We came up to Misha at Craobh Haven on Thursday (19th March) with a plan to get her sorted out for the season and then hopefully a shakedown cruise. Thursday was really blowy and that put the brakes on getting the sails up.
Arriving at the boat after vittles’ in Oban I stripped out the failed freshwater pump and installed the new Jabsco unit. It worked perfectly right away but the extra pressure of the new unit highlighted a pinhole leak atomising a spray of water from near the top of the accumulator tank. So we needed a new accumulator tank as well. Thankfully the marina had one in stock and that meant I managed to get the freshwater system working perfectly for the first time since Misha joined us.
Just as we got the freshwater system fixed my satellite messenger totally gave up the ghost. It had been playing up but it kind of gave up and waved a little white flag insisting that it could no longer send or receive messages. I thought it odd as it worked when I tested it just a week ago, and sure enough it would send and receive fine but still it was popping up with the warming. Given that it is our last line of safety to receive weather forecasts and send messages when well out of reception we decided to replace it.
Dinner on board was beef olives and mashed potatoes with green beans. Linda cooked for us and it was damn tasty and very filling. But that didn’t stop us having a few chocolates for dessert.
We had quite an early night as we needed up early Friday morning for a series of calls I had to make for work.
Friday dawned bright and blowy. I hit the phones at 7am and had a few successful calls before I got finished around 10:30. Linda was then on a call so I started getting the sails up by myself.
The foresail was going up but it was slow, feeding and hauling, feeding and hauling. One of the neighbours on the pontoon, the owner of Witchcraft, came over and very kindly offered to feed. Two minutes later the sail was set.
I went on to the main and immediately spotted that I was short a couple of mast car slider clips. I was able to get the main stacked and packed, the stay pack holding it neatly, before Linda finished her call at 11:45. We left the boat tidied and sorted and drove all the way to Strontian to pick up a replacement satellite messenger. The drive was brilliant in a beautiful blue sunny sky and a stiff breeze. The ferry across Corran Narrows was particularly fun but the whole drive was great.
When we got back to Misha I used some steel stock we had sourced to make the new mast car slider clips. That allowed me to get the rest of the main hooked up and after that it took us about twenty minutes to slot in the battens while dinner was cooking.
We had a cracking walk round the village. It was a stunning evening and the twilight was vivid and beautiful.
By the time we went to bed, Misha was all set for a sail in the morning.