To start the diary off, a short update on our time with Siempre of Dartmouth so far. We bought her from an English couple having viewed her at Aguadulce on the south Spanish coast. As usual with the “perfect” boat we then set about spending loads of money to make her what we (I) really wanted, After an unfortunate encounter with a real cowboy named Darren at Aguadulce I decided that a complete revamp of the navigation gear and main wiring loom around the engine and electrics panel would be a good idea as he had destroyed it, nearly losing the boat in the process. He even put an empty fire extinguisher back in the holder without telling anyone!

New Standing rigging was ordered and Mike Stevens came out from Brighton at the same time a Malcolm Threadgold (also Brighton) to do all the work and the result was satisfyingly expensive and a huge improvement on the original.

Of course, a new autopilot was required and so on just to keep the cash flow going.

Having spent the first year playing with her the time cam to actually go somewhere and so we set off towards the Balaerics with plenty of stops on the way.

Jim