11 Sept 2014

[Captains Blog] Still in la Coruna

I had an ouch moment a couple of days ago -- I was stepping over the coaming on my way to use the marina facilities and freshen up when my ankle turned over. There is a tendon that runs across the top of the foot that holds the foot flat on the floor and this tried to correct the situation by straightening the ankle up again. I felt a sharp pain in the bone on the outside of the foot (the one that the tendon had pulled against) and I knew I had a recurrence of an injury I sustained several years ago on the squash court. The tendon had snapped a bit of bone off the metatarsal. Not a lot can be done about it, but support the foot in an elastic bandage, apply liberal quantities of Lasonil to the area, and rest it for a few days.

It has enabled me to sort a few little jobs out including the bolts incident from the other day, but besides that, when we switched the engine on to leave on the 9th the extractor unit that removes the hot air from inside the engine compartment decided to whirr and rattle at an alarming pitch so we shut it down and called the broker. We had noticed that there had been a seepage of oil from the unit, which probably meant that the seal had gone, the unit had been running dry and the bearings had worn. Either way, a replacement is needed, has been approved by Jeanneau, and dispatched yesterday. We are waiting for the replacement to arrive and be fitted, hopefully tomorrow and not Monday. We want to get moving southwards quickly now. I will have had enough enforced rest by then and I am ready to continue down to Lisbon (Cascais).