A Lady Trip. Las Palmas, Gran Canary. Avoiding the recession in style
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Tue 17 Nov 2009 12:52
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WEDNESDAY. 11th November 2009
Up early, and after a short walk,we were joined on
board by the mechanics from " Potentia " to complete the servicing of the
generator.
S.H. took the rib out of the water on the spinniker
pole again while the girls went off about their buisness, S.H. found one of the
dreaded
cockroaches on deck while washing the boat down, "
oh my god "" How did that fecker get there! dead , but your still thinking
," did he leave eggs..
How did he get there in the first place? Will we
have the beggers pop up in the bed clothes next?
Today is Paul Hydes Birthday, Happy birhhday
Paul.
Did a lot of Blog time. Its amazing how much time
the blog takes and if its not kept up to date, the catch up time gets
huge.
Later we went to the Chandelry and bought half the
shop to top up the boats saefty equipment.
The Saefty programme for these events have become a
complete overkill, We see it all the time at home during CORK WEEK,
Designed by Beauracats for use by
sailors..
We grew up on timber yachts which had no life
lines, no, life jackets, no electric pumps to service the ocean as it squirted
through the seams
every time we hit a small wave, no lights, no
charts, ( Possibly an occasional road map )
HOW DID WE SURVIVE ! we should form a club for real
sailors.
Its not that I am against saefty, Of course I
am all in favour of saefty, But it should be based on logic, not based on a
percieved danger/thret by
some beaurocratic arsehole sitting behind a desk
and wouldent know what a " SAIL" is ?
enough is enough of all that for today.
Later S.H went off to " Carrefour" to look at
microwaves, and as Aileen's mobile is not working properly, communication with
the
girls was difficult so, S.H went to the old town
for some good old fashioned pork crackling,
Two large "gin & tonics " plus the Pork cost
all of 13 €
Returned to "A Lady " and
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thursday 12th.
Nothing much to report, Just another day on board,
At lunch time we were informed that the mastervolt could not be repaired and
that the new unit would be installed next tuesday by " Potentia"
After lunch we had a visit from the Oyster Boys,
Eddie,George, John, and Will, They were great and more than any thing
else, they instaledl a great sense of confidence in us .
The fact that they pointed out a crack in the mast
which needs attention, and lots of other items that need attention, is
testemount to their
professional approach to the ship, They were
excollent, We had a CORK DRY GIN before they left late in the
afternoon.
Later Aileen, Michelle and Stephen went to the
oriental rest. for dinner.
Early bunk, exhausted from the shock of the mast
problem.
Friday 13th
BOY , IT Definatly was a bad day, or started
off as one anyway. S.H. went for a 6 mile walk at 6am and met Eddie Scugall from
Oyster on returning to the boat, We did a few little things in the cabin
before he explained the real significance of the crack in the mast, MAJOR MAJOR,
PROBLEM. We were
told ,not to go to sea, even under engine because
this is so serious.
We spent the morning talking to " formula Marine "
in holland.and organising them to make a splint
and come to las Palmas and fit it.
THINGS just seemed to go from bad to worse and by
lunch time I thought that the transatlantic was no longer an option and the
whole trip would have to be abandoned or seriously posponed.
Anyway , The Oyster Boys kept working on the
problem and by evening all matters seemed to be almost resolved.
GOD we felt better and off we went to meet our new
" potential crew " for the pacific.
His name is DANIEL HEARSUM, We met Daniel at
the hotel Santa Catalina and he treated Aileen and Stephen to dinner at the
Hotel.
Later we joined the party at the Hotel and
observed Michelle dancing the night away with her new German friend " Harold
"
We had a late night and first impression of Daniel
were good.
Bunk zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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