....and in!

..yep, Sparrow's in, but not before a whole load of extra work and "doings"!

As storm 'Kathleen' launched herself upon the south coast (and her straight after storm 'Olive'!), I heard through the grapevine that the lift in on Sunday was cancelled, so when I did my club "lift in" duty on the Monday I knew it was going to be busy as the guys were trying to concertina the two days into one...

Suffice to say that Monday duty was a 'mare of a day that I was more than happy to finish 18 boats later..  I was doing launch duty which normally I love, but the day was a catalogue of disasters for me..  the spring tides were running stupidly fast so the first issue was wrapping a mooring rope round the prop that I simply didn't see (pick up float was at the wrong end of the warp for some reason, so the warp was floating free just under water 😕)...  then at the end of the day, as the tide was going out, t'other Dave gave me a shout for a lift back to shore, it looked like there was enough water so I set out to pick him up, but clearly there wasn't as I hit the only submerged rock in the whole inner bay and totalled the propeller! Gaaah... 😩  I blame myself for not weighing the odds better..  lesson learned, and the guys have managed to recover and refit the propeller..  no harm done apparently..

As I was going home I was advised the Tuesday lift in was also cancelled due to heavy winds, so my lift in was shifted to Wednesday. 

Popped down the club Tuesday night to strap the engine on ready for a potentially early morning lift..

..an Oxalic wash removed the staining a treat to the sides of the new outboard pad..

...which was well timed, as when I arrived Wednesday morning at at half eight I was told I was next to be lifted for a 'dry launch' (which I prefer) from the shingle at the bottom of the slipway.. far more relaxing to sit and wait for the water, than be launched like a missile from the hoist.. 😏

So many expectations... 

The timing was also perfect for the last job of the winter maintenance cycle..  borrowed the long ladder, and then removed the old windex and replaced it with a nice shiny new one...  I am offering no better than 25% odds this one survives the summer, but hey ho.. 😏

That done, it was time for the traditional very last job of the season.. 😀

...the last job...

..before sitting down in the cockpit with a coffee to wait for the water to arrive. An hour later and she started rocking gently, and 15 or 20 minutes later and I was off..  thanks to the club CCTV for the following.. 

Just floated off and now heading for under the bridge... at 10:14, unbelievable.. 😀

...it was good to be back on the mooring even if the weather wasn't the best..

 

...thoughts now turn to getting the mast up!!