10 Nov 2018

10 November 2018: Prickly Bay, Grenada

One week in and it definitely feels as though we've turned a corner and things are getting back on track. After the success of Thursday (well done Paul for fixing various problems!) we awoke yesterday to find the bilge still dry and got up bright and early to fit the recently returned mainsail before the daytime winds built. It's always a fiddly job, trying to attach the top and bottom of the sail to the cars that run up the track inside the mast, especially when the hole in the mast provided to achieve this task is barely big enough for a child's hand. Once again Paul's determination won through and we now have the mainsail back on and, importantly, have stopped the spindle clanging inside the mast. Silent nights now a realistic option!

We're having a cockpit enclosure made over this and next week which will keep the cockpit dry when it rains, or if we're sailing into choppy seas. We probably should have done it when we got Tumi but better late than never. The new side panels will offer us good visibility, while the mesh sun screen at the rear will help keep us cool. It will be brilliant to be able to leave things out in the cockpit 24/7 without the worry of them getting soaked every time it rains.

The couple on the boat anchored next to us invited us over for morning coffee yesterday, a lovely couple of hours getting to know them and exchanging boating experiences. They were very admiring of Tumi, twice offering to swap yachts with us! Not a chance!! Our socialising continued last night when we joined five other couples for dinner. A fun evening.

The week ahead should see the rigging being fixed (nothing heard from Jeanneau as yet), the cockpit enclosure finished and hopefully us gaining more insight into the whole battery charging scenario on board. But today we're off to one of our favourite restaurants on the beach for lunch. There's definitely a light at the end of the re-launch tunnel!!