Time is passing quickly now. It is the 14th of November and we have just had the first (very late) frost of the winter. The sailing season is over for us warm-weather sailors and I visited Nadezhda this weekend to strip the sails off ready for the Winter lift-out on the 5th December. They are still in the back of the car; I don’t suppose that I will be able to hang them from the banisters to dry, as I have done in previous years, since we decorated the hall, stairs and landing this year.
Once lifted-out, the work begins to fit the boat-out with all of the gizmos that have been discussed in the last note. By the way, the second-hand Bruce anchor was delivered by a sweating and grunting Parcel Force delivery driver who had to lug it down the drive and round the back of the house. The Internet and mail-order is an absolute boon.
Fliss’s brother has just had his bathroom re-fitted by a friend of his who has done a really professional job. The fitter (Dan, ‘the man’) has just been made redundant and is looking for odd jobs and we just happen to need a bathroom fitter to do ours before renting our house. If we do some of the preparation and he does the ‘real’ work then we end-up getting the job done at a knock-down price without too much investment of the precious time we have. So far, fingers-crossed, everything is falling into place!
Having bought a drogue, the cost does not stop there. They recommend 80 metres of 16mm double braid rope to attach it to. Add enough rope to form a ‘bridle’ to attach to the boat and you need 100 metres. I was lucky enough to find this at only £2.50 per metre with an attachment eye already spliced in both ends from Aladdins Cave (about half the price of other retailers). As I said, the Internet works wonders.
Unfortunately our EPIRB needs another battery before we depart and I have been quoted over £200 for this. If anyone can do better………
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