Hard labour and visitors

Having returned to Penarth rather early this year thanks to the rotten weather we had "enjoyed" during the summer, guess what happened. Yes, the wind dropped and the sun came out, giving some stunning views like this one across the marina at sunset:

You can play spot the Nordhavn. Actually there is a bit of a Noodle going on - 50% of the UK population of Nordhavn 47s are in Penarth right now. Malaspina (Martin and Inge's rather tidy version) is also moored in Penarth for the winter but out of this shot. It does mean that if we need any spare parts, there is a similar boat to go and "borrow" it from. Only don't tell Martin and Inge.

We carried on cleaning and fettling the neglected exterior of our boat and having some nice cycle trips  in-between our exertions. As you can see, a stop for refreshments is compulsory:

The crew's hand wringing is not due to the impending delight of a flat white and Pastel de Nata. Nor is it because she has come into money. It is simply spreading hand sanitiser around as the covid infection numbers continue to rise....

Annoyingly, it was the crew's turn to get a puncture this time. It happened on a very hot day just after we had raided the supermarket and filled up the bags that you can see in the picture above with stuff that needed to go into the fridge. The Captain cycled back with the perishable items as there would not be time to fix the puncture before things started to "go off". The crew walked her bike back in sweltering temperatures. Annoyingly this time it was not a normal puncture, but a failure of the original inner tube. A better Schwalbe offering was fitted as a replacement.

On another trip around, this scruffy van was parked up on the pavement near the Cardiff barrage walkway. If you look carefully you can see the character who had slept on the roof:

Not quite what we think people mean when they talk about going camping and sleeping under the stars.

We opened up the B and B service again for a visit from John and Irene. The sun stayed out, the fitbits had plenty of steps to count and the aft cockpit was an ideal spot to test some pink prosecco that they had brought with them:

In case you are worried about the material of John's shorts - that is a napkin. He is not that alternative.

It felt rather quiet after they departed so more overdue boat polishing and cycling followed. It was just too hot to walk far, the breeze when cycling was far nicer. Our favourite stop off in Pontcanna was patronised and we watched the stone masons cleaning up the local church. Quite a difference:

As there were no other boat owners down in the evenings in our vicinity, we ran the genset and gave the aircon some exercise to cool down the saloon area. Left locked up, even with the windows open, the boat was pretty hot when we returned. The evenings gave us more red sky stuff to enjoy, although this one brought a load of Sahara sand with it. Yes, we had to hose off the entire boat as it had turned a nice golden colour in one small rain shower overnight:

Maintenance news

Apart from the endless polishing fun, a few other bits and bobs got done.  The steering cable for the outboard on the RIB was removed, the steering tube cleaned up (messy job) and everything was regreased. It felt a lot smoother after that. The external timber was treated to a dose of Boracol to help it survive the winter without going green and a couple of little gelcoat repairs were also completed.

Having polished the port side of the hull from the dinghy, trying to work whilst secured to ropes dropped down from the guardrails and simultaneously attempting to avoid snagging the power cable for our old Rupes polisher, the crew decided that we needed a new cordless version. The captain did not need too much convincing so we bought one of these:

based on a recommendation by Andrew, the owner of Zephyros who you've met in here many many times. It was a good move. Especially as stopping to swap batteries when the one in use goes flat is a great excuse to have a tea break.