39.12.065N 9.07.517E

It’s been a fairly busy week or so. We’ve been working our way through our list of pre-departure jobs. Unfortunately the weather has not been helping. Most days are hot and sunny, but we have had a few showery days. The past few days have been rather windy, blowing in the high 40’s with a maximum of 56 knots – this is more than we had all winter. Needless to say Anne refused to go up the mast in these conditions.

Anne did go up the mizzen mast (the smaller one of the two) to check all was OK and to give it a bit of a clean (on a non windy day). We tried our hand at Caulking. For those non boaty people, caulking is the black stuff between the planks of wood on the deck. It’s a product which expands and contracts with the wood. Over time it gets dry and brittle and then lets in water. When this happens it needs replacing. We also launched the dinghy and gave Wanda a scrub around her waterline.

The boat next to us has been away for the last 3 weeks which meant we have had a variety of visitors next to us. One of these was a Portuguese boat which we helped in. Once they were secure they invited us over for Champagne to celebrate their safe arrival. We are now going to have to re-think our provisioning and arrival procedure!!!

David, Sarah, Bethany and Bryn on Cape arrived back in Cagliari on Thursday. It’s been good to see them again. They are heading West now after a winter in Greece. Bethany and Bryn came round on Monday, during the high winds for some baking. A rather delicious Ginger cake was produced.

Koshka and Yoyo have been to the vets again, this time for their annual injections. Yoyo ignored the fish this time.