Solo sailing, this weekend proved to me that sailing with someone experienced and sailing solo are two very different things. Friday we arrived at Bayshore in the late afternoon and the boat was back in the water at the slip. Due to the time, we decided that we would just settle into the boat on Friday night and would sail in the morning.
Lola and I took the bow bed thinking that it gives us a bit of privacy and we seemed to fit, note seemed to fit, the morning aches and pains tells a different side of the story. We opted to sleep with our feet toward the taper as this allows for more shoulder room but landed up foot wrestling the whole night. Would hate to think what would have happened if our heads were together.
Woke up really early and started the motor after some initial struggle, untied the boat and off we went. This part was simple enough and I managed to steer without too much drama. Outside the marina we hoisted the main, cut the motor and sailed off. I felt a bit inexperienced and sailed with only the main for a while, but the wind was good and steady at about 4 to 6 knots and we then rolled open the roller furler and sailed around the island. On the way back into the marina I managed to hit a pole but with little damage as Lola managed to push the boat away from the pole in time.
16 Mar. 09
This weekend came and went with only time for sailing on Sunday. I am trying to quit smoking for the millionth time and decided that Friday was the best day to try. Today is Monday and I am still winning.
27 Mar. 09
Still winning on the not smoking and it hasn’t been that hard although I have gained 2 kilos already. Managed to sail last weekend on Friday afternoon but on Saturday morning the battery died on us so we had to pack up and go home. We were only planning to stay till the afternoon anyway as we had a house warming party to attend at Tammy and Jason’s new house in the evening.
The party at Jason is always good and I must tell you how he pours a drink puts hair on a man’s chest, he also never allows your glass to get empty. All in all a good host and very sociable character.
Went to comet caravans during the week and bought a charger for the battery and a marine plug to allow us to have power on the boat for the charger to work. Still need to get some fuses to check other equipment like the solar panel. When the battery died I saw that the fuse on the solar panel had blown and I’m not sure how this happened or if it was like this when we bought the boat.
30 Mar. 09
The fuse was fine, just my brilliant eyesight but the solar panel overcharges the battery and this is the problem with that. I assume that the voltage regulator is faulty. Anyway great weekend, went to the marina on Saturday morning and did the boat work that was required. We had a name plate made for the marina to demarcate our slip and the slip is now no longer Wally but is now Le Grange. Charged the battery and went swimming in the pool for the day. In the afternoon Axel arrived with John on John’s barge and took us with on a booze cruise. We crossed the dam and stopped on the other side at a bike rally and just watched for a while then headed back to Axel’s place and had a braai with some awesome fillet steaks. When we wanted to leave Keagan my oldest son was nowhere to be found and Lola got annoyed and took Rauen and Kyle and left me with the job of locating Keagan. I found Keagan hanging around some young girls in the complex and had to drag him away, no wonder he has the nick name of bra strap Le Grange.
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