We went out for more test sailing in various wind conditions and have been pretty happy with the reefing setup so far. We still had to do some tweaks to the sail tension but that's all done now.
We also tested our third crew member, the self steering. It took a bit to dial in the Aries but in our last test run it worked really well and should take care of most of our steering when sailing.
A little excitement for the week was a french boat running aground. They'd come out of the channel and hit the bottom on a falling tide. While there was still a little water, Nathan went out to help in our dinghy and helped them set a kedge anchor. Another power boat attempted to drag them into deeper water but in true power boat fashion, gunned his engines and sent his son for an impromptu swim. The good chaps from the RNLI came over in their rib to check everything/everyone was okay then left them to it. We watched the boat gradually lean further and further over as the water level dropped but in true gallic fashion the crew stripped down and spent the afternoon sunbathing on the high side of the deck.
Another job was changing the water filter as the water from the tank was beginning to taste a little off. That was a quick and easy job and from the state of the filter you can see how well it works.
From the day we reached Falmouth I spied an African restaurant and I was promised we would visit before we left. We finally stopped in on Monday and I was not disappointed, with such items on the menu as Biltong, Koeksisters, Amarula, Mealie (corn on the cob) and a picture of Madiba on the wall. I started with Boerewors, Nathan with Bunnychow and my main was Bobotie with a side of Mrs Balls chutney. Sadly we couldn't manage dessert.
Nathan also put together a self steering tiller should we have any problems with the main steering.
And that's it for now. We had a window this week and a front came through so now we are debating hopping over night to Brest then waiting for a four day window to Spain. Oh well...
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