Tall Ships Halifax 2009 is over, Barb's duties as security are done, my bout with the flu is almost finished (I'm winning, by the way) and life is returning to normalcy in readiness for the next flurry of excitement, the hauling of Nelleke to work on her hull for the next cruise. This will involve not only the normal renewal of the anti fouling but this time we will also redo the boot stripe and replace the zinc anode, but the all time big job will be to replace the cutlass bearing.

I was asked to stay home another day and took the opportunity to get what work I had the energy to accomplish on the freezer cave project. While so doing damn if the freezer didn't decide to act up - turn itself on and off, run through all the temperatures, in short really worry me about its capabilities. We have had it for 4 years and it has done yeoman service so maybe now is its time. I would rather it go belly up here while we are in Halifax and I am working at the Binnacle so we can easily get a replacement rather than when we are at sea or deep in the Caribbean this winter. We have decided to surmount the cave with a shelf to hold the sail covers when we don't have them bent on. In the past they were always in the way, on a seat or in someone's bunk. Now they will have their own place and it will be well out of the way.

As I said, labour continues on the freezer cave project and as you can see from the photo is has taken up residence in its new cave. The two lighter things that you can see sticking out from underneath it are the runners upon which we can slide it out from its cave when we need to get into it. I still need to build the shelf above it and get Barb to do the finishing but I am quite comfortable that the majority or the big and the finicky stuff is done.

Next I will get to work on the chain locker, but hopefully I will be back at work starting tomorrow.