Splash! And we're back in the water.

Current Location: Sutton Harbour Marina

With the seacocks serviced and the dodgy hoses all replaced it was time to tidy things up a bit. And not before time I confess. By this time we had worked out that the best way to not lose things was to return everything to the saloon table. We still spent as much time looking for 'the small flathead screwdriver' or 'the blue socket set with black clips' as we did actually working on the job but at least the theory made us feel better.

Cushion covers removed for washing and tools all in their correct location.

Meanwhile down on the ground the collection of old hoses was gathered together and their bronze fittings removed. The fittings and the half eroded lead anodes were taken to the local metal reclamation yard where the man with a small spanner through his eyebrow gave us £19.75.The hoses were skipped.

Who knows how we avoided sinking with this mass below the waterline?

One of the last remaining jobs was to seal the bottom of the rudder which was still oozing water and to copper coat it.

The final coats of copper coat being prepared for the tip of the repaired rudder.

All the Premier League tasks were now complete and we could return to the water if necessary to complete almost all the rest of the tasks. We fixed a new date to launch with the yard and we felt the pressure was off a bit. So when daughter Emma and her friends came to visit we were able to give them our full attention. [Note - cushion covers now washed and re-applied].

Emma and partner Chris.

Aaron, Fraser and baby sitter Fran.

We had a great afternoon with them all and they seemed really interested in Mehalah. so much so that Chris, Emma and Fran have booked to see us out in Martinique next year. Hopefully we'll get to do some sailing with them too.

The night before we launched the yard kindly lifted us off the cradle and hung us from the slings allowing Gill to prepare the bottom of the keel and to give it three coats of quick drying normal anti foul.

Preparing to lift us to apply the final anti fouling coats.

Still working as the shadows lengthen and the sun starts to set.

And then it was launch day. Launch days are special days. A mix of emotions. Apprehension and excitement. A new adventure is about to start but will all those seacocks be water tight!

And in she goes, smart new coppery bottom and all.

They held us in the slings while we checked all the seacocks. With them closed there were no leaks - a good start. When we opened them two of them leaked. The first one was just oozing and this leak was stopped by tightening the seacock tap a bit. The second one leaked around the repaired seawater strainer to the engine. This one proved a bit more tricky and was only fully resolved a couple of days later.

Small but important tasks followed. Petronella's old red ensign had seen better days and was about 6" narrower than it should be where Gilly had cut off the frayed ends so out came the new one.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Gilly's cousin John and wife Julie were the first guests after we had celebrated their 33rd 'meeting anniversary'.

Julie and John on a sunny afternoon.

Fun and games at Plymouth's Pirate weekend.

More Championship level jobs followed. The shaft brake arrived and needs to be fitted, the sails went back on, Trevor and Karen from "Twenty 3" helped us get the car down to St Austell but not until it had amazingly passed its MOT first time and we did a test fitting of the new Aries wind steering system which I have named Paul after our friend with prostate cancer who as he says still hasn't 'croaked' almost ten years after he was told he would die. Paul the man and Paul the wind vane keep on going no matter how adverse the conditions may be. This windvane  unit is heavy and awkward. It needed Dick and Mary's help, now returned from the Caribbean, to manoeuvre it into position.

Mocking up "Paul" the windvane prior to drilling the holes. Measure four times, drill once!

And so here she is ready to go. We plan to leave the marina on Friday and sail west to Fowey or Falmouth for ten days or so. We've booked to leave her in Mylor up the river Fal for a ten further days whilst we return to Ebley. Then we'll be looking for a good weather window to make our way down to Galicia in Spain either directly or via The Scillies and/or Northern France. Exciting or what?

Finally a few thank yous for recent help. Thanks to Dick and Mary for lending us their house so willingly. Thanks to Mike Stone for all his help, work and advice over the past weeks. And from me thanks to Gilly for getting me out of bed at some ungodly hour every morning, feeding me and running around to the chandlers, the riggers, the sailmakers, the fibreglass store, the seal stockist......whilst at the same time sanding and painting the hull, doing the washing, planning the route to Spain, sorting out all the 'people' stuff that I so dislike and being my nurse when I walked into a Short Stay carpark sign and split my head open. Thanks kid!