15 Sep. 11
At the moment the wind is howling outside and I decided that sitting indoors is a better option. The wind is possibly the thing that scares me the most about this trip. It blows so hard that you think the boat is going to take off. Then you think surely it can’t blow any harder than that, then it does. Then you think no way could it blow any harder than that, then it again shows you that it can. Yes, so I suppose we will have to learn to deal with the wind since it appears to be our chosen mode of transport or “engine” as such.
The repairs on the bridge deck have started and I decided to use a permanent marker and write a short note to Lola on the core to remind her that I love her. Since our first piece of the repair is under our bed I thought it would be an appropriate place to do this. In my haste to get the repair done I however forgot. But all is not lost as the next piece is also under our bed and is in fact under our pillows so I will be able to make a note that would live forever under the skin of the boat and hopefully, wander into Lola’s dreams.
23 Sep. 11
We seem to have a few days with great progress followed by about a week of nothing but rain and more rain. The rain started on Monday, today is Friday and I have had about as much rain as I can stand. I tried doing some work but my mood doesn’t allow any real work to get done so I just potter about doing small tasks that could actually be done once we are back in the water. This process isn’t very rewarding but seems to be part and parcel of boating.
03 Oct. 11
Not much progress at the moment again due to rain. It did stop for a few days, long enough for me to cut out the next piece of the bridge deck but just not long enough to put the new core in and get that piece back up.
10 Oct. 11
At last the rain stopped and we managed to get the next piece up but then, as luck would have it, I woke up two days ago with huge puffed up eyes and a massive itchy rash all over my arms. So today I just took the day off and hope that by tomorrow I feel better again so that we can continue.
28 Oct 11
We decided that today would be Sunday and thus no real work will be done. We are hoping instead to have a casual and relaxed day. We made steady progress on the bridge deck repairs and only have one more piece to install as well as make a new dive platform. The wood rot extended over more than 70 percent of the bridge deck and the repair was therefore not a waste of time but rather essential. Looking back over the work done is rewarding and a little unbelievable considering that we had absolutely no idea what we were doing before we started. After the bridge deck the repairs to the deck will be a bit more creative and hopefully easier. We are still trying to get back in the water by December in order to still leave during this sailing season. So lets hope for the best.
29 Oct. 11
Today I miss my kids so much I could just die. I think it was caused by Mike leaving his family and heading down to Cape Town. Mike is another Barry here in the boatyards son. We are onto the last piece of the bridge deck and then the deck repairs can begin so a really large project is finally coming to an end and perhaps we can leave soon.
11 Nov. 11
Yesterday was Lola’s birthday so in the evening we went to the newly repaired Jacks corner with a few friends and celebrated. Earlier in the day we went to the mall and just walked about looking for an electronic piano to replace Lola’s original one that we had to leave behind since it was too big and heavy to take with on the boat. We discovered that electronic piano’s are expensive so gave the idea a miss for now and bought some movies instead. Yesterday and today the weather is bad again so not much progress on the boat repairs will be made. The yacht club has planned two events for this weekend with beer gardens and live entertainment so not much sleeping for us. My son Keagan is due to fly down for a visit on the 24th and will be staying till early January with my daughter Amy and her boyfriend Dean to follow just after Christmas. We are all looking forward to their visit as it has been a quiet a while since we last seen them.
12 Nov. 11
I decided to try and update my blog more regularly so that huge chunks aren’t missing in the plot even if it is just a short paragraph or a single sentence. Since I typed yesterday here goes, last night we had Dylan Nicholete and their two year old Daughter Kate over for supper. Lola made spaghetti bolognaise using Portuguese chicken spice so it had a bit of a bite. Not my favourite spice but it seems Lola likes it since she also used it the last time she made hamburgers. Both times I commented that there is something wrong with the food. Lola is a bright girl and an excellent chef why she decided that this spice was the way forward I don’t know but I hope she wasn’t offended by my obvious ‘what is wrong with this food’ statements, and at the same time I hope she gets rid of the spice. We eventually called it an evening at about two in the morning so today isn’t going to be very productive.
13 Nov. 11
The yacht club was a hive of activity for the last two days as they hosted a raft race with a beer garden and some stalls with a potjie pot competition. Lola and I walked over to the club grounds a few times, more due my insistence than hers, but eventually I had to admit to myself that the large crowd gatherings no longer hold an interest for me. The stalls are always just about the same, selling almost if not exactly the same goods as the stalls to be found at all these types of events. The crowds hang around in small noisy groups trying to compete against the overly loud music and perhaps each other. Nobody can actually hear what anybody else is saying so just pretend to have heard and understood what was said by smiling or laughing. In the early evening we decided to watch a movie on the boat. The wind was howling south westerly and it was raining yet again. As the movie began I heard a loud bang against the port hull of the boat but thought perhaps it was something blown over by the wind outside. Then another and another bang so I went outside to investigate the cause of the banging. To my surprise I found two young boys around thirteen years old throwing rocks at my boat. When I shouted at them the one bolted and his little friend started to follow him but then changed his mind and stopped. I leaped off the boat and gave stormed after the boys closely followed by Lola. The runner’s courage returned once he decided he cannot outrun us and his mate had already been caught. so he stopped to wait and find out his fate. Lola was so mad that steam was coming out of her hair and if these boys weren’t so young I am sure we would have killed them and buried their bones, but instead we marched them off to the club manager’s office and found their father. The man apologised for his kids behaviour and said that he would come around today to discuss any damage caused to the boat.
14 Nov. 11
Well to my surprise he didn’t pitch up or call, how amazing is the human race, so reliable and trustworthy. I guess I should have known better I mean anyone that sits in the beer garden all day not knowing that his brats are running around throwing rocks at other peoples property obviously wont take responsibility for his children’s behaviour. We checked the boat and couldn’t find any damage anyway so he chickened out for nothing. Well such is life.
Yesterday we managed to cut some of the materials for the bulkhead repair in Kyle’s room but couldn’t epoxy them in due to the weather. I am sure that we have lost more than half our repair time due to the consistent bad weather here. Today we are going to cut the material for the starboard bow repair but cannot epoxy that in either and I think you can guess why. We haven’t finished the bridge deck yet but decided that we will start with the deck repairs or at least start with the preparations since we cannot continue in this weather anyway.
