Back to Port Nap

With Ryan gone, it was time to head back to Port Nap. I needed to return as I had ordered a new radio and to sort out some niggles that we had come across. So I set off on the 9 March at 07h30.. The wind was blowing slightly and slowly nudged me off the dock. I left the harbour and put up the sails, hoping to get some sailing down, the forecast was for 6-7 knots from the East, and would pick up a bit... That was not the case, the wind was 3-4kts and the swell was about 0.5-1m from the SSW. After a few minutes of the boom swing from and 1.5kts boat speed I started the motor and off I went.  The wind had picked up a little bit 45 minutes later so I tried to sail again... Same result, so I furled my genoa and dropped the main and motored to Port Nap.  The trip was uneventful, which was good. I managed to dock by myself, it wasn't perfect, but there wer not bangs, knocks or squeaks.  

Leaving Marseille

After snugging the boat, I went to let Mike, Michelle and Richard know that I had returned as initially they were expecting me on Wed and it was Thursday. I picked up my new radio and fitted that.  

I also met  Brian and Stephanie, had just put their boat in the water, "Detour"http://blog.sailingdetour.com/. Their plan was to put the mast down and motor along the canals in Europe, up to the Baltic and then.... 

That night we met at Happy hour and I shared my adventure with them.. I asked Mike and Michelle if I could tag along with them as they were also heading the same general direction. 

I continued to work on my todo list and I added an item, a new solar panel, the one I had had stopped working and when it did work, it was of much use, other than trickle charging the battery. So I placed the order and waited for the arrival.

Nav Station with old Radio

New Radio (todo list, lower right)

Amongst the first things to be fixed were the squeaking boom..  It turned out the source of the noise was where the bottom of the vang attaches to the mast - the mast fitting is aluminium, the vang attachment stainless steel.  The stainless steel was chewing on the mast, so I put a stainless steel washer and the noise is gone.. 

Vang

At this stage, I was just crossing items off the todo list and I was making progress. On Saturday we met at Happy Hour again and we were joined by Sean and Leslie, to Scotts, currently living in Geneva. We started at 08h00 and ended up having great dinner on O'Mally and an equally good morning... 

Sean and Leslie's, O'Mally

On Tuesday, we had dinned aboard Emerald Lady and again that was a great night. The following day Wed 15 Brian and Stephanie had arranged to get their mast taken down as they were eager to get going as they had had enough of the blustery Port Nap.  I gave them a hand and we were done in no time. Brian and Stephanie set off on the Saturday on their adventure.

On the Saturday, Leslie and Michelle kindly picked me up a set of wheels..

Collapsible bicycle

The following week, my solar panel arrived, one snag, no connectors. I had also ordered two connectors however, they hadn't arrived... I kept the box as Mike would needed it cut templates as he was still finishing off work on his boat. After a couple of days, I emailed the company I had bought the panel from, they replied immediately that they had attached the connectors to the outside of the box, using tape.. Fortunately, I had not thrown the box out and found the connectors, I had ordered and extra set, however that one of the parts were missing (I did email them to let them know and they did send me a replacement at no cost). I have left the old panel in place as I plan to replace it with a working panel, with these two panels, I will expect to be energy sufficient, that is if the sun shines..

New 150W solar panel

Around March 13, I ordered a spare plug and two sockets for my windlass, as I needed to have a plug in the cockpit, if I am to anchor on my own. As I had not heard anything from the company, I ordered a new remote and socket and I fitted that.  A couple of days after I had fitted the new remote, the two sockets arrived, but I am still waiting on the plug and I expect to continue waiting. The windlass is made by Quick and I have to say that their service is *SHITE*, just to get a price or attempt to shop on their site, you need to register and provide all your info, they then, at their leisure, will contact you (if you are worthy) and allow you to purchase from their online site. To this day I am still waiting for the invitation to shop on their site.. Kind of wonder how someone with that business attitude is still in business..

I also made use of my washing machine, that Ryan brought over... 

Washing machine (dishwasher had been put away)

Some told me I had put the courtesy flags in the wrong place (guess I need to RTFM)

On Saturday the 18 April, Mike and Michelle renamed their boat from Emerald Lady to Flying Fyn, that was a pretty good ceremony, we were joined by the usual crowd.

By the Monday, fortunately,  I was running out of things to do I was finding all gel coat cracks and repairing them.  I decided to get a bracket made for my stay sail attachment - under load the deck was separating from the bulkhead..  This had been pointed out in the inspection survey.  To clarify - I have no plans on making use of the stay sail for at least 6 months. So With Richard's input I designed a bracket to be made by the local shipwright.

Deck lifting  under load

New bracket

Bracket fitted and in place (less stay pad eyes)

On the weekend of the 23 April a friend of Mike's, Rupert came to visit and give Mike a had with some carpentry. We also met an Australian couple Ian an Shelly that weekend, they had bought a boat in Scotland and sailed her down to Port Nap and had were just finishing off some work on their boat. On the Saturday, Richard left for the start of his season. On the Saturday, after a run of 5 great days, I was down to one or to items on my list so I had a look at Mike and Michelle's bikes (they were on their boat ) and they hadn't been started for some time... That was welcome break from doing boat repairs..

That Sunday, Sean kindly hoisted me up my furler and I identified the problem with my furler guides, two screws were missing. It started to rain  late on Sunday, followed by wind. It promptly rained and the wind blew till Tuesday. On the Tuesday, Michelle kindly hoisted me up the stay and put the crews in furler and that was the last item on my todo list. At Richard's suggestions I fitted two pad eyes in the cockpit so I could be better secured to the boat.

New Padeye , remote radio and windlass control

At this point there was nothing to do except wainting to move one..