I have been awake since 3am thinking of all the jobs that need to be complete before we embark on our odyssey. Sadly, Ken, Debra's father died recently and we have delayed our return to Gran Canaria by a week to be able to organise and attend his funeral which is on Friday this week. Thankfully, his passing was a peaceful one, and was due to heart failure rather than the Parkinson's Disease he has been fighting for the last 15 years or more.
We have a few jobs to do in the business before we leave on the 17th, including the repair of part of a ceiling that fell down in the guest dining room on Sunday morning - not a pretty sight to wake up to, and the cause of some frenetic cleaning before the guests arrived for their breakfast. That aside, there are some other organisational tasks to be put into place next week, and I need to intersperse these with a visit to my parents. No rest for the wicked!
When we get back on board, I will be adding a 110ah battery to the existing bank to allow us a bit more power in between charges, a new switch to allow independent operation of the binnacle compass lights, replacing the downhaul that chafed through on our journey down to Las Palmas, attending the seminars that skippers are supposed to join, having the boat checked out for safety, getting the rigging checked, and no doubt attending to one hundred other little tasks that need doing. After that, I may get a few minutes to enjoy the build-up. We (the crew) have been invited by Jeanneau, the manufacturers of Jay Jay to attend a dinner they are hosting for the Jeanneau boats entering the ARC which will be nice, plus there are happy hours on the dockside every evening to get the crews together. It would be a shame not to participate, so we will force ourselves to join in!
Hopefully our crew are getting excited rather than apprehensive. I am really looking forward to setting out on this epic journey, and hope that we all enjoy the passage. We have planned several activities to keep us occupied, including some high-brow poetry, lots of singing (Phil is keen that we enter Rodney Bay singing in perfect harmony and with great gusto), and even some language lessons.
Can't wait!