Thanks Adelaide! Time to head back.

Well, we're wrapping up our visit back to Adelaide and planning the next steps for our return to Portugal and Blue Calypso.

We spent last week visiting the Hills, picking strawberries, sampling the local chocolate factory, and then a weekend of birthday celebrations for Nathan's dad. That was the whole reason for us parking up the boat for 6 weeks and heading back to Australia, and it was great to get everyone in the same place at the same time.
 

We also spent a lot of time down at Pt Adelaide taking in the City of Adelaide Clipper ship and the rebuilding work that's underway, as well as this ocean tug, which has been in situ from as far back as anyone can remember.  

Cliche photo of Australian beach scene below.

So what's going to happen when we get back to Portugal, I hear you asking? Well, we've got a few jobs to do before the boat can go back in the water.

- Folding propellors need to be fitted
- Another coat of anti-foul needs to be applied
- Our new rudder stock and bearing needs to be fitted, to cure the ongoing drip that we've had since launch

We've got 48 hours to get that done, then it's time for the fun stuff. Re-masting. As a lot of you will know, we've struggled with light wind performance since leaving England back in July, and a lot of that has been down to a lack of sail area. Whoever designed Blue Calypso back in the '60's did an amazing job with the hull, but not such a good job with the sail plan. Anyway, we spent the four weeks before coming to Australia sourcing a taller mast, sails, and all the fittings needed to put it together. Nathan spent a few days driving around collecting it all, as well as giving our ebay account a good workout, and all those parts are set to arrive the same day we get back to Portugal.




Once we arrive back in Portugal, unpack our bags and settle back in, we need to remove our foremast strip all the part of it, then attach everything to the new mast ("Everything" includes mast steps, wiring, halyards, lights, and all the stainless rigging). We'll then step the new mast, tune up the rigging, fit the new boom and sails, then head out for a bit of testing to make sure everything's all secure (excuse the blatant photo shopping below)... 

Next stop after that will be Peniche, followed by a visit to downtown Lisbon, before turning south for a five day blast to the Canaries. With maybe a stop in Africa to spice things up a bit.

Updates to follow.....