HAPPY NEW SAILING YEAR
7th January... A new year is upon us once again, and we have lots of new adventures to look forward to on board the good ship Thésée. We've been busy checking out marinas and googling all the lovely places that we're hoping to visit this year. But we'll keep you in suspense for now until we know more information.
First things first, and a very important job for us in January is to thoroughly check all the safety equipment, starting with our life jackets.
A thorough visual check first
Now testing the light,
and checking the trigger device
Amongst all the other items on our safety check list is the EPIRB ( Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). The EPIRB can be used to alert search and rescue in the event of an emergency by transmitting a signal via satellite to the nearest rescue co-ordination centre. We're please to report that all the equipment is in good order.
It's been pretty calm here, although we did have a squall with gusty winds come through the other night, which lasted about an hour before stopping as quickly as it started.
Thesee's bottom is looking pretty grim, but not as bad as a lot of other boats here. Dean got one of his super duper home made fancy tools out and had a go at scraping some of the growth off the waterline. Here you can see him leaning over the guardrails.
It's rather difficult a the bow
as he has to lean further over to reach
You can see the growth coming away
Scraping too close up
Over Christmas and New Year we have had some tighter Covid restrictions in Italy. They have a three colour zone restriction here... low yellow, medium orange, high red. Sicily is in low yellow zone, but over the holidays the whole of Italy was put in red for 8 days and orange for 4 days.
The main thing for us is that the bars were closed! On one of the orange days we were allowed to walk into town and so we took the chance to go to the Bricoline DIY store. We haven't been to this one yet, and we were surprised at what a lovely entrance it has.
The DIY store entrance
We're after some new loo seats, but they didn't have much choice. Hence we came back empty handed except for a crusty loaf of bread. However, we were surprised to find they sold pizza shovels, used for cooking pizza in the stone ovens.
Pizza anyone?
We were just returning from the DIY store, and in the marina we noticed a big black thing floating in the water. It was the cover for a mobility scooter which belongs to one of our neighbours. He told us it had blown away when he was removing it from the scooter. We were afraid that it would sink before it reached the other side of the marina.
Dean to the rescue!
There was a dinghy in the water near to us, and so Dean and the neighbour borrowed the dinghy and paddled their way out into the marina to salvage the cover.
The rogue cover
The A-Team
Got there just in time... phew and double phew
And so on to yesterday, I was going to make cheese on toast under the grill. Problem... the grill didn't want to light.
Dean to the rescue again!
The next thing I know, the grill is removed and in bits. This event turned into a two day complete oven clean and fix. I have to say it's looking marvellous now... too good to use I reckon. Well done Dean. ( I always seem to be saying that).
Now let's get this cooker sorted
A puzzle... just like my jigsaws
The grill in bits!!
Now for the refit
And the hob sorted too
Look at those spiffing shiny burners
Well from today Sicily is back in the yellow zone, which means bars and cafes are open again. Will have to pay them a visit.... would be rude not to...
Thursday 14th January.... Oh no! After two days of the bars being open (even though we didn't actually go to one), they're now closed again and we have gone back into the Orange zone restrictions. There's only one answer, do more boat jobs.
The following photo is of the inside of our freezer. Dean's fitting fans, like he did inside the fridge. This time more tricky as he had to remove the freezer plate to get a wire through the casing. He did the job but the thermostat is playing up and so the full job is still ongoing.... it's the job of the moment you could say.
Detached freezer plate
New fans inside
Before we went back into Orange restrictions we took a walk up the long breakwater, following a beautifully coloured Kingfisher. He kept flying further along and continued to do so, until he realised if he flew in the opposite direction he would lose us.
Little Kingfisher on the pathway with heron fishing
Allowing us to zoom in closer before he flies away
On our return we came across one of the cat families, obviously living inside the breakwater rocks. The kittens were sooooooo cute with lovely ginger markings. All the cats here are ginger. Someone had been to give them dinner.
