Return to Lagos
Red Skies
David Alexander
Sun 23 Aug 2009 08:12
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We returned to Lagos on Thursday 20th August,
anticipating a day of cleaning and then getting underway on Saturday morning to
resume our voyage to the Med. However, on checking the various systems we found
that the anchor would first only let out and not pull in and then became stuck
on letting out, needing the circuit breaker to be opened to stop it. The upshot
was a failed control box and a delay here in Lagos while one was sourced. This
prompted more verse from Alison:-
We've returned back here to Lagos
In eager anticipation
Going back to Hythe was so much fun
But we need to continue navigation
Red Skies was looking really good
If a little dusty
We cleaned her up and polished
The bits that were looking rusty
We began a systematic check
Of all our little ship
To make sure we had a perfect boat
All ready for the trip
'Red Skies' had on her own account
Decided, while we were away
To tamper with her anchor winch
It didn't want to play
An urgent call to Marina John
A local mate of 'Cousin' Don
Who came and sadly diagnosed
An electronic box had gone
The chandler even had a spare
Things were looking up -r sure
Until they looked inside the box
-
Not 12 volts but
twenty-four
So we are still in Lagos
town
Waiting for a replacement
part
And keeping fingers
crossed
That soon our odyssey will
start
The trip back to England was great fun and
enabled us to meet up with our crew for Rally Portugal, when we went out on Don
& Charlie Cousin's fabulous catamaran 'Rimakat' for the weekend and located
our fifth member, Mike Swallow, in Chichester harbour
 .Don Cousin at the wheel of
Rimakat
 Charlie Cousin and Alison enjoying the
sunshine but somewhat cooler temperatures of the Solent
 Don bringing our 5th member, Mike
Swallow, on board.
Now we are back in Portugal, the blue skies
and warm sunshine (circa 34 degrees) are a welcome reminder of the conditions we
hoped for when we set out on this journey.
 The marina at Lagos
  The Rio Bensafrim from the Marina towards the
Atlantic, with Lagos town on the right
Another view
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