La Coruna
Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Sun 9 Aug 2015 11:59
With our crew Simon and David departed for the airport we ended staying in
La Coruna for about a week. We had to empty our fuel tanks, again, to remove
any impurities in the tank to ensure (we hope) no repeat of main engine
failure. For this we motored to MarinaSeca about 1Nm away. MarinaSeca
undertakes ship repairs and, not surprisingly, was not the most pleasant of
overnight stops, secured, as we were, to a pontoon that showed every sign of
having been a diesel station in the past; but not so any more. I seem to
recall Helen muttering something about going home as she had not signed up
for a diesel pontoon! Fortunately, she stuck it out to see through the auto
pilot repairs and a list of snagging faults that the Oyster guys were able
to fix when they arrived mid-week. Will and Alfie were flown out from
Ipswich by Oyster and worked hard and long to get Shelena in the tip top
condition that we felt we deserved. Pleased to say that Will and Alfie
actually finished their work ahead of schedule which was a good result as we
were falling behind schedule. We were now water tight and niggles sorted and
ready to go.
Raymarine local agent got the auto pilot operating again after some
difficulty in calibrating the EV1 compass. With a computer system and SSB
connected to the auto pilot it was "looping" and refused to calibrate until
disconnected to other systems. The other interesting thing to note is that
carrying a spare EV1 is good except very difficult to calibrate in open
waters because calm, smooth conditions are required otherwise the compass
will not calibrate. Once calibrated the other systems were reconnected
without problem. Also, we were due to meet Sarah in Leixoes on 22nd August
so time pressure was starting to build. Our next passages were to be our
first with just the two of us.
Final memory of La Coruna is ordering a steak, and getting just that, a
steak on the plate. No veg, or even chips. Chips did arrive but the picture
of Helen sitting beside raw steak will continue in our memory. Incidentally,
the steak was delicious!
