The 2011 season begins

Actually, we haven't really stopped since last season, with the boat staying afloat all through the winter. We haven't managed a huge amount of winter sailing this time, for one reason or another, but have steadily completed all the maintenance jobs (engine servicing, winch re-greasing, general cleaning, etc).

One new job was to fit a second, flexible, water tank into an empty space behind the forward heads moulding. This provides a separate 50-litre source of fresh water, hand-pumped, in the unlikely event of a problem with the main 300-litre tank or pressurised pump. With a deft bit of re-using old kit, we employed one of the original cockpit dodgers from our first keelboat, Osiris (a Parker 21) as a sort of protective hammock for the tank to make sure it doesn't abrade as the boat heels.


In mid-April we were blessed with lovely weather for the annual antifouling chore. Once again, we used the Dartmouth scrubbing grid to pressure-wash the hull of its layer of slime and weed before applying two coats of antifouling paint between tides on the Saturday and Sunday.

All went well and we were able to complete everything, including replacing anodes, servicing and greasing the feathering propellor and polishing the hull on time.