Up, Up and away.

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Fri 10 Oct 2008 17:49

38:56.84N 20:45.91E

 

Thursday 9th October

 

The weather is holding nicely and we have managed to get all the pre haul out work completed today, which was handy as we are being craned out first thing tomorrow morning!

 

Water was running today but a rate that invited only pity! Sarah went to have a polite discussion about this with the office and I went along later to add my halfpenny worth but to no avail as they have no idea why the pressure has suddenly dropped. They did of course send the poor beleaguered marinero along to explain this to us and he poor soul, will probably be happy to see the back of us now.

 

Exchange of emails between us and Hempel Paints continues as we try to find the best antifouling paint to use next spring (best to get it ordered now) which surprised us as Hempel own Blake's paints, whose products we used this year. However, they get full marks as they have kept up a daily correspondence although we started out emailing the UK and then got routed to Greece via Spain and finally have got a full and very helpful reply even giving us the names of the key contacts here at Cleopatra.

 

We have both been fascinated by the fishermen gathered all day on an old ferry landing hard just 50 metres from us. The water is teeming with some very sizable fish, which they seem to catch from time to time. But there is a chap with a spear gun that wanders from time to time around the marina and always gets himself a pretty big specimen and these are not Grey Mullet. Then we get people in small motor boats dropping an anchor just feet from the marina jetty and then start fishing, in between spectacular shouting matches with the fishermen on the hard! All makes for a very entertaining distraction.

 

Friday 10th October

 

Up with the lark this morning, (well it was still dark) but the fishermen were all already set up across the way on the hard. We were due to be lifted at 8.00am so we motored over to the hoisting dock at 7.50am and moored up in the entrance with a bit of excitement as there is a very strong cross current just as you approach the entrance. The crane team arrived shortly afterwards and immediately requested that we go out and turn the boat round and come in backwards! This was truly a test of boat handling as reversing yachts is never very straightforward and with this curious tide that eddies around the entrance anything could happen! Needless to say we got it right although the lads were a little shocked at the speed we came in at, but I doubt they really understood the dynamics of what we were trying to do. Ego got a big boost when a 50ft Halberg Rassey tried next and made a complete pig's ear of it all several times before effecting a sideways crash landing on the pier head. Lads were not at all fazed as this is clearly what most people do!

 

We have been positioned on a cradle in a brand new area of the hard standing, which unfortunately they are still working on! Doubtless the position on Google Earth puts us in a field. We had to get a little tetchy to get the water and electric laid on for us as the proper units are not yet installed and we are still waiting for the portable scaffold to allow us to complete some of the work around the hull. Hard standing is probably a bit of a misnomer as they have reclaimed the land by filling it with rock and then ever finer stones and earth which is being endlessly rolled by a huge vibrating roller which makes everything including our boat, shake.

 

Sarah used a bottle of 'strong pickle' that I bought at the chandlers for cleaning off barnacles to brilliant effect. Our propeller is the shiniest in the whole boat park and with a lot less effort than usual. However there are still lots of other bits and pieces to do still, but it is very gratifying to see that all Sarah's efforts on polishing the hull have paid off, despite the pressure washer at the lift out spraying crud all over her shiny hull.

 

Ground to a halt around 5.30pm but we still have 4 days to get it all finished which assuming the weather continues to hold should be fairly straightforward. It is just that so many of these jobs are ones that we have not done before so they take time to work out.

 

Dramatic sky this evening and a clear threat of rain, but the forecast is for the fine weather to continue, so fingers crossed.