Hard at it in Almerimar
After nearly 12 months, we finally arrived back to First Light lll in the middle of September. After all this time, she was looking quite forlorn and neglected covered in red dust blown in from Morocco! We immediately noticed the wind instruments at the top of the mast were not moving in the wind...a bad sign! Bern had a long list of jobs that seemed to grow daily and over the past three weeks he has been extremely busy working away and ticking them off in preparation for the long trip home.

We spent three days on the hardstand and were really pleased when the hull came out quite clean after nearly 12 months in the water. The antifouling paint had done a good job, or should we give credit to the fish in the marina that seemed to work their way from one boat to the next nibbling at growth on the hull. Another fish story!! But the propeller was not so clean, it had a dozen oysters attached. So with a couple of coats of anti-foul applied, a clean prop and fresh anodes it was back in the water. In hindsight, of all the jobs to be completed this has been the easiest and by far the most straightforward.

We had planned to be out of the marina in a few weeks and on our way to Gibraltar, but we have been seriously held up waiting for parts to be serviced and returned. Bern´s theory is that the Spanish siesta is partly to blame. The courier services don´t work in the afternoon, as most business´ close between 2 and 5.30pm for the siesta, so if a part is not delivered in the morning it will be the next day...or the next!!!! We sent the autopilot hydraulic ram off to be serviced, but after two weeks it was not back, so we started hassling the guy that sent it off. We finally got it back but it was so tight that it was not usable, so back it went for them to have another go! The turnaround this time was a couple of days and the ram was nice and free.

With the ram installed, the new autopilot installation and sea trials could be done. We eventually got new bearings for the masthead unit under warranty and it was back in service. EPIRBS had new batteries fitted and we started provisioning with food, first aid kits updated, the dodger re-stitched with the addition of a much needed opening added plus a myriad of other jobs ticked off. We were finally ready to head out. After weeks of good easterly winds that would have carried us the 120nm to Gibraltar, they turned to westerly ´on the nose´ but fortunately fairly light.