I didn’t bother to post
yesterday, because not much happened.
We made a bit of progress in preparing the boat, but not as much as
necessary. Richard went to put the
genoa on and had problems. It was
rolling up the wrong way so that the U/V strip was on the inside. So in a panic we got the rigger back in
to sort it out. We had hoped that
he could also help with the broken mouse line, but he said he couldn’t. Richard obviously doesn’t trust me to
put him up the mast in the bosun’s chair and he won’t ask anyone else to help. So the solution of the marina is for us
to take the boat over to the yard and get a forklift to take someone up the
mast.
The diver turned up just
before lunch. He said the bottom
is very dirty with a lot of barnacles and the like. He couldn’t scrub it with a brush, and had to use a paint
scraper. At the end he said there
wasn’t much antifoul left on the hull, so we will have to arrange to come out of
the water and be antifouled later in the season.
Richard went to the
chandlery. They don’t sell new gas
bottles, they refill your old one.
So we left it with them and they will get it back to us tomorrow. At the chandlery R also bought a spare
valve for the toilet, but he is not going to fix it himself. I had my doubts that would work out, but
Pepe from the yard did turn up to fix it and though it is still a bit stiff, it
does work.
The man with the bimini
never turned up. So we are
chasing. We waited in for most of
the afternoon and then gave up. So
we went in to town to get a bit more shopping. We went into the little discount supermarket and did manage
to get most of what we needed. On
the way back we stopped for a cocktail at a seafront bar. The drinks were expensive, but came
with a great selection of nibbles.
That is good, because my dinner is pretty simple, breaded veal chops and
corgettes.
Despite not getting much
done we were exhausted by the evening and struggled to stay up past 10pm.
Today was much more productive. The first thing was that Richard
insisted on my going to the toilet block on the bicycle. I have been dreading it. I have no confidence in my ability to
balance. It was dodgy to start,
but I did make it there and back without incident. However, I decide to walk for the rest of the day!
It was not long before
lunchtime that Massimo turned up with the bimini. He installed the two panels, in double Velcro, which he says
is very secure. However before it
is properly installed they go away for lunch! The lunch hour ends, and it is 2:30 and there is still no
sign of Massimo and his lot to finish off. They have to connect the panels to the wires and the
regulator. In the meantime the
office has sent over the man to direct us to the yard to sort the lazyjack line
out. We wait around there for a
while too. Then the man with a
huge machine, rather like things used to clean windows, comes and it is Pepe
again who goes up to the mast on the platform and puts the new mouse line down
the mast. And it works!
Richard rigs the lazy jack lines and all
seems well. That is until we find
out that it is Pepe who is supposed to be completing the work on the solar
panels and he says he can’t do that until tomorrow! Richard pleads with him saying we are leaving tomorrow. So he promises to come late this
afternoon.
We go back to our berth and
finish off the outstanding jobs.
Richard puts the mainsail on and I finally can get to the forward cabin
and clean that. It is now getting
very late and still no sign of Pepe.
Maybe we can’t go anywhere tomorrow! But at about 6:30 or 7pm he turns and gets to work. By 8pm it seems to be fully
installed. Our problem is that
Pepe speaks very little English and all the instruction books are in
Italian. So we hope we will be
able to cope.
But our first problem arises
almost immediately. After dark we
decide to re-connect to shore power.
We have paid for it and it means we will get hot water and it is easier
to charge up all the toys at once.
But right away there is a problem.
We can get the ring main and immersion heater to work, but the charger
for the battery won’t come on and keeps tripping the circuit breaker. I can only guess that the batter is
overcharged with the solar panels, but as it is night now, we really don’t
understand. This means we will be later
in starting tomorrow so we can find out what we have to do. We hope that won’t delay us.
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