Week Ending 9 September 2007

Monday

I booked a provisional launch for next Monday.

I went over to customs to see if my bearing was in, due 1 September - No.

I am not really happy about using a short all rubber bearing, so I checked the internet and found some bearings the right size in phenolic and brass and enquired. 

I am repairing the genoa, all the stitching on the sacrificial strip needs re-doing.  I am doing a line each time I have a spare half hour.  The top of the sail goes from 2 stitches and just gets wider as it goes down.  I have got down to the bottom and that needs a lot of work, but I can reach that when it is on the track if I do not get it finished before I launch.

Tuesday

I had one reply regarding my bearing and it was a brass one, that should be ok, so I ordered it; even with the 5 hour delay it should have been able to have been despatched today. 

I have a 12v extension cable and multi socket for the 12v which needed fixing down.  It was difficult to find a space where it could be mounted, not under a window or anywhere that it could get dripped on.  There was a 6” space on the rail that was not being utilised, this was because it was behind the radar screen, between the two mounts.  I had to take the screen off and screw the socket on and then put the screen back.  The wire runs with the radar cables and there is room to put the plugs in and out; the objects being charged can be stood on the nav table.

I have ressurected my holding tank, the original I was encouraged to give away in the Canaries.  The tank cost hundreds of pounds, how daft was I?  The hoses were still intact and I have extended these and plumbed them into one of the diesel cans.  I have attached a breather pipe and have put in a separate hose to attach it to the deck fitting for emptying.  It may not be as good as the original, but it is 2/3 of the capacity and I just have to hope that it works and does not leak into my bilges.

There was a super fishing net on extending pole in Poundland, but it would never have arrived in one piece, so I have had to make my own.  The handle to mine had rusted while I was away, but the hoop and the net were good.  I found a window cleaning squeegee on an extending aluminium handle.  I took the head off and stored it for when I need such an appliance – this is why I am struggling to find space on the boat, all the things that I could throw away, but just maybe they will come in handy one day.  I took the end off the bottom of the handle, it does not matter which way the handle extends, made a plug inside and set the end of the hoop in car filler, I did not have any epoxy resin.  I have a net again, for when I drop things in the water.

When I checked in the evening I had a reply regarding my bearing, the message had not been received and I realised that I had not given them an address to send it to anyway.  This time I sent all the details and hope that tomorrow my bearing will be sent. 

Wednesday

Checked my e-mail regarding my bearing and I had forgotten to give the security numbers on the back of the credit card, that makes it another day later.  I should have done this the week before, but was happy with the rubber one then.  I have not bothered to go and get this from Customs, where presumably it has arrived, but it means a special trip, which hardly seems worth it for something that I do not want.  I will get it and keep it as a spare, more spares, as I have already paid for it.

The only way to make space is to deal with the material from the previous boat covers.  I will not throw it away, so I will have to make it into cushions.  Spent the rest of the day making covers for foam cushions for the cockpit.

Thursday

Got a text from the people about the bearing to ring them urgently.  Did I want the bearing sent courier, it was not going to arrive Friday, so I might as well just wait for it.  It could have been sent tracked, but that just makes someone answerable, what good will that do me here, so just ordinary air mail – this could have been a mistake, but I have given up a bit at the moment.  Not a brilliant week for me.  I went to the office to cancel the launch and make it next Friday or the following Tuesday.

Finished my haircut, which had been progressing over the last 3 days, time to stop now.

Met Michel, they have just arrived and he remembered my name, the boat name and where we were last.  5 minutes after he had told me, I had to ask his name again, it was ok when I remembered which French boaty he was off.  We were in La Gomera, just before I left to go to Cape Verdes.  Michel had no passport then and had been through Morocco and the Canaries without one; he then went on to Senegal, Cape Verdes and Brazil before a replacement one caught up with him.  Within 10 days the boat was robbed and they took his passport.  He now has an emergency passport issued in Brazil, which is valid for a year and hopefully his French one will turn up before this one expires.  Michel is a little paranoid about it now and carries the passport everywhere and assures me that he sleeps with it too – not unreasonable under the circumstances, but I cannot understand how he can have been allowed into that many countries with no passport; Alain was good to take him on board.

I am trying to modify the anchor well so that the chain drops straight down, the windlass is out as far as it can go, but the locker slopes and the chain snakes up the back wall and I have to keep kicking it down.  I had a couple of ideas, but they were not effective.  It would be really important if I had remote control and could get the anchor up and down while I am in the cockpit, but if I ever get that then I would find a proper solution.  I think it needs a well fitted and well made wedge, but I am not in the mood to tackle that, not to do it as properly as it needs to be done; maybe next week.

Back to the cushions.  I have decided to keep the last couple of pieces of the original covers as throw covers when I am doing something dirty.  The burgundy velvet covers from the saloon, soft though they were, but not hard wearing, are now replacing the gold brocade covers as indoor cushions.

Thursday is our regular poker night, I am in charge of the cards and chips and taking the money in and paying out at the end.  I lost all my 100TT.

Friday

Just a last few cushions in the velvet. 

9am off to catch the bus taking us to the supermarket.  This is my last shop before I launch and then all I should have to buy are eggs and butter.  I spent 2068TT, I only had 2000 and some change.  I know the bus driver quite well now and he was going to sub me if I was short.  The discount took it down to 2005TT and I had enough.  I am the last drop off and it was 3pm before I had got everything away.  Some spaces will need to be re-organised later, but that was too big a job for now.   

Saturday

I sorted the new material, leaving enough to make replacement curtains, I made 4 more loose cushions.  I have never had 10 cushions in the saloon before, probably because there is not enough room, but it is very comfy.  I have put the sewing machine away and cleaned the floors and the bilges of all the material threads and fluff.  No more sewing for now, the curtains can wait.

In a rash moment at Dominoes I signed up for the Breast Cancer race. I paid my entry fee and for a T-shirt.  5km in 90 degrees and 90% humidity – did I really have to go? - I was booked on the bus, so I had to go.  12 of us signed up, not a lot out of all the women in all these marinas, 9 of us turned up.  I ignored the aerobic warm up, I was going to need that energy.  They had to put a limit of 4500 runners, there were 3 starting points, but it was very crowded.  We could hardly move at the beginning, there were so many people, even I could have gone faster than that.  People spread out and it was better after that.  1 fit person ran all the way in 36 minutes, the rest of us got back in 52 to 56 minutes.  We got a goody bag, crisps, crackers, a yoghurt voucher – which I tried and failed to swap for one of the small coolbags, and a medal.  I hate to think what the post-race photo looks like.  My feet hurt.  I was back by 6.45 and could either watch a film or go to bed, you can guess which one prevailed.  I got up at 10 and did some washing.  In the early hours I did the rest of the washing. 

Sunday

Rinsed the washing and hung it out, the whites looked so much cleaner before I hung them out.

I had been given a recipe for DIY Baileys, by 7am I had made my first batch.  A fair bit of testing was required and I think I was too liberal with the almond essence, but it is not bad.

The Cruisers Net on a Sunday morning is a very lonely affair for the controller, as nobody participates.  Our charity walk did not even get a mention.  We cannot sell anything in Trinidad, but can give things away and trade; who knows what happens off VHF when Customs cannot hear.  This morning was a first in the Free Treasures - a 56’ boat purchased a few days ago for $15000US.  The guy has decided it is not for him and is going back to the States and the boat is a freebie.  The boat is on the water, somewhere in the anchorage, the tell tale sign will be all the dinghies surrounding it by 8.30 this morning. 

I have been invited to the Coral Cove Pot Luck tonight, this is after Dominoes.