Getting ready to untie the lines
We’ve been slowly getting ready to sail out of Almerimar, probably around Monday or Tuesday. Our plan is to make our way up the coast toward Dénia where we’ll meet up with my sister and her husband (and my niece!) who will sail with us for a bit.
Last week Andy the rigger came by to work on new running rigging and putting the mainsail back up. We had it taken down last summer and sent to England for repairs and washing. Unfortunately we found that one chafed through spot had not been repaired, and that would cause a problem in the future, so we had to take it down again. Andy cashed in some favours to have it repaired by the next day. We had ordered two new battons because they were broken, but, as it seems to be a theme here, they weren’t delivered on time.
So we did put up the main sail but on Monday we’ll complete it when those battons have arrived. We also had them add a third reefing point in England. On Monday we’ll run the lines for that too.
Yesterday Rene and I put the genoa back in place and found that the new sheets were actually just one very long one. Another thing to put on the list to have those cut to size before we can leave.
Rene has been working on the watermaker, the engine and had the fridge repaired a couple of days ago after it had stopped working properly. Apparently the gas in the compressor had to be refilled. Question remains why that was the case, but for now, it’s back in working order.
Slowly everything is finding its home on board. The spare cabin, formerly mainly used as storage, is now nearly cleared out and almost ready to be used as a bedroom again.
There are still tools in multiple places as Rene works on various projects, but I’m confident those areas will also be cleared in the next day or two.
Tomorrow we’ll borrow my father’s rental car for a big grocery haul and Sunday and Monday we’ll finish up putting things away so we can set sail.
Almerimar has been a great place for us to settle down for the last few weeks. Shops and chandlers at walking distance and plenty of people (both other cruisers and friendly locals) dropping by for a chat and kids to play for the girls.
Having my father and his wife here on holiday in an apartment just opposite of our boat (from the back of the boat we can actually see their balcony and they can see our boat) has been lovely. They’ve taken the girls out a few times while we were working on the sails and engine. I’ve also gratefully made use of their wifi to download podcasts and youtube videos.
Robin has been skype calling with a friend last week and with her classmates in school today. Lauren was a bit sad and jealous that she didn’t get to see her classmates, so that will be next on the list to arrange.
Unfortunately the wifi we can get from the restaurants here is not amazing, so we’ve not been on skype often.
I’m also very slowly working on editing the backlog of videos. For those of you anxiously waiting for an update to our youtube channel I’d ask to be just a little more patient. I’ll probably put up a short new video in the coming days and then slowly will upload the older ones first to not mess up the order too much. I’m hoping to establish some sort of frequency over the next few weeks, though I’m not sure what that will look like exactly.