If winter comes
can spring be far behind? -Shelley- |
In fact, it's the summer that is bringing me down
When was the last time you experienced this sensation.
Life should be mud between the toes, not water under the bridge!
The southern hemisphere summer in Cairns is hot and wet. I've got a million jobs to do in the boat, but when it's not too hot, it's pouring down rain and everything is damp. When it's sunny, the temperature is a sweltering 35 C with high humidity. Hence I have taken a holiday from boat work. I've done five days a week work in the hotel and spent my days off relaxing, sleeping and not worrying about anything....too much.
A new mainsail was home delivered by Darryl and Phyllis on the 6 March.
A fully battened sail, custom made by the husband and wife team, is one of the few basics that I wanted to have done professionally. I don't mind a lot of shonky home-made installations as long as the 1.Engine 2.Hull 3.Rigging 4.Sails are attended to by professionals who know their business.
- Craig Haslet did the rigging for me two years ago and if I'm lucky, he will be able to do some work for me again this year.
- Tino will be re-employed this year to do welding and to ensure the structural strength of the hull and deck fittings, handrails, anchoring setup in the front as well as a new duckboard on the stern.
- Darryll will make / install a furling headsail and to ensure Aliisa is dressed up for the occasion.
- Engine work is still waiting for the right man. Steve Ansell - one of the top marine engineers in Cairns - has put his head into my engine room where a 25-year-old Nissan four cylinder diesel is running with at least one broken piston ring. If I'm lucky, Ansell engineering will have time to get the engine room sorted, including a new propeller shaft.
- Ross McKenzie will check the prop, again.
- At the moment it looks like nobody is going to sandblast the hull. I got two quotes. The first one was a verbal "about AUD 3000.00, by Norship Marine. They look after a large fleet of trawlers and service hundreds of boats and yachts each year. Unfortunately they never came in with a written quote.
So I finally got the shits and went to the Big Boat Shed, the other one of the two that can do professional sand blasting. They got me a quote in two hours, on paper. The problem is that the quote was reading AUD 6000.00 Impossible. No fucking way!
What do I do? I pursue a written quote from Norship Marine. Finally got it. The problem is that their quote reads just a tad under AUD 9000.00!!! Piss off. No way. They must be joking. Anyway, looking at the positive side, by not blasting the hull, I now save not $3000 but a whopping 9000 dollars!
So, as you can see, my mind is firmly on the little miseries of yacht maintenance and trying to learn the mechanics of the world of machinery that I have no real interest in.
In the personal side, I've been somewhere in the middle. Paula and I see each other only once every week or two. Paula is doing the right thing by working as much as possible in Port Douglas - 60km from Cairns - to get together enough cash to support herself during the uncertain times of cruising.
Thank you for your feedback! Feedback is tricling in. Ian, Yanek, Captain John, Rob, Binky, Bill, Paul, Eric, Jarno, Tanya, Ari, Devon, Bob, Peter and Tom. Thank you. I will reply personally to every e-mail I get. Nothing gets out of my inbox until it's been replied to. Keep in touch.
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A small crocodile lays still as I row past, on my way from the Yacht Squadron to my boat further up the creek. Lack of clear water is not the only reason to take your boat out to the reef before you jump in the water to clean the hull...