Crab Antics

Amazing Morning sky

There are coppery brown crabs over here, up to about 6cm across that live in holes they excavate in the soft sandy soil near the water. They busy themselves on the mud a few feet from the entrance but as you approach they scuttle across to it and wait, sliding smoothly in and disappearing if you get too close. There are scores of these burrows along the edges of the road I ride to the boatyard every day and I have been amusing myself by observing their behaviour, which can be quite funny when I approach at speed on the bike, as they  fling themselves into their holes in a mad panic. But they can only do this once they’ve warmed up in the morning, and in places still in shadow and cool early in the morning they barely react as I ride by.

Apart from that theres not much else that’s funny at the moment! But work continues on the boat which is drying out now that the heavy rain has passed and at long last the Electrician has finally turned up, and TODAY is supposed to be coming early to check all that stuff out. Meanwhile various suspect defects have been filled round stanchions and along the toe rail, and once again the Hydrovane mountings have been redone. I had assistance this time but it was still an incredibly tricky task to reach through the inspection port in the transom and tighten the bolts at the stern, a job that I did twice at sea with a wrench taped to the outside. I kept wondering how the hell I had managed it on my own – but we can be surprised by what we manage to do sometimes!

I have also scraped along all the edges of the toe rail, inside and out, and later today will probably reseal it all with sikaflex, though to be honest I will be surprised (but delighted) if that makes much difference. Leaks seem to belong to a universe of their own, and seem to defy most natural laws such as gravity and logic – water can apparently get into the boat at one point and emerge at another completely remote and unrelated part, thus rendering any attempt to work backwards quite futile, unless of course you want to rip out the entire interior of the boat. And Ive thought about it. Ive even dreamed about it.

 

The other thing Ive  done is a yachties ritual that till now Ive managed to avoid altogether but there was no excuse this time – Ive sanded off the hull and put on a fresh coat of Antifouling. 

All Good from this distance - before ANtifouling

With luck Sapphire goes back in the water tomorrow evening, and if the motor works I will anchor off the marina and bend on the sails. I hesitate to use the word “bend” but that’s the strange term yachties use to mean they are putting the sails back on.