where to start? Cefi was launched as planned and we have had several day sails to establish what didnt work! Dont know what happens during the winter but the list of faults was a long one, most easy to fix if frustrating. However, the water maker that gave us quite a bit of grief last year could not be encouraged to produce anything drinkable and the amount of whistling through teeth by potential repairers convinced us that time had come to replace and after much deliberating and advice taking we went for a Ventura. The other kit that proved impossible to fire up for more than a minute at a time was the old Ford generator. Graham and our engineer friend Danny dismantled it and found the cylinders to be very badly corroded and some of the piston rings were broken. Again after much advice seeking and thought we decided we could not compromise on reliability for the trip planned so decided on new and went for Fischer Panda 8000 which amazingly is under half the weight of the Ford and higher output. Both these units require structural mods to accomodate them so Cefi is in dry dock once again. The water maker has arrived and the genset is due this week, the old units are out (getting the gen out was an incredibly tight squeeze) and we have arranged for the mods, mainly new beds, to be done next week and hopefully both units will be installed next week as well though it is noticeable that the yard is pretty busy, so fingers crossed. We were planning a cross channel trip to Guernsey over easter but we shall have our first easter ashore for over 10 years! With all the extra expense, nearly £23k all in we were quite glad that graham's contract overran and this just about paid for all the repairs and new kit.

 

There are 2 other yachts being prepared here that are also heading for the Caribbean and much time has been spent in various bars comparing plans and notes etc. We all came to the same conclusion re routing and all 3 of us are heading south and then west. One of the main reasons for this is the inconsistencies in the mid range forecasts in north Atlantic. we have provisionally decided to go Sines, Canaries and Cape Verde but we are not expecting to depart before end April as we want to have a proper shakedown cruise to make sure everything is OK.

 

Watch this space

cefiATmailDOTcom for anyone who wants to get in touch