Pretty kitten checking us out
Fluffy kitten watching mum
Fairly rough rollers coming onto the beach
I've started to follow the daylight hours. Today's sunrise was at 7.19am, with sunset 17.11pm, so approximately 10 hours of daylight. Yesterday was a new moon but we didn't see it as it's up in the daytime at the moment. Today's moonrise was 8.29am, with moonset tonight at 18.32pm. Today's moon description is a waxing crescent with 2% illumination.
Sorry not many photos this week. Days are pretty uneventful at the moment. We did take a cycle ride to Lidl because Saffy needs more chews and I need more liquorice! Cindy brought us some maltesers back from Eurospin so tonight I am going to have a Malteserfest.
Finally for this week Mr C treated us to a new inclinometer. It shows how many degrees the boat is heeling when we are sailing. I keep telling him I like to sail at zero degrees!
Just the way I like it
Thursday 21st January... The winter blogs are getting shorter, but the daylight hours are getting longer 😀. Here's the vital statistics.... Today's sunrise here in Licata was at 7.16am with a sunset at 17.18pm. What does that mean? It means we have a whole 10 minutes more daylight than last week! Every little counts when you're dreaming of summer sailing days. And today's moon is waxing gibbous with 52% illumination. Basically it's a half moon.
As always we are trying to amuse ourselves, Dean doing important stuff, and me playing games on my phone. I almost forgot that Dean teak oiled the passarelle. It get's a lot of wear and kind of gets taken for granted, well by me anyway.
The passarelle looking better now after some attention
We've had a joint of pork in the freezer waiting to be BBQ'd. In the end we cooked it in the oven, making sure not to dirty the oven of course now that it's clean as a whistle. It was very tasty. One thing you always depend on here is a nice pork chop.
Leftovers for day 2 dinner
Having a cupboard tidy and clean I came across some DIY popcorn that Cris and Phil gave us. You just stick the bag in the microwave oven for 3 minutes and hey presto.... Popcorn.
So, moving on to our very important job of the week, if not of the winter. We managed to replace the aluminium gooseneck block. That's the piece of metal that attaches the boom to the mast. It's been on the cards for a few weeks now. Trouble was we've been waiting for the right wind conditions so we could raise the mainsail and take the weight off the boom. You see, to do this job we have to actually detach the boom from the mast! Yikes. I've been almost dreading it.
Thesee is facing south and we have been waiting for southerly wind, but at this time of year the winds are mainly from the north. Tuesday was a calm sunny day and we judged we could get away with a easterly-ish direction. We raised the sail about a third of the way up, but it soon became obvious that this wasn't going to be the right thing to do. After two attempts we decided we need to rethink the plan of action.
Somehow or other we thought of leaving the sail down and taking the weight off the boom by wrapping a rope around the sail and hauling it upwards for 10 inches or so, using one of the halyards as you can see in the next two photos. Dean also attached another separate halyard around the boom, to hold it up when we removed the gooseneck.
The first halyard holding up the sail
Dean's hand on the second halyard going around the boom
Get the idea?
Dean gently set about removing the gooseneck block, and it became clear that the boom was going to behave itself and pretty much just sit there. We were very pleased with the way the job was going.
Boom detached from the mast. Scary stuff.
Note: I took most of the photos single handed
as I was holding the boom with the other
It took less than half an hour to fit the new stainless steel gooseneck block, and get it all in the right position with special washers too. Dean made an excellent job of it all, as always the perfectionist.
New block fitted to the boom
Now to re-bolt it to the mast
It's done, yahoo
Celebrations and relief
That's the excitement over for this week. After one week of Orange zone restrictions, Sicily has now gone back into the dreaded Red zone! This means we are only allowed to go out for essentials, food, health, and exercise (walking) and we have to carry a self declaration form (to say where we are going) to show police if they should stop us in the street. Dean went on his own to the supermarket and he said there were lots of locals in the streets, going about their business as if nothing was any different. They may want to catch this virus, but we definately do not want to and WE shall be following the rules.
So this afternoon we took our walking exercise along the inner breakwater. It's deserted in the afternoons so we were safe, lol. One of our neighbour's boats that is for sale had been taken around to the fishing harbour for a haul out on the travel lift. We assume it must have been having a survey done.
