Friday / Saturday 18 / 19 October 2019

We have cracked on with the preparations, steadily knocking jobs off the list, so this has been the focus of these two days.  We have been cleaning and stowing equipment and have got out some things from their usual resting spots to be put away more permanently for the winter.  I was pleased to note that our foul weather gear has been completely unused this year, just T shirt and shorts for months, although we have resorted to jumpers in the evenings when it cools.  For the most part, as our photos will show, we have had blue skies and very little rain.  It did come down for about 10 mins a few days ago, but I can’t really remember the time before that.  A far cry from the weather that we hear is being experienced at home.  We will miss the warm sun, just remind me why we are leaving this glorious sunshine and heading for Britain in winter?

Friday was enlivened by the yard lifting a very old, large, wooden boat for winter storage. The boat fitted into the lifting dock with just a few centimetres to spare on either side.  I know that the travel lift that they use is easily capable of lifting our boat, but this other boat must have been right at its operating limits.

We have also removed our mainsail and sent in to the hanger for storage.  We managed to choose a moment when there was little wind, which was helpful, as we have to fully raise and then lower the sail, not advisable when in port if there is any sort of wind blowing. One of the marinaros helped us get it to the deck, and then Tricia and I removed the full width battens that help keep the sail in shape.  I think that this is the first time that we have done this when moored stern to, and this makes it much easier. After this we had the job of folding and bagging the sail, not easy when you have limited space to work in on deck, and the sail is too heavy to be easily moved elsewhere.  Anyway, we managed it, and the got the sail in its bag, off the boat and onto the pontoon by lifting it 30 – 50 centimetres a time.

By Saturday, we are sufficiently far advanced in the task list to be able to contemplate a bike ride.  However, this added to the job list as we discovered that there was a puncture in one of the tyres.  Once fixed we headed off to the tourist resort part of Bosa on the other side of the river. It was interesting to see what was there, but it was showing clear signs of being at the end of the season.  Some of the bars and cafes were closed, and there were vacancy notices on the holiday homes.  At least there was still a good number of people on the beach.  We stopped for a well-deserved gelato on the way back, ironically only a couple of hundred metres from the boat, but needing a cycle of 2 or 3 kilometres to return via the nearest bridge.

I was incensed this morning by the laziness of one of the other boat owners.  It is quite common to see people who leave their mooring lines on the dock when they go out, which I disapprove of to start with, but the guy today took the biscuit.  We were cleaning the sprayhood on the pontoon when he arrived with his family, and we were quick to move it so that they could pass.  He then came back for a hose to fill his water tanks, which he left running along the pontoon, exactly where we had been working, so that it was in our way. I was just taking this in, and feeling aggrieved that had had gone out on his boat leaving it like this, when I noticed that he had left his electricity cable, lying on the pontoon, but still plugged in to the mains supply. It would have been so easy for it to fall into the water.  I have seen people accidentally drop their cables into the water in the past, and there is usually a loud bang, followed by the presence of a number of dead fish.  It is our procedure to always make sure the boat end is plugged in before we connect to the mains. It was unbelievable that someone would think it was OK to leave a live cable so close to the water, and completely unattended.

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	549	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1602	nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)