'ER' stands for Emergency Room

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Thu 11 Oct 2012 00:22

Sun, Mon, Tues & Wed – 7th 8th, 9th & 10th Oct

 

 

Sunday was cold and wet, as promised, so peripheral jobs got done with us itching to get on with the big ones.    Scott arrived from UK Halsey sails to measure up for his quote, arriving in torrential rain and then just carrying on with the job very professionally.   We are getting all sorts of suggestions, for shape, size, material, top down/bottom up furlers, tortion bolt ropes and of course, prices!   And it was freezing - four layers of clothes.

 

Monday I managed to get lots done, whilst Rob went with David to fetch the ladders from Washington that Scott is lending us for the hull polishing and then he also carried on with jobs.   We finally admitted defeat as it got dark and started getting the boat ready for the lift the next day.

 

Tuesday was damp and foggy but we were lucky enough to get an earlyish lift, the crew coming round to help us round to a waiting space behind the travel hoist.   As we waited we were invited on to a huge fishing 'yacht' (one of those Hemmingway things) that had just been launched.  It is a new build with a crew of three on board who are about to accompany it on a transport ship to the Seychelles to it owner - and its registered in Guernsey!   They were great hosts plying us with coffee and biscuits and letting us have a good nose round:  there is a separate cabin for all the fishing lure preparations with the walls decorated floor to ceiling with enormous fishing reels;  Rob fell in love with the pristine white engine room.   And even they fail to catch fish some days! 

 

We were lifted beautifully (pads to stop the strops coming into contact with the topsides as well), pressure washed off removing all the impressive crop of barnacles and then delivered to a slot with 50 amp electric supply.   Although technically you are not allowed to live on board at this marina when hauled out, they obliging turn a blind eye recognising that transients can't just vaporise at dusk.  And I was impressed to be apprehended by the very vigilant security vehicle on a nocturnal loo trip.

 

So we managed to get the hull washed down, and the waterline above the anti-fouling cleaned up from the horrible brown tannin stains (neat lemon juice is the magic solution) that the Chesapeake delivers and were definitely looking more the part when we treated ourselves to a meal at the on-site restaurant - I went for the crab special as this is my last chance for breaking my way into the five freshly cooked carcasses, so we were sat at a table covered in brown paper for the exercise.   Poor Rob's old knee injury has decided to play up and the other one isn't too great either so its a slow walk to and fro anywhere - now if he hadn't been a sports enthusiast he'd be skipping around like his lazy wife!

 

Wednesday finally delivered the warm sunny weather we have been hoping for, so after a few displacement activities I started to clean the hull and Rob carried on with fielding calls regarding the new sails and working out how to get a vital piece of stainless steel cut and delivered here so that he and David can dampen down our Air Breeze wind generator - there is an element of it not being installed as cleverly as it might have been in the Canaries.

 

Then disaster struck:  in the knowledge that I was pushing the limits on the ladders by using the very top of one as a support (with the plank tied securely I hasten to add), I was being extremely careful in my clambering but while getting down the whole thing began to topple and I think I attempted to jump clear but I fell awkwardly and one ladder and the 12' plank landed on top of me.   Luckily Rob had just spotted Scott who was working on a customers boat in the yard and he downed tools, explained to his clients about the damsel in distress, and took me into Annapolis ER.   Sadly (well probably very luckily) not at all like the TV series, the waiting room was on par with the private hospital in Worcester and I was very efficiently passed from A to B, x-rayed and, yup, I have broken my ankle (possibly in 3 places) but not near the joint and very cleanly.   So I have a two way splint, plaster and crutches - and no skipping for a while!   In fact the ankle isn't too sore it is the ribs where the ladder landed which are more painful.   I caught a taxi back and Rob had cleverly positioned a ladder so that I could inch up on my bum on to the deck.   Now I only have to contend with the  lack of loos (drained down and anti-freezed for the winter) and no showering on board....!

 

So Rob who was already feeling under pressure isn't feeling a whole lot happier and I am working out just what a nuisance this is going to be both here and once we are back in the UK.   Anyone wishing to email sympathy would be very welcome as I am immobilised with a frantic husband, 5 metres off the ground!

 

Tomorrow is going to be spent notifying flights, car hire, and trying to find miracle workers to take on polishing the hull to my neurotic standards - and no doubt getting irritable.  And I can only blame myself....