The last few weeks have been busy with Knight Marine at work on board tracing and fixing a current leak that has intermittently alarmed me me over the last few years. Our fresh white antifouling is all done and Tin Tin is back in the water, with freshly painted topsides, go faster stripe, and name plates on the bow. There's some new equipment to make things easier to handle - an electric eWincher handle to trim the sails, and an ePropulsion outboard. Very green😅
The last four days were occupied with cleaning, and provisioning (we filled the boat with tins of food forgetting that I was heading to the centre of European food in thé Mediterranean!)
I also stowed two folding bikes and a paddleboard imagining hotter relaxed places ahead.
Justin and I finally set sail on Tuesday 3rd May, in a cold evening to anchor in Newton Creek for the night. We were talking too much and I cut the corner on the channel and to my embarrassment clipped the centreplate on the bottom. The protective fuse popped and the plate came up out of the way as it should. But it was embarrassing. Too relaxed in waters that feel overly familiar. Luckily it is easy(ish) to replace the little copper disc that protects the hydraulic system.
It was great to be in Newton Creek again, with the eerie sound of curlews calling across the mudflats as the tide empties away, leaving the boats swinging slowly in the narrow channel.
Tomorrow we sail for the Mediterranean !
