The bosun and I departed that fine but annoyingly landlocked county of Northamptonshire at the crack of dawn. Well ok, about half six in the morning actually
A very swift and stress free drive down put us at Tollesbury well before either the cafe out the marina opened their doors. We went over the exterior of the boat identifying the whereabouts of the scraped patches from the survey and the location of inlets and outlets etc
Soon enough it was time to wander up the road to the cafe for a full English then we could finally grab the keys from the marina office and get on board. I should have kept one key when we completed the paperwork (they need a key to check for leaks etc when she's launched). I've done that now!
It being a rather overcast, chilly and slightly damp feeling day, we elected to defer patching the anti-foul until the morrow and set to emptying each and every locker to sort out the contents
The cockpit tent came out of the port aft v-berth locker and into the port cockpit locker (although I'd like to get a bag for it as its currently stowed in the mainsail bag. That move allowed the storm trysail and storm jib the be stowed along with the No.2 jib in the v-berth locker.
The spinnaker takes up all the space in the equivalent starboard locker.
Talking off the No.2 jib, whilst we had out out we removed it from the bag to check the fittings and add I'd hoped it has brass piston hanks confirming that it hoists on the removable inner forestay. That makes it a sail that I reckon might get some use.
The difficult to access aft locker under the quarter berth we declared a black hole into which we “lost" all the stuff that we couldn't figure out a purpose for but which we suspect we might need some day! The forward locker under the berth I'm keeping empty for the time being (I have designs upon it off which more anon)
We retrieved half a dozen good sized fenders from under the cockpit floor three off which, plus a big fat fender acquired by the bosun at the Cutweb canal rally the other weekend, are now stowed in the starboard cockpit locker.
Also in that locker we have the 7.5kg Bruce anchor which has been demoted from Best Bower to Kedge. It's on the chain and warp also retrieved from under the cockpit. The grapnel that was the kedge is now ballast!
A sort out of paint tins on the shelves in the port cockpit locker and a general re-organisation of the contents thereof finished off the jobs for the day.
A bit of a wander passed the time until the club bar opened then we indulged in beer and a very good meal. I was nodding off by nine so we made it an early night. Back aboard I was awake again so we l lit the oil lamps and put the kettle on for coffee with rum in it
We also have the cabin heater a blast. It works very well and soon got turned off again as it was a bit too warm! We will have to be a teeny bit wary of the dreaded CO though with two or three oil lamps, a paraffin heater and a spirit stove all burning away merrily. Oxygen depletion might be an issue too! Plenty of ventilation though
To bed at last. The v-berth is most comfortable for one, we'll see how it goes for two.
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