17th July
Osprey
John Bowering
Mon 17 Jul 2006 11:33
Airways being delayed so Aisha, Ria and I spend most of the day at Logan
Airport. We finally got away about 1600 and with everyone packed into a
six seater headed off for north for Damariscotta. The car was heavily
overloaded with clothing and food as we seemed to have been supplied with
enough pre cooked meals to last at least six months. The crew had two
nights in the Brenan Bunker whilst we moved onto the boat and have been on
Osprey since Friday. The crew fit on the boat well but the volume of
clothing and food is another matter with every nook and cranny now filled.
We have been day sailing from south Bristol and the boat is now performing
well and the engine seems settled after the rebuild ? though time will
tell. Radar is now fixed and the only major outstanding is the freezer
unit. The existing system uses R12 gas which is now outlawed in most
places so we have taken the decision to change out the compressor and move
to the latest product so we are ready for Europe. The parts should be here
today and we will fit them later in the week. We are heading for Portland
tomorrow having got rid of the car today. We will have a couple of days
there then head north for Rockport where the freezer parts will be fitted.
We are hoping for some wind as although the weather has been great there
has been very little of it over the past few days. All the crew have
settled down well and have become experts using the RIB (Dinghy) which
with the 8 HP outboard scoots around very well. Yesterday they borrowed
some Kayaks from Jim and Sue and were away all afternoon and came back
thoroughly suntanned. Rishi is now in charge of lobster pot and buoy
spotting and really good at it. They are a menace and always a risk to the
prop although we do have a very good rope cutter fitted. Aisha is working
with me looking after the machinery and Anish manages the deck and rigging
leaving Anita and Ria handling the ?Hotel? side of the boat. Now that we
are settled we will try and keep this a little more up to date and the
crew are going to contribute as well.