...and we're in....

...thank goodness for that..  need a rest!

...that officially ends the winter maintenance...

...grabbed a couple of hours on Tuesday evening for one final splurge..  managed to get a second coat of paint in the bilges, a coat of paint in the forward bilges, and that officially, is that...   there's no foot fall so hopefully the titivation exercise will be in good shape by the end of the year..  it certainly looks neater...

....I brought the hoover down, so I then finally managed to get the rubbish out of the bottom of the keels, and also out of the transom locker..  it doesn't do anything for the boat, but it makes me feel better!  

Done...   harbour sticker on, and go home for a beer.. 

So this morning I troll up at 9 for my lift-in, and find half a dozen boats on the slipway already..  looks like I was an hour late..  I blame t'other Dave who'd also told me 9, and who trolled up 15 minutes after me, so was even later... 

Just time to whack the engine on the back, load up fuel tank, bag of basics, and she was lifted and plonked on the shingle....  I was going to grab a lift out on the rescue boat to put the mooring gubbins on my buoy, but the tide was haring in so I headed for Sparrow and reclined in the cockpit with a coffee to have a chat with the owners in the boat next to me..

Scarily short time after and with a helpful shove from Ray the beach-master and we slipped off into the harbour, engine burbling happily..

15 minutes later I was on the mooring, putting the gubbins together (and I applied that water proof grease to the shackle again, as that was a success story last lift out)..  time to stop, smell the ozone and the salt (I've missed it), and then, joy of joys, I used the VHF in anger for the first time ever and called up the rescue boat for a lift back to shore..  and it worked!! Amazeballs... 

Beautiful sunny day - fastest lift in ever - 3 hours from arriving to going home -  mast goes up Monday hopefully!