Doing jobs and preparing for more strong wind

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Mon 27 Dec 2010 02:22
Sunday night, St George

Just before we went to bed last night, Bill got an invite for all three of us to go over to his relative's house for Brunch this morning. In order to get there, we'd have to leave Saxon Blue at 0800 so I set my alarm for seven. I was fast asleep when it went off but got up and made a cup of tea. As I was drinking it, Bill announced that the brunch had been cancelled so that left him, Kali and I sitting there all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Kali decided to head down to Hamilton anyway but, before doing that, we all helped Big Bill and Mike take the Swan round to the fuel dock to fill up with diesel and water. That was good fun for an hour and then Kali set off on the bus for her exploration of the island. Bill and I decided that, as there was only boys left onboard, we'd better make the most of it so he went up to the shop to get us some proper man lunch. Wow, he certainly did that. He came back with two platters, one of all-day-breakfast stuff and the other with a kind of Caribbean lunch with fish, turkey and all sorts of good things. We divided them between us and got stuck right in. Some time later, we were both very full.

Bill went off to bed and stayed there pretty much all afternoon. I had a quick Power-nap on the sofa then set to finishing some of my jobs. I washed the sand off our snorkelling gear, sanded the damaged toe-rail where the spinnaker pole hit it and refitted the turning block that was leaking into our heads. I need to get some other parts fabricated to make a good job of that repair so I just put it back with clear silicone to keep the water out and not prevent us working on it in the future. After that, I refitted the headlining inside our heads which was tricky but satisfying.

In between all that work, I spent a fair bit of time reading my book about the USA in the late Nineteenth Century which is fascinating, covering the period from the end of the Civil War through to the emergence of the country as a proper World power. Big Bill invited us over to the Swan for some pasta so, pausing only for a shower, I went round to their place for dinner. We had our usual companionable time, just Big Bill, Mike and I. Kali is staying down in Hamilton and our Bill was so full from our boy dinner that he could only manage a small salad.

When we got up this morning, it was completely calm. Not a breath of wind atall. That didn't last long and the wind has steadily built all day. We rigged our white lines to the other side of the harbour this afternoon and they're holding us of the wall nicely. The wind is now blowing another full gale and they reckon we may get 50 knot gusts overnight so it's going to be noisy and bouncy. I may even sleep in Kali's cabin as the waves don't slap so hard near the bow. This storm is causing chaos in the USA and Bill's family have had a white Christmas for the first time since records began. It still looks as though it will blow itself out quickly so we're hoping to depart on Wednesday.

Harvey

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