A week off work. Boat, boat, boat ... For a long time completion seemed far off. Now it looks like we might even run out of time. All hands to the pumps.

Evita stayed behind to look after the dog who's been poorly lately, everyone else in the car, on the ferry and off to the boat. Lots to do. The in-laws were in France, so we crashed at their place - 20 minute drive from the boat.

First impressions of Guapa were good - very good. Balsa all laminated in. Just the anchor well hatch cover left to be done - and the 'cellar' hatch. No biggie.

First job of the week - helping Frank drilling holes for the deck fittings. Toe rails, shroud fittings, cleats, granny bars, ... it all has to go back on. The toe rails in particular were a big job.
Meanwhile Brigitte (with Yanni supervising and providing general (m)oral support) got rid of that disgusting band of weed crud above the waterline.
Just before we called it a day I sanded the rusty patches on the keel and applied Vactan. I must say I'm very impressed with that. The next day there was no trace of the rust and you could just about make out the protective film.

Day two: attempts at polishing the hull were abandoned. With the next boat parked no more than 20 cm away there's only so much you can do. Finished drilling holes for the deck fittings. Deck was sanded - in a word - smooth doesn't even begin to cover it. Top notch job. Brigitte sanded the hull below the waterline - ready for the anti-foul application. I collected all of the remaining cork and glue from the supplier and talked boats (whilst everyone else was hard at work).

Day three: Frank continued on deck whilst the three of us applied the new coat of anti-foul. Hempel hard - as previously. Only the colour changed. Red instead of black.
The work we divided as follows: I did the hull from the waterline till about 75 cm down; Brigitte took care of the rest whilst Yanni did keel and rudder. Job done in a little over four hours.

Day four: just a couple of little bits. Some discussion about deck fittings (moving of) and plans for the week(s) to come. Aching all over. Comments about not being used to hard work were heard. None of us are getting any younger.

Trip home spoiled by heavy traffic. Thank goodness the blockade of the French ferry ports has been lifted.

Next trip over is in a couple of days (end of next week). These days I've only got one thing on my mind: boat. Well two things if you count money (pun intended).

One month to the day till launch - and counting.