High and Dry

Well, we had a call yesterday to say that Moonshine's out of the water, so it must officially be winter.

I'm champing at the bit to see her so that I can discover how much work we have to do before she can go back in again, but it's all busy, busy at the moment, so it looks like it will be at least two weeks before we get down there.

Anyway, the sea dawg will have to endure a few days like this:




Before she gets days like this:



On the bright side, we're only 25 days before the earliest sunset of the year, so it'll soon be spring :-)

Ready For Winter

Well, that's about it until March 2008. Moonshine's sails are at Arun Sails to be washed and repaired. I've been down and put in clean engine oil, the mast electrics have been disconnected, the water tank is empty, the bedding and crockery are waiting to go into the attic.

Today, Chris Holman is taking down the mast and tomorrow she's being lifted out of the water for the winter. Between now and March we need to get her polished, repainted and anti-fouled and do some general repairs to various holes and scrapes around the deck, plus replace the teak grab rails. We're going to be very busy, especially as we're re-doing the living room at home.

Our next sailing will be somewhat warmer. We'll be limin' in the BVI in March for a couple of weeks of conch fritters, lobster, sun, sea and too much rum. We've chartered this rather pretty Beneteau 323.



In a nice coincidence, she's named "Sunshine", so we should feel at home.