Launch Preparations

4th July - Begin Launch Preparations

Audrey took Chris, Gill and me to Liverpool and an easy flight.

The new holding tank has arrived from the UK and Bluewater have completed their work. Petronella now sports a smart new windscreen and a working bowthruster. The gas line is legal and the steering lines replaced. Not surprisingly though NaveDiesel have still not serviced the life raft. Plenty of work still to do for us as well though we’re making good progress. The sails are bent on, we’ve almost finished boxing in the bowthruster motor, nearly replaced the impellor (we’ve now found the gasket making compound), painted the white stripe, planned the holding tank installation and fixed the VHF radio.

Still time for beers and cane with cokes in the 35 degree heat.

The travel lift is booked for next Wednesday so we’d better be finished by then. OK, time for bed. It is now 11pm and we’ve all been working solidly for 15 hours.


1st July - No More Work

So that’s it. No more work. Two days of ‘how to be a good retired person’ with Gilly at GSK Head Office followed by a final BBQ at their Stately Home at North Mimms just off the M25. Much banter, a couple of bottles of very nice whisky and messages of good luck and envy followed by a last night’s accommodation at the 4* Sopwell House Hotel.

A mad dash back to Cumbria, close up the house, hand over the keys and say goodbye to the chickens. Everything done – just.

2009 Preparations

Three days of work left and finally it feels as though we are starting to make inroads into the mountain of jobs. Holding tank ordered and on its way, Fortress anchor arrived and packed, shackles (finally) here, tea bags purchased and bank account empty. Jenny and Marcus here for the weekend and Emma to Poland for her five week internship.

Blog by phone loooks as though it won't work while we're away as we only have PAYG which Vodafone won't let us use to send emails. Ah well, no big deal.

Argh - A Big Hole in the Hull!

After much discussion we finally decided to install a bowthruster. Some may say this reflects an inability to reverse our long keeler in a straight line and a desire to avoid learning by bumping into an expensive gin palace. They would be correct!

Trevor and his team at Bluewater Marine gave us a good quote for installing our SidePower thruster once we had purchased in the UK and shipped it out to Portugal. We were really impressed with their attitiude and the quality of work. All in all a good setup and not surprisingly we put further work their way too.

I would show you a picture of the finished outside but when we left to come back to the UK they hadn't fitted the paddles - so I can't.

A Quick Trip to Portugal

Such a busy week! We flew to Faro and hired a car for the week. There followed a week of 12-13 hour days. Jobs, jobs, jobs... Lists, lists, lists...

One of our main tasks was to get the US Propane gas bottles filled. Until recently this has been reasonably straightforward but over the past few years regulations have been tightened and most of the handy backstreet suppliers have gone out of business. We had spend days trolling around Portimao in 2008 trying to get these non European bottles filled. Eventually someone had told us we needed an LPG adapter and then to use a car filling station. Back in the UK we had finally found a small engineering company in Barrow that made one for use - US bottle to Portuguese LPG fitting - so we were more optimistic. Failing that we'd have to resort to the famous 'fill it direct from a European bottle' trick. Hmmm. Various visits to different gas depots eventually led us the Repsol garage near the hospital where a very helpful assistant eventually helped us fill our two bottles much to the surprise of the boatyard staff who then told us it is not exactly a lawful practice. Nevertheless we have two full gas bottles which should last us most of the year - and we know the technique for refilling them when the time comes. Success #1

Next up, a new 'car' radio. The old one conked out last year so I took out a nice Sony car stereo with CD and MP3 player adaptor. Of course the space available was not quite big enough and the shared negative to both speakers resulted in temporary setbacks but in the end it looks a really good job - though I say it myself. Success #2.

Redundo

After several years trying to persuade GlaxoSmithKline that I really was surplus to requirements they have finally seen the sense of this and agreed to make me redundant. At 55 I can actually retire with a company pension so this is seriously GOOD NEWS!

I've had to do a bit of negotiating but GSK have also agreed to pay me up until the end of October. EVEN BETTER NEWS especially as from the end of June I don't need to turn up for work - I just have to be 'available' - what for, I'm not sure. Commonly known as gardening leave for us it will be sailing leave.

The last day with Gill and boss Iain

Hectic or what!

Termination of employment forms signed and end date set for 25th June. So now we have to juggle getting Petronella ready, finishing off Gill's stressful probate arrangements and closing out 23 years of family life in Cumbria. Visits to my parents in Southampton who are not at all sure about our plans, helping the girls through their last but one set of exams - they are both due to graduate next year and mounting concern for the welfare of Southampton Football Club........ But, were loving it! At last our lives are off hold and we're moving forward again.

2008 - A Very Sad Year

2008 was to have been the year of the first voyage. I had three months sabbatical granted and plans were in place to sail Petronella from Portugal to Greece. Unfortunately both Gill's Dad and then Mum died within a few months of each other putting all these plans on hold for another year.