We are hoping to have a break in the weather before we go to the yard, Ian needs to go up the mast but the wind is too strong until Wednesday. The rigging is checked thoroughly, and the head mast wind instrument is brought down, we have new battery for it. The rest of the day is spent preparing the boat for being on the hard. Our slot is at 16:30, so we are ready in front of the basin in front of the lift by 16:15, going round and round. We can see there is a queue, timing has obviously slipped. Despite calling on the VHF, no one is actually telling us if we will be lifted this afternoon (we are the last slot) until 17:00. Another half hour to wait and we are finally in the sling. By the time we are out and secured it is gone half past 6. Long day but it ends with a nice warmish shower.
Woken up extra early this morning, by half past 6 the yard is already a hive of activity. Machines are revved up, banging and shouting starts. Fascinating stuff to watch. Love the way the travel hoist is walked through by the operator with his command unit around his neck, just like a big remote control toy. The man with the karsher arrives mid morning to clean Mr X, by this time we have gotten the worse of the fauna and flora off the hull with the scrappers. It is quite thick but comes off surprisingly easily. By the end of the day, the hull is clean and is part sanded, if we finish the sanding early enough, we’ll be ready for the first coat of anti foul to go on tomorrow. We haven’t done this for a few years now, but I can tell you it is far more pleasant than doing it in the UK. By night fall the yard goes quiet, not many people live onboard, except for a few, there is a young family with a small girl… a right chatterbox, she does not stop talking from morning to night, funny to listen to her.
Friday is laundry day, the self service launderette is across the road, and has a TV so I can follow the news, all about the new president just elected last weekend. I have been following a bit on the radio so it is nice to put faces on all those people they are talking about. We sanded some more and chased up the guys who finally came in the afternoon to service the prop. Ian is glued to them and wants to ask million of questions so I have to do my translator thing. Not too bad, the two lads, Nathaniel and Erwan (nice young men, nice young men) are good fun and have load of stories too. Actually, looking around, the yard is full of nice young men nice young men…
Saturday morning, the painting of the hull commences. It goes on quickly and nicely. I had forgotten how satisfying this job is, it does look nice. We do some odd jobs in the afternoon and clock off early, both of us knackered from the exertion and the fact that we are not getting so much sleep at night. The mosquitoes are driving me nuts, despite the insect repellent, room spray and the coils. After 2 bad nights, I finally fish out the bed net and rig it above our bed in the forepeak, very cosy. It is the first time we needed it up in all these months. I guess we are very close to the mangrove here.
Sunday, that is it, we are done, 3 coats of anti-foul have been applied, we used up 10 litres of the stuff. We are pleased with the result, hopefully we should be going a bit faster now. The yard has been very quiet today, only a few people working, but plenty of opportunities for blah, blah, blah. I get to learn loads of stuff from people who have been sailing around here for year, (Brigitte & Alain) and the guys on Symi. Apparently the weather we have been experiencing this season is uncommonly wet. The island is still green and lush, full of leaves and flowers, which is not the case normally. I find it hard looking at these green hills to imagine them yellow and scorched by the sun. It would also seem that a lot of people do not hole up during hurricane season (well French people!) but carryon sailing and avoiding the blows. Interesting strategy… as long as you have good weather forecast…
Monday comes and the yard if even more busy than last week. Boats are taken out and put back in all day. We have got to stop and watch as a 130 foot super yacht (Rox Star) is put back in the water. The dexterity of the hoist driver is extraordinary, a crowd has gathered to watch. The bow sprit did come aiming right at us for a little while. Impressive stuff. I could watch all this goings on all day, but Ian gives me jobs! Nathaniel comes back to free off the emergency rudder. Much to Ian disgust, it only takes him less than 15 minutes. Guess that is what happen, you don’t mind forcing things a bit when it is not your boat when you don’t really dare when you think you could make it worse. Ian’s drilling of the com mast is advancing but slowly, it is going to take hours to drill a hole big enough to take the lead of the comms bat. Of course he could have just fixed the lead outside to the tube, but it would not look as good…
The guys on Symi are going back to France, and they come and say good bye, another half hour of blah blah blah and we get a nice food parcel when they clean up their fridge…always welcomed!
Ian finally find some British people to talk to when he goes and help carrying the 25 metre mast, he enjoyed that, both helping carrying the mad=st and talking in his own language for a while!