Weather bound

We've been back at Fleetwood a week and by now we should have left on the big adventure. It'll be no surprise to anyone who sails, that stuff happened. First, we had a battery crisis where the 4 domestic batteries lost charge like billy-o when unplugged from shorepower. One was hot to the touch. We later learned it was so shot that it could have exploded. After getting professional help we had the engine battery replaced by a more rugged model and the 4 domestic beasties replaced by 2 brand new ones.

Lesley climbing the mast

Then there was the wind indicator. Out on a test sail in Lune Deep outside Fleetwood, we noticed that our electronic wind indicator was stuck. No actually, it was worse than that; the vane had been torn off in gales (or had been sat on by the giant seagulls that live around here). It was a defunct model according to the manufacturers but they had some old bits salted away and could send one. After much research and wobbly photos of the masthead we got the new part and it fitted, by jingo.  Well done B&G Service/Tinley Electronics for their out-of-warranty service.

Passage planning - there's no roads!

But worst of all, there was the weather. Westerly gales in the Irish Sea for days to come, which would mean motoring in the teeth of big winds. Plus our crew for the first leg decided not to join us, because she was constrained for time and couldn't afford a long weather delay. So here we've been,  doing the jobs at the very end of the long list, including cleaning out cupboards and making fender socks. We're aching to get going, but we won't take any risks by pushing ourselves too hard.