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I can't believe it's almost the end of January already.... we've had another busy week while we await a window to head south. It looks like we might get one this coming week, but then we've thought that before, so for the time being it's a case of tinkering with the boat, playing with the resident beagle & staffie x lab, and enjoying the brilliant January sunshine and warm temps.

We thought we'd start the week with a hike along the hill tops that surround Nazare, given the harbour entrance looked pretty grim and test sailing just wasn't going to happen.

 

After that, we were pretty worn out so took a couple of down days to let our legs recover. Our main mast had some grease left on it from when it was craned on, so Lauren strapped in and cleaned everything up.

I then spent the next day pulling apart our engines exhaust system to remove these elbows. Another "quality" marine product - not even a couple of years old and already falling apart..... Anyway, Alec and I had welded up some stainless replacements and they're now in place with the engines running sweet again.

Last up, the new sail covers needed buckles stitched on to finish them off, so out came the trusty Jones sewing machine to knock off that job. Funny how the Jones was built in the '60s and still works spot on (best £8 ever spent on ebay), yet all this new "quality" marine rubbish lasts a year or two before breaking down or falling apart. Ok, I'll leave that topic for the time being.

So that's it for the moment. The winds are all coming from the north so once the swell drops off a bit, we're hoping to get out for a final tweak & tune of the rig, before scooting south sometime mid-week.