Long overdue, but here goes... an update of what’s been going on these last few months.

Started off with a panic. The second half of October a storm made its way across the UK. Guapa was still sitting on her mooring. I had checked all tackle the week before and doubled up the mooring to make sure we could ride out the storm safely. There’s only so much you can do, but at least I did what I could. A neighbouring boat however was not so lucky. She broke her mooring and ended up on our pulpit. Received second hand (and later first hand) reports of the daring rescue undertaken by the marina staff in +50kts winds. The last really went above and beyond. Guapa seemed to have come off virtually unscathed: some scuff-marks on the hull and that’s about it.
Still, not good for the heart though. I was very relieved when I parked Guapa alongside on a pontoon berth (for winter) the following week.

And that’s pretty much where she has remained since then. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we’ve been able to take her out this winter. This has been in a large part due to the weather we’ve been having – not a ‘normal’ winter by any means. Plenty of wet (noting new), but lots of high winds too. As I am writing this another forecast came through predicting +40kts of wind for tomorrow. Here’s hoping for some more settled weather in the very near future. I’m getting ‘boat withdrawal symptoms’.

I am sad to report that we haven’t made much progress on the refit front. In fact hardly any progress at all. The second autopilot controller I had bought on eBay a couple of years ago (as a spare) I planned to fit by the chart table turns out to be as dead as the Dodo. We have done a couple of trips to recce what needs doing to fit the new Webasto heater and controller. I (and Yanni) seem to have underestimated the work somewhat. It’s doable, but we would need two consecutive days of ‘no rain’. And getting hold of Yanni over the weekends is proving to be increasingly difficult. First love and all that.
I’ve been looking at getting some outside help, but that too is not as easy as anticipated.

I have not given up hope that Yanni might finish work on the tablet/plotter in the next few weeks. If not, I’m going to hit him where it hurts: in the wallet.

What is likely to happen? I’m going to have the DSC VHF reprogrammed with our current MMSI. Should not take more than a week or two. Toying with the idea of getting the genoa valeted (some mildew marks), but it’s not a priority. What is a priority, is fixing all the tender leaks. Another ‘Yanni job’. I am confident that he’ll manage to complete that one before we go back on our mooring as the tender is sitting in our garage at the moment.

All in all, I’m not really a happy bunny. No sailing, no progress on the refit front. I’m starting to regret my decision to remain afloat this winter. A mistake I am not likely to repeat next year.
On a more positive note: the days are getting noticeably longer – always a good sign.