Saturday, May 22
So why aren't we sailing?
Well, we sort of can't. We have to have service done on our sailboat engine between 50 and 100 hours to retain the warranty. We are now at 93 hours. We have tried to get an appointment since arriving on Tuesday and have not yet been successful. We hope that the tech can fit us in this week - the upcoming weekend is a holiday here as well as in the US, and I imagine everyone wants to have their engine taken care of so they can get out on the water.
And while we aren't sailing we have lots to do in this new life in our tiny home in a new country. We walk to the grocery store in the local village (about 15 minutes), do laundry at the marina laundromat, and are learning about our boat.
Some tasks are easily managed and we are thwarted by some. We took a taxi to a hardware store so David could buy tools (and I found cushions I like for the sofas! - called settees for some reason in a boat). He bought a rechargeable drill, came back to the boat and found that we can't charge it in the boat because we are wired for US power. Oh well. We also bought a new UK sim card to use for a hotspot so we can get internet and make local calls. After we got back to the boat, we found out out that we needed a voucher to start the service since we were using a US credit card. Other problems followed; we finally got the sim card working 6 hours later. All of this is part of living in a new country (and on a boat); but, we aren't on a schedule so we try to roll with it.
Many fun challenges as well. The wind was light this morning (8-9 kn) so we used a few of our precious engine hours to practice docking the boat. We were both quite nervous as we started, but we made a good plan taking into account tide and wind and got out of the slip. We then went to a more open part of the marina and practiced doing circles, steering backward, entering a slip and "retreating", and then returned to our slip and managed beautifully. A really great feeling, learning, thorough planning, good teamwork. We talked nicely to each other the whole time!
Then, we did something a boat person would understand is really cool. We started going from the forward part of the boat on the interior and opened up every cupboard (called locker) in the walls (called bulkheads, I think) and in the floor (called sole) We mapped out the systems of the boat, and especially noted "through hulls", a very scary thought to have so many holes in the boat. But, water needs to come in and water, liquid, and air needs to go out. These openings, seacocks have specific mechanisms to make sure water goes the right way and need to be maintained.
Also, totally cool, these large and small spaces all over the boat that can be used for storage. But we need to remember where the storage is - some is under the carpet, under the mattresses, and then remember what we put there. And all of the stuff that has to find a home - from tools, pare parts, safety equipment, charts (they are not called maps), extra sails, to food, clothing, cleaning supplies, manuals.
So, maybe you can tell. We are really having fun, feeling lucky to play, be challenged, learn, and do this together in a beautiful place.