Almost back in the water

Hi everyone,

Well, it's almost 3 weeks since our last blog - a record for us! Many things have been happening during our stay out of the water. Most notable is that when we were checking the engine alignment recently we found a possible problem with the gear box! So, we decided to be prudent and removed it from the boat. We found that a small part had fractured as a result of the cowboy effort in Kerikeri with the drive train - another costly result from the Kerikeri so-called refit. However, there is a bright side - we now know that the overall condition is excellent with virtually no wear after 30 years which is reassuring.

We've been to Auckland again just last weekend and had a pleasant time staying with Heather and Magan -Jean's (Gina's) sister and brother-in-law. She was able to spend some time with her son Perry again on one of his flying visits to our shores and Jim caught up with his mother for Mother's Day. She is now in the Caughey Preston Hospital but her health is much improved as a result of the constant care she is receiving. No doubt largely as a result of this she was much more amenable than previously (!) and was pleased with the bottle of wine. This visit was somewhat poignant because it is likely that, as our plans are to leave for Vanuatu within 3 weeks at the outside, we won't be seeing any family now for about 5-6 months! The great adventure is looming.

On a further personal note Jim has received some great news. His youngest daughter, Charlotte who lives in Christchurch, has announced that she is expecting again! Lucia is now just over 2 so she will have her hands full but at least Lucia will be almost 3 by then so the "terrible twos" will have passed - hopefully! 

Life in the boatyard carries on - although not with any degree of normality for a Canadian couple who were due to launch a week ago. Phil fell from a plank on trestles about 2 metres above the ground while working on his boat and badly fractured both wrists as well as severely injuring his face. Sadly this bad accident will set them back at least 12 months as they won't be able to sail from here until next year and will possibly return to Canada in the meantime. It was a wakeup call for all of us and we are all more careful just where we put our feet when working elevated above the ground. 

Jean (Gina) has been great as she often rises before the other half (who is usually not a morning person!) and attends to the morning chores, emptying the grey water in the appropriate place as well as watering the ground under the boat to maintain the humid atmosphere necessary to nurture the timber hull.

We are now ready to be launched but are frustrated by the current weather caused by a slow moving low just to the north of us. We have to antifoul a few small areas where timber shores have been placed against the hull but we have to wait for dry weather and cannot launch before that is done. However, there are plenty of other things we can do either here or in the marina. Provisioning is one of them so the time is definitely not wasted.

As this is being written Jean is making stews from organic beef that we buy from a German lady (Ursula) at the Whangarei market. They will have all the good things in them - carrots, red onions, parsnips, garlic, turnips and swedes. We should get 8 pre-cooked frozen meals out of this lot which will be great on passage as all we will have to do is heat them up. As far as the freezer is concerned, we are resigned to the fact that we will have to keep food up from the bottom of the box in order to stay frozen - maybe we can get some vaccum packed meat to put in that area and consume it first? Either way it's a great inconvenience and an unnecessary monument to opinionated ignorance. It doesn't appear that there is any willingness on the part of the builder to address the issues so once again it will fall to us to fix it at our cost in the future.

As always we'll keep you posted with all the blow by blow details of the launching and departure - if this weather ever lets us!

Cheers,

J & J (G)