Back in the protected St. Peter Port harbour, it was suddenly 10 degC warmer with blue skies.
It was lovely to catch up with Fi and Conall, some old friends from Oz.
Children: Toy Story. Grown-up's: a quiet beer in the cockpit!
Followed by a great visit from Brenda and Tom.
Si. & Am. loved all the attention.
Si. & Am. loved all the attention.
We made a few upgrades to the boat, adding a HF radio, a watermaker and a self steering windvane. Thanks to Silas for explaining the intricacies of the watermaker drive pulley system to me, and thanks also to Steph who did a valiant job entertaining the kids while I pulled the boat apart.
The finished watermaker HP pump, belted off the engine alongside the 2nd alternator, produces 70+ litres per hour whenever the engine is running. We still marvel how drinking water can be made from seawater.
Here are the membranes and valves installed in the aft heads. We went for a extremely simple setup: no solenoids, sensors, metering, electronics, fancy plumbing or feed pump. Just a simple HP pump and easily accessed plumbing - hopefully not to much maintenance. Also doubles as an elegant loo-roll holder!
We also insalled a 'Windpilot' Self steering windvane. This compliments the autopilot, but requires no electricity, using the wind and water flowing past the hull to generate huge but sensitive steering forces. Excellent service from Windpilot, who even supplied all tools and bits required for installation.
All too soon, it was time to move south again, across the Bay of Biscay to get to Spain. As this can get a bit rough at this time of year, we decided Steph would take the kids to see their other grandparents, while I do the trip with some help. Luckily, Peter, a very experienced sailor who taught me lots, joined us with..
...Chris, who led us to many excellent bars and restaurants using inbuilt magical powers...
...and Adam, who entertained us with fantastic cooking, and more fantastic (but true) stories.
Unfortunately passage was mostly against headwinds, we motored a fair bit. But we did get a good few blasts of sailing in. We had to dive into La Coruna to avoid a gale for two nights. But we safely rounded the corner of Ushant and made a safe landfall into Bayona, Spain. Thanks guys for a great trip! I really enjoyed the company.
