might have been more that they wanted and I think they were still looking.

Next morning we didn't wait for the show people to call us. We called them to say no, Jackster doesn't need to feature on a TV show to be a star – she already is one in our eyes.