And we leave!

21 May 2012


It seems that we may have a weather window opening up on Tuesday so we have started preparing as much as possible. It’s quite fascinating how we work on the boat everyday doing a little bit here and a little bit there. But no matter how much we achieve or get done the list never gets any shorter. In fact the list normally gets longer.

We have managed to track down our autopilot problem. The belt that drives the steering wheel is slipping and once we managed to crack it open we discovered that we need a new belt.

A few days ago we sent our sails in to be repaired. The sails came back and we fitted the stack pack and main sail. The sail maker had to cut about a hundred millimetres from the foot of the sail and move the reefing points. The reefing points have been moved and seem to be working at last, but the foot of the sail is still just exactly as before. I called the sail maker and she said they did cut the bottom off the sail but I just couldn’t believe her and told her that they did not. She told me that she even has the piece of sail in her office. I still didn’t believe her. She did however agree to fetch the sail on Monday morning and have it back to me before Tuesday’s window. So who knows, did they cut the sail, or did they not? Did cut, or did not cut, that is the question!

There are just so many things that have suddenly shot to the top of the urgency list and have to be done before Tuesday. Fix the autopilot, take the sails down, get the sails repaired, put the sails back, get the raw water pump, fit the raw water pump. I am not sure if we will have enough time to get everything done.