'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West' - It's a boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'

Pete Bernfeld

Fri 31 Jul 2009 23:51

Ah, where do I start?

OK, the good. Last night (Thu) five of us, Delicado, Beez Neez & yours truly went on a trip into Port of Spain (organised by Sam the Varnish) to listen to the steel pan bands practicing for the Emancipation day Celebrations. FANTASTIC! The atmosphere was great, the music was interesting......that's not meant in a disparaging sense, it was fascinating to watch the players, the hand movements are really precise and the whole band (s) are really 'tight and disciplined'. The range of music is interesting, the enthusiasm of the band members is inspiring and the rythm is, well, Caribbean :)

This morning (launch day) started with an email from Guernsey telling me I had a letter from the UK bank being snotty about an outstanding overdraft......what outstanding overdraft???? I rang (at vast expense) the 'local UK number', only to fail the security questions, including (apparently) my date of birth (um, some details might be out of date, but DOB??????) ANYWAY, I despatched notorised copies of my driving licence, passport and birth certificate at more vast expense (FEDEX) so expect to be contacted shortly (the only bright spot in this episode was the local bank which stamped, free of charge, the copies of the required docs)......no doubt this will not be accepted by the debt department of Barclays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RIGHT..............I paid the yard bills, but wait.....what of the stainless fabricator, I hear you ask, deep concern and interest in your voice(s)? Good question, well put. He showed up at the crack of nine thirty-ish, told Sam the Varnish.....ah, that's another GOOD THING, more in a moment.....he wanted the dingy dropped out of the davits and scaffolding arranged at the stern of the boat so he could reach the aft section of the davits, said he would be back shortly and disappeared. I returned to the boat about 10am, to find Sam had dropped the dingy and I went back to the Peakes office and arranged the scaffolding. Cut to 1130, no fabricator, so up to KNJ's office (the project managers). They were horrified, rang him....'where the F are you, the boat is being launched imminently.....on my way, there in 15 mins......actually, he was and still working on the boat as the travel lift arrived....ah, timing is everything in life ..yes...er no, not in this case.

Anyway, the boat was 'splashed', Steve, aka 'Big Bear' from Beez neez was on hand to assist (thanks to 'Delicado Jim', who also volunteered). We motored out into the bay. The first buoy looked a bit iffy.....motored over towards Crews Inn, picked up a buoy just in front of another boat, uh oh, not enough space between the buoys.....motored over to another buoy, which had a boat name on it. As we approached the third buoy, BEEP BEEP BEEP, engine overheat warning on the Port engine (Gunn). Hurridly picked up the buoy (which also had a name on it). There then followed one of the fasted impellor changes in the history of yachting (thank you Speed Seal). Start up..ah, plenty water mon, move onto the final buoy, secure and open a couple of beers.

Now Pepe, if you'r reading this, the boy was really reluctant about the beer, saying he'd been absent long enough, but I forced him to have one. So, we launched the dingy, got the outboard attached and......it didn't bloody work......I'll be having speaks with Sam the mechanic on monday!!!!!

OH yes, Sam the Varnish...........what a star............he couldn't put on the final coat of varnish on the cockpit table because of the rain, so he decided that the quoted price included cleaning the topsides of the boat and deep-cleaning the cockpit with a mild acid to remove various stains. What a player.

So, writing this on a buoy in the bay, rolling slightly due to tide change, sipping severial beers.

IT'S A BOAT!!!!!!!!