Monday 18 June 2012
We got back on Saturday and worked Sunday at Nisos as usual, then threw ourselves into getting Tropi seaworthy, with George and six friends arriving Tuesday teatime. The stainless steel gantry had been measured for fit (Phil waiting until she was in the water, because of the way the hull flexes), so we collected it and I spent the morning upside down in the two cockpit lockers, screwing nuts onto bolts with Sikaflex dripping all over. Dave got the nice right-way up job fitting the bolts, because he can't get in the lockers.
We found out later that we could easily have blown up ourselves and the yacht due to a gas leak in the regulator, which had corroded over the winter after its soaking in salt water during the storm. I fitted some straps to the gas bottle and must have disturbed it: when I then went to clean the cabin below, it kept making me sick, until Dave came in and recognised the smell of gas. Incredible, really, that we didn't make tea or seal any rope ends with a naked flame after the regulator was disturbed, because we did both, earlier in the day. Also wonderful that we found the problem before George took off in the boat, as it could've gone at any time. All too scary for words. We got a new regulator, and filled the hole that the previous owner had made in the floor of the gas locker - stupid thing to do, and stupid of us not to have spotted it as a hazard.
With about three hours to go, on Tuesday, Dave and I, with Lin and her daughter Jade, who'd been helping me clean the boat, weighed anchor and took her out for the maiden voyage since the storm in September. We put the main sail up, the genoa out, the genoa in, the mainsail down, then pulled into a bay, dropped anchor and variously swam, slept and sunbathed until George text to say he was in town. Safely road-tested, we reluctantly returned the boat to Nidri, seriously tempted to just head for Kalamos ...
We got back on Saturday and worked Sunday at Nisos as usual, then threw ourselves into getting Tropi seaworthy, with George and six friends arriving Tuesday teatime. The stainless steel gantry had been measured for fit (Phil waiting until she was in the water, because of the way the hull flexes), so we collected it and I spent the morning upside down in the two cockpit lockers, screwing nuts onto bolts with Sikaflex dripping all over. Dave got the nice right-way up job fitting the bolts, because he can't get in the lockers.
We found out later that we could easily have blown up ourselves and the yacht due to a gas leak in the regulator, which had corroded over the winter after its soaking in salt water during the storm. I fitted some straps to the gas bottle and must have disturbed it: when I then went to clean the cabin below, it kept making me sick, until Dave came in and recognised the smell of gas. Incredible, really, that we didn't make tea or seal any rope ends with a naked flame after the regulator was disturbed, because we did both, earlier in the day. Also wonderful that we found the problem before George took off in the boat, as it could've gone at any time. All too scary for words. We got a new regulator, and filled the hole that the previous owner had made in the floor of the gas locker - stupid thing to do, and stupid of us not to have spotted it as a hazard.
With about three hours to go, on Tuesday, Dave and I, with Lin and her daughter Jade, who'd been helping me clean the boat, weighed anchor and took her out for the maiden voyage since the storm in September. We put the main sail up, the genoa out, the genoa in, the mainsail down, then pulled into a bay, dropped anchor and variously swam, slept and sunbathed until George text to say he was in town. Safely road-tested, we reluctantly returned the boat to Nidri, seriously tempted to just head for Kalamos ...
George, Leon and Johnny, watching the football at Yamas Bar
Next day, complaining of a hangover, George and Johnny borrow a dinghy from Chris Brown, and move it to the boat, demonstrating their world-class spiral rowing technique. Look at those swirls in the water, that thing is not going straight!
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