Monday, December 9, 2013

Floating with Friends


It is now December 7 and, at last, I have time to catch up since last I posted. The weather is horrendous, the rain is pelting down, the wind is howling. It is a splendid time for huddling in the cabin and writing about warmer days…

We went into the water at about midday on Wednesday, November 27. The travel lift came at about 10:30 and Django was raised from her supports. 

Django on her way to flotation.

The head of our bottom-painting team Bob Marley (so named because he is lead singer in a reggae band) did the last bits of naked bottom.  Soon after, we were floating! It was every bit as marvelous as I had hoped.

Bob Marley doing touch-up.

We tied up at the fuel dock and filled our water tanks with water and our ice chest with ice. Next, the Great Cleaning took place. Poor old Django was indescribably filthy, but a little elbow grease and Boat Wash saw that dealt with. The guest berth was dressed in its finest and Febreeze was employed to battle a pervasive aroma of engine innards. An initial provisioning run took place. WW brought Stefan over from the dinghy dock and was so shattered by her lightness and general not-Boffoness that he thought he’d been delivered the wrong dinghy.  We both missed Boffo—her sturdy reliability, her playful character, her streak of independence. Mind you, we didn’t miss her deflatable ways.

Our guests, the Eager Crew (Dana Hearne and Enn Raudsepp) arrived at Jolly Harbour at about 5 p.m. We welcomed them with open arms, put their gear in their berth and plied them with rum. Standard procedure, really.

Then it was cast off and out to the bay where we dropped anchor. This was accompanied by the discovery that WW, in reconstituting the headstay, had got the bridle half over and half under the forward lifelines. We need the bridle, all on one side of the lifelines, to anchor. So he had to undo the splice, untangle the bridle, make a temporary fix by just tying it around the crossbeam, and carry on from there. Yet another thing to be fixed…

That evening, we dined on pollo con piƱa a la antigua (old-fashioned chicken with pineapple would be my rough translation) with a vegetable-enriched couscous. A bit of song singing and wine imbibing helped mark our return to the water and the arrival of our guests.

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