Sunday 2^nd October 2011

Apologies to our readers for the interruption in transmission  -  normal service will now be resumed…

Now back from our trip back to the UK to see family and friends, we find the boat has weathered hurricane Irene well and without damage, thanks to the efforts of Michael & Anne from ‘Nimue’, Dietmar from a few boats along the hard and the boatyard staff.  Everything possible had been tied down or removed from the deck, and the only problem was some water damage to the wash boards which are usually protected by the sprayhood and bimini, both of which had to be removed to prevent Irene from doing so!

The boat should have been moved to a different part of the yard to have her keel sandblasted, but because of Irene and the subsequent bad weather, the company doing the work are behind schedule.  Instead we were moved on Friday and the work should begin tomorrow, weather permitting.  As it’s pouring with rain right now, that may not happen. 

We’re experiencing a cold snap here this weekend: the temperature is around 11 degrees today.  No problem, we thought, just put the boat heating on.  We have a Webasto heating system which uses diesel to heat air which is pumped to all parts of the boat – basically a hot-air central heating system.  It worked for about half an hour, then packed up!  So we have spent the best part of today, along with David from ‘Moonbeam’, trying to clear a blockage from the fuel line to the heater, following advice from David’s friend Ronnie in Scotland, who kindly came down from his position up a mast to answer the phone!  As I write we are putting it all back together again with (rather blue) fingers crossed…