12 October Splash day!

David was out of the apartment by 5.30am this morning to get the second coat of antifoul on the previously chocked areas. I managed a lie in to almost 7am then started packing our small inventory of clothes and bit and pieces, Polly's inventory of litter tray, feed bowls, food and the bags of laundry. I'm glad we don't have to carry this lot back to the boat. I thought I'd packed minimally.

David comes back for breakfast and we check out and move back on board. For Polly this is going to be another unsettling day.

The yard crew of Spice Island Marina have been very accommodating. We asked if it would be possible to be put in the lift before lunch and in the water after the lunch break. This gives us time to get a couple of layers of antifoul on the under side of our wing keel. It's not accessible until the boat is lifted so is always the last job and usually gives us an hour of drying time before splashing. However, this time the crew came early with the travel lift and David had a full three hours to do the work.

As promised, shortly after 1 o'clock we were floating once more. Our fastest haul out ever; only 11 days and no rain delays. Jackster has a freshly painted bottom, polished topsides and dirty decks. Despite keeping hatches closed we have dust from the yard inside the boat and a film of red dust from a red fishing boat next to us covers the deck. The first job when we reached PLM was to wash down the decks and cockpit. The interior will have to be tomorrow.

We motored back to the marina at a knot faster than we left and all is going well. When we were less than a mile from the entrance to the harbour I smelt diesel. You adopt the stance of a terrier searching for the origin of the odour. If it's not coming from outside it must be in the boat and it was. David lifted the cockpit floor over the engine and discovered a fuel line had split.

I turned off the engine and brought our nose into the wind while David went forward to deploy the anchor. Fortunately we were in less than 10m of sheltered water so an easy manoeuvre. He went to work shortening the line and refitting so we could continue for the short distance. He will replace new line when we're back in the marina.

And now we are safely tied up in our old berth. The decks are dust free and Polly has disappeared to the garden for some quiet time.

hot work

being lifted

getting to the bottom of the keel

transfer from traveller to lift

back to the water