Back on board
Mor Toad / Moy Toad
David and Jocelyn Fawcett
Tue 8 May 2018 15:51
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> i arrived on the boat yesterday in Cagliari Sardinia or rather Marina Villasimius at the South east corner of Sardinia. David and Moy Toad have been here about a week having left Sicily and sailed overnight with son Oliver onboard and Hamish Mctrustry son of Andrew who has frequently been on board in the past.
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> David returned to the boat on Thursday 26th April to check all the jobs had been done on the boat by the marina and yard in Marsala. He thought they had but communication hadn’t been of the greatest over the winter ( we have no Italian and Carlos the manager there not a great communicator) so he needed to check as needed to be sure the boat was in the water and ready to set sail beginning of the following week. Yes they had done everything and very well apart from no new mattresses for our bed ( we bought mattress toppers) New upholstery in the main cabin, new bank of domestic batteries, engine was looked at and diesel tanks cleaned as we’d had problems with the engine at the end of last season but we’ll return to that saga! Hull had been anti fouled, engine, generator and outboard serviced and the boat cleaned inside and out .
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> Since returning David had refitted the bimini and spray hood and once the boys got here sails were put back on the boat. The mainsail has a new outhaul and the dinghy a new seat and I’m sure a few more other things were done to get her ready for this sailing season. He also fitted new blinds in the main cabin and some blackout ones in our cabin.
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> David had hired a car at Palermo airport so he could get about fetching the boys from the airport when they arrived and supermarket shopping for victualling the boat. no time for anymore exploration.
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> Moy Toad set sail around lunchtime on Monday 30th April slightly ahead of schedule as the weather forecast was not good for the passage later in the week. as it was they had to motor overnight fairly bumpy quite a lot of water over the boat and at dawn enough wind ‘Force 7’ to sail to their destination. Just off Cape Carbonara David started the engine but nothing!! so with reefs in everything they sailed into the bay outside the marina and put down the anchor. radioed into the marina ‘ could they have a berth?’ Yes come on in - Ah we have no engine. so a Maraniera comes out in his RIB but no english so another one comes out speaking some english and it’s decided to tow them into the harbour and with the help of the Maraniera in the RIB manoeuvred her onto the pontoon. Finally tied up 3 tired men but mission accomplished. Apparently the weather just got worse with torrential rain ( i was told over the phone that several leaks on board and everything quite damp ( not selling ‘the dream’), thick cloud and certainly not the calm sunny weather hoped for!! In moments of dry weather they walked into the local village and along the beach the other side of the headland and also arrange d to hire a car firstly to take Oliver to the airport - he cut his visit short by several days and secondly to pick me up from the airport a few days later and to do the usual supermarket shopping . David and Hamish also did a little bit of exploration and climbed a local hill. The engine got sorted - a new solenoid and a new impeller for the bilge pump. They also discovered the washing machine not working and unable to find the solution on google Andrew back in the U.K. went to see a Miele dealer and he suggested sponging out the water from the bottom of the machine and drying the sensor with a hairdryer. Hey presto - working :-) it’s electronics far too sensitive!!
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> So hopefully this brings you all up to date and I’ll try and keep the blog going as we travel up the east coast of Sardinia.
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