The fishing harbour
Cormorant rock
There was a ship in port
End of the breakwater
Inside the end of the breakwater!
Green starboard beacon along with the
Guardian of the fishing fleet
Pretty flowers for a change
Our neighbour's boat getting lifted
A rare photo of MEEEE
We noticed the ship was registered in Cowes!
Back in the marina
The resident labrador keeping guard the Saffy way
Talking of guard dogs.....
She does make us laugh
walking around wearing her blankie....
Oh, and I almost forgot, Mount Etna is erupting too.....
Etna volcano update: Eruptive episode from New SE crater with new lava flow
Wed, 20 Jan 2021, 08:29
08:29 AM | BY: T
Strong activity at Etna's New SE crater during the night (image: LAVE webcam from Schiena dell'Asino)
Lava flow on the NE side of the cone (image: INGV thermal webcam from Monte Cagliato)
During the most intense phase, starting around 1:45 am local time, a new lava flow was emitted from either the same vent at the summit of the New SE crater or a fissure beneath it, and descended approx. 200-300 m to the flat area at its northeastern base.
Thursday 28th January... Our first underwater photo of the year, and this is our propellor... YUK. Our marina is apparantly really bad for marine growth on your boat.... they're right. This will take a good deal of scrubbing before we set off any place soon.
The dark background shapes are fish
Dean has another new toy.. a digital thermometer. He's bought it for testing the temperature of the freezer and fridge. I'll get Dean to write up about this project because it's way too technical for me to explain.
Time and motion study on the freezer
Insulation in the lid doesn't work!
We had a scare this week, in fact it was a double scare. When the weather is nice Saffy sits in the cockpit looking out the back of the boat. She can't actually see much these days but it's a change of scenery and she likes to sniff the air. Normally she is OK and just sits there. But one day this week, we looked out to check on her and she wasn't there. Panic stricken we rushed outside and found her standing half way along the passarelle! She must have fallen off the back and amazingly found her way onto the passarelle. She likes to scruff up her fleecy bed reversing as she goes, and this we think is what happened... she reversed out of the cockpit.
We thought it was a one off, but the next day we were horrified to find her missing AGAIN. This time we found her on the sugar scoop. That's the very back step of the boat, one step up from the waterline. Time to put a plan in action. Dean found a contraption that came with the boat, and we've never found out what it was for. But it was perfect for extending across the doorway to stop her reversing off yet again.
These two white extendable tubes should keep Saffy out of the drink
Good girl Saffy, no more Houdini tricks please
Back to the freezer thermostat....OK here goes. The freezer works well but the compressor works very hard all the time. You remember I fitted some fans to the fridge and freezer a couple of weeks ago. Well the fridge is great. +5 degrees C. All good. The freezer is a different matter. I decided to change the thermostat thinking that was the issue as I know they don't last too long. I also upgraded the resistor on the controller box which increases the speed of the compressor. The temperature reaches -18 degrees C quite easily which is great but it soon drops to -14 degrees C and of course the thermostat cuts in and starts the compressor again 2 minutes on two minutes off 😠
New "Freezer" thermostat
Special 1500 ohm resistor to increase compressor speed.
New on/off switch
More insulation next, but what type and how to gain access?
It's getting pretty boring day in day out always the same routine. So I made some chocolate brownies. They were perfect, just the right amount of gooeyness.
As for the weather, well it has been a windy few days. Nothing major, but fairly constant. However today was blue sky and sunny, and I needed to get out and walk walk walk. We went all the way along to the very end of the outer breakwater. The sea was beautiful and calm and we could see all the way across the bay towards Ragusa. Amazing.
Someone's artistry on the breakwater blocks
The feline residents
... and more
.... and more again
Dean was delighted to find my birthday present as we passed the rubbish bins. Sometimes people leave useable stuff upon the wall instead of binning it. We've done that before with shoes and people have taken them. Today someone had left kitchen scales. Just what we wanted as ours are damaged. All that was needed was a battery... Happy Birthday to me then Dean??
Happy birthday Darling, you owe me for the battery! 😍
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