Tuesday 7th October

Up at 6.30am to take advantage of the nil wind first thing in the mornings to drop and bag all the sails. Never dropped an 'Inmast' Furling Main before, so there was something of a steep learning curve, but all went well albeit rather slowly as we worked it all out!

Sarah took the free minibus service through the tunnel to Preveza town primarily to book bus tickets for us and another boat owner, Steve (which involved a 3km walk to the bus station) who we met the other day in Lefkas and who is flying back to the UK on the same flight as us next week. He is also laying up at Cleopatra Marina but is not here just yet as he is getting a few days more sailing.

The weather today has been outstanding, with clear blue skies and a light NW breeze which has been perfect for laying up jobs.

Wasted quite a bit of time trying to find a way of stopping the furling gear inside the mast from banging against the mast. We had been given various amounts of helpful advice but the Selden system on Serafina is a new system and does not lend itself to the usual tricks! As ever Mike Jennings from Najad at Hamble had the germ of a good idea that got the problem solved. (I have to say that it is always a joy to talk to Mike as his unfailing good humour shines through regardless.)

Though there might be something of an international incident when some workmen asked if they could move our sail bags which were on the quay behind us so that they could pressure wash the concrete nearby. Poor Sarah has been washing and then polishing the hull and the thought that they were about to use a grinder on the concrete (they had on another quay earlier) so was braced to mention this, when we realised that they were simply being very careful and were only moving the bags to ensure that none of the spray went on them (but did manage to moisten the polisher and no doubt one half of the hull will need another wash before being polished....!)  .

Wednesday 8th October

Another fantastic day, almost seems a shame to be busy laying up when we could be out sailing. The visibility is quite incredible and we can see mountain ranges that are a huge distance away and seem almost artificial.

There is an outside chance that we are doing a lot more by way of putting Serafina to bed than many, but having spoken to a good many people about all this, it is clear that proper preparation is well worth it in the long run. However, looking round the boat park, it seems some folks just haul their boat out of the water and walk away! The strangest thing is the absence of activity here. We expected to see loads of people all doing the same as us, but either we have missed the rush, or it hasn't happened yet! The site as you approach Preveza is remarkable with over 1000 masts all ashore, but for all that, there is still loads of space and we know of plenty of people who will keep sailing until the end of the month. We pretty much have the place to ourselves, so no queues for showers etc. and no distracting conversations, (well not many anyway) quite eerie.

The Sail Maker arrived this morning the collect our sails and take them away to wash and store them until we return in March. He was bemoaning the fact that whilst he was busy now, every year come March/April loads of boat owners/charterers will come down to their boats and discover that their sails were damaged or mildewed and require his urgent services, putting him under huge strain, when they could have sorted it all now. His other problem is getting staff. He cannot get any local Greeks to even consider working for a living, as they all seem to want lots of money for very little in return. Then when he does get someone to train up, they stay until they learn the trade and then just 'go away'. He wouldn't mind if they set up in opposition, then at least the work load would go down, but they simply vanish. He used to have 6 staff a few years ago, but now despite the huge increase in boats in the area and very little opposition to him, he has just 3 staff to cope with it all...or not.

Bit of a panic first thing this morning when Sarah discovered the water had been turned off. (It is rather crucial for washing ropes etc.!) She went off to discuss this with the marina staff and found out that there was a broken pipe which they had every intention of mending soon. Not much sense of urgency about getting things done around here, but to our relief it was indeed fixed after only an hour or so.

Shifting quite a bit of Ibrobrufen and other assorted pain relief medicines as we are both suffering from painful bits (back, neck, elbows - in fact you name one of us has it inflamed!) with all the bending, crawling, polishing and squeezing into unlikely positions to carry out greasing and maintenance.