Well, with the festive season rolling around again all the cruisers in Nazare got together for a Christmas Eve dinner in one of the surfer's storage lock-ups. Dirk's done a great job of turning the area into a place where surfers can hang out, and it made for an excellent setting for great food and plenty of mulled wine.

Christmas morning started with bacon and eggs aboard (plus an awesome Christmas cake slow cooked by Lauren) followed by a pretty leisurely day. Australia is 10.5hrs ahead of Portuguese time and with me calling home at 0700 and 0030, we pretty much hung about in our pj's and watched Christmas films.

After all that relaxing (and food), it was time to burn some calories on Boxing Day. First up, a visit to the local stray cats to a.) take care of the leftovers and b.) get Lauren her cat fix.

Next up was a cycle around the marina and then into town to stretch our legs a bit. All in all, a pretty easy kinda day.

New Year's Eve is fast approaching now and there's talk of a dinner then heading into town to watch the fireworks and find a drinking establishment. I managed to finish and fit the new instrument consoles but unfortunately the winds are conspiring against us getting out for a test sail (40kts or 2kts), so we're making plans to watch more big wave surfing this week and keeping an eye on the forecast.

PS - does anyone know why carp do this in a marina? Not only are they schooling, they also hang about on the surface with their mouths open, seemingly gulping air. It's got all of us beat.....

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Another week passes by with more progress. We've had some fairly strong winds recently which have prevented any chance of test sailing, so instead we've been cracking on with a few other jobs around the boat. One of them was to move our sailing instruments outside - they used to be in the wheelhouse back in the day but now we've fitted the aft cockpit it makes sense to have our chartplotter, autopilot, wind and depth readings all displayed out there. That meant I got cracking again with some ply and the jigsaw - just waiting for paint now.

We refitted the mizzen boom as well, plus spent some time tightening our rig and getting it setup for test sailing. This week there is zero wind... like literally, four knots at most, but then between Christmas and New Years we're hoping to get out and get the new rig sorted.

What else.... today our pontoon broke. Not just our hammerhead we're on, but the chain holding the main pontoon for 12 boats. Not a big deal, but with the office shut we had to get something done so out came some heavy duty lines and we had everything lashed together to see us through the rest of the weekend. Kinda reminds me of the fun and games we with the Hayling Yacht Co when originally rebuilding the boat, but that's another story.

So that's about it for now. We'll be taking it easy for the next two weeks while Christmas and New Years happens, then as long as we get our test sailing done, the plan is still to get going early in the New Year.

Watch this space...

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So I know it's been a week since our last update, but there's been good reason for that - finally, finally, finally, both our masts are back up and ready to go (other than a quick tune).

After spending three days rewiring the mizzen (aft) mast, we motored around to the concrete dock to start the mast raising process.

First we had to setup the boat nice & tight so it didn't move while we were placing the mast....

Then the mast was craned over....

Before being raised to the vertical using another crane....

Then swung over the boat and attached in the socket.

I then went up the mast....

To disconnect the crane strop...

Before we motored away from the dock....

And headed back to our pontoon in the marina.

 

What else. I finally finished the new aft deck seating and refitted the winches, which leaves only a rigging tune to do and a gas locker to build. Nothing to it. Looks like we're still on for leaving early in the New Year; weather permitting of course...

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Here's some photos of what's been going on around here this past week.

Alec welded up our new winch bases.

Joao then spent some time at the top of the mast, fitting a new backstay toggle.

With the weather hovering around 22C, washing day inevitably came about.

And then there was the obligatory BBQ and photogenic sunset.

Just another week in Nazare really....

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Just a brief update today as there's been nothing for the past week and a half, Nathan continues to work on the extended cockpit seating, the new winch bases have been welded on (and the roof lining subsequently re-fitted in the aft cabin), and the new mast should have it's last piece of rigging fitted today. We've been waiting on the parts for it to come from the UK for the past two weeks (hence not a lot has been going on) but now with a calm day and plenty of sun, we've perfect conditions to get everything finished off.

Nazare continues to be low 20's (C), the northerlies have blown themselves out, and a few new boats have arrived, including Eric on Fiona (www.yachtfiona.com). If you like your sailing, you'll want to have a look at Eric's site - 320,000nm sailed on Fiona over the past few decades, and every continent visited, including a trip to the Antarctic.

Anyway, update to follow this weekend when (hopefully) all the last few jobs will be finished and we'll start testing the new rig.

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