First we came out backwards, but that didn’t work - these boat hoists are all modified shipping container cranes and this one did not have enough headroom below the crossmember (visible at top left of photo) to get us out of the water and onto land, a problem we have never experienced before. So then we tried forwards. That didn’t work either. So in the second shot the rigger has been called down urgently, the foresail has been dropped and the forestay (which holds the mast up) disconnected and pulled back, enabling just enough clearance to get us out. A manoeuvre we’d not carried out before, so interesting and somewhat exciting. Your correspondent is looking on pensively as things fail to go to plan:

Lots of hard dirty work ensued. Here is the team (the crew having been augmented for the South Africa trip by friends Robin & Jenny Martin), busy antifouling; Robin painting and Jenny, having performed admirably the absolutely crucial task of stirring the paint properly, is cleaning her stirrer:

   

Then the hull gets polished:

      

And the outboard gets a very thorough servicing - its lifting rope broke in Queensland (saved by the safety line); some damage ensued requiring significant rebuilding. Here’s Robbie hard at it:

   

Then it’s back in the water after a week on land, and working on the rigging:

And now it’s time to leave Fremantle, so a hearty last breakfast is taken at the local beach cafe. Note the lashings of healthy sugar-free fare being enjoyed by all (Mrs Martin as usual has her computer tablet in use at the table catching up on all that vital social news):

It’s midwinter now, and there was actually a frost on the grass behind the beach. Time to head north.