27 July 2008
Hilary's Blog - 27 July 2008
Today was a big day for Arty. The repair work started by Vizmarine had been finished by Toby yesterday. She was lifted from her trailer into the water by Mike the crane driver. Setting up the electronics and getting her ready for the test sail to see whether our modified fix had solved our problems seemed to take forever.
There was a little wind in the estuary, so I was hoping for some nice gentle rollers in the bay to put her through her paces. As we went over the bar I was hugely relieved that there was no knocking and hopeful that this time we had solved the problems. Although there was virtually no wind, I sailed Arty on an unusually flat sea whilst Mike (our Mike, not the Salcombe Harbour Company crane driver :-)) and Sean looked on. We set up for the long tow back to the head of the estuary, all hugely relieved that Arty was behaving herself, but slightly disappointed that there had been so little wind as it meant we had not been able to put her under any stress.
The decision to sail tomorrow was left to Toby; he seemed happy enough, so everyone will be up at 2.00am tomorrow morning to head for Mevagissey. Salcombe has been extremely welcoming and the harbour guys, Roger, Dennis, Mike and Sam have been great. They have lifted Arty in and out a number of times during the past week without complaining once. Nevertheless, I'm particularly relieved that we will be moving again, as are the rest of the crew.
Page last updated on 1 August 2008 at 17:07