5th April 2012

Osprey
John Bowering
Thu 5 Apr 2012 19:49

John arrived in Murcia on Tuesday evening after a nightmare trip delayed most of the day due to the air traffic controllers strike in France. His sense of humour had vanished after three plus hours parked on the end of the runway at Gatwick with 60 plus screaming toddlers also on board. Nevertheless life looked a lot better in Cartagena albeit a major fiesta was starting on Thursday and the shops would be closed for four days. So – it was a high speed visit to the supermarket on Wednesday morning which makes a reasonable dent in the day as they don’t open until 1000. Two rounds were required – one for liquids and one for food. Having acquired a big case of Heinz baked beans a quick check with our crew determined they had never heard of them so their diet was set for a major change before they sent an SMS saying they would do their own shopping demonstrating a complete lack of confidence in either the skipper or Mr Heinz!   We worked through to 2100 rigging the boat then went to watch the huge Easter parade in Cartagena. Absolutely amazing and it was 0100 before heads hit pillows. A quick review of the situation this morning produced agreement that we should slow down. Having lost ten days we could not make it up. As a result we actually got most of the work finished and Sundowners were a relaxed affair followed by a quite coffee with Pete. The wind has been gusting 35 knots this afternoon but dying down as the sun headed west. We will hopefully have all the preparation work and rigging finished tomorrow then (if the weather permits) head out for sea trial on Saturday then it’s just a question of waiting for the wind to point in the correct direction.