Back on board

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Thu 16 May 2013 18:22

Wed 15th May 2013

 

Easy flight out via Iceland and no fuss from Customs and Border Protection Officers at Washington Dulles airport (they did seem rather more interested in a middle eastern gentleman in front of us in the queue for Customs) and we were picked up and looked after by Sid and Rebecca Shaw (OCC Vice Commodores no less….) and they also very kindly drove us the next morning all the way to Herrington Harbour, via a Trader Joe’s grocery store of course.

 

Serafina was in really good condition after a long winter here which included a lashing from the edge of Hurricane Sandy last October. I am afraid that I just have to remark on the astonishing condition of the stainless steel work which all looked freshly polished. I simply assumed that David and Candy who have been kindly keeping an eye on Serafina for us, must have given her a big clean prior to our return, but David (rather missing his chance to make a few bucks….) admitted to having done nothing at all about the cleaning aspect and was last seen heading for somewhere to buy some Spotless Stainless cleaner for himself! Rebecca Shaw was almost slightly upset by the total absence of bird droppings on the decks and David did suggest that we were just plain lucky as there were boats nearby that were very obviously long term roosting locations.

 

There was a team of enthusiastic Guatemalans busy applying anti-foul paint to Serafina’s hull through the day and they have done a good job, but it has highlighted the first big problem of the week. There is a section of the rudder that has a big blister indicating that it may be de-laminating which is very repairable, but it is not a quick and easy job and given that we are due to launch next Tuesday, this may prove to be pretty serious, however it is a whole lot better to discover this now whilst we are already ashore and close to a repair shop, rather than have it let us down later in the year when afloat or even mid ocean!

 

Ospreys nesting all around us and there seem to be a lot of turkey vultures in residence nearby, but the big story on the wildlife front is the imminent expected explosion in the numbers of cicadas. Every 10 or 12 years they have a year in which they all breed and this we are promised will mean that the air (and ground) will literally be thick with them. Probably not something to look forward to.