Mary Ann is back in the water!

Lots done, more to do,... and unfortunately a badly vibrating shaft, which hopefully won't mean we have to go out again!

Shit, it was hard to get to South Africa. It seems even harder to leave.

Meanwhile, I am going hunting tomorrow: Bush pigs will fall... I am going with Eric, the yard manager, who invited us yesterday for a brai at his home (Bush buck, Kudu sausage, lamb, salad, and a host of exotic drinks... ). Back home at 2 am, and finished the paint work.

I made a new friend it seems, he invited me today for the outing tomorrow. 8 hunters, 12 dogs, and a few beers.
Not sure I'll want to shoot anything, but the experience should be fun.

Left to do on board: hydraulics, struts, turbo mixer, finish the fridge, and then more to come in Durban.

As we are getting late in the season, I decided we'll stay a few months in the Caribean. No way we can pass Panama this year, so Bonaire, here we come (maybe).

Brai at Frank and Maureen's
Saturday was a good day for Mary Ann and crew.

We finished fixing the bow thruster, put all the mess back together (boiler, tools, spares, etc...), changed all the anodes, and were ready just in time to go to Frank and Maureen's for a brai (brai is a local institution, and translates into barbecue and lots of booze).

We packed 2 huge T-bones, rhum, rose wine and drove to Meerensee, a short 15 minute drive to Frank's place.

Pretty suburban house with frangipani trees, hibiscus, a great dog (Sam), and a BBQ equipment worthy of professionals.

Lunch was a late one (needed time for drinks), and included millipop (a local millet based puree), T-bone, lamb chops, booreworst (local sausage), and some weird booze, distilled by friends of Frank's. Conversations revolved around South African life, the decline of the country, the gloomy outlook, and the pity in living in a place that used to function and is slowly going down the drain.
Also, jokes about the scotch (Maureen is of Scottish origin), and the sailing community.

Home at 8pm, internet and bedtime...

This morning, I am walking towards the club, and meet Simon, who towed us from Tuzi Gazi to Zululand Yacht Club 2 weeks ago.
He's hauled his boat out and greets me with a huge "Bonjour mon ami!": he did some French at school, and starts reciting verses from Les Fleurs du Mal (Baudelaire), tells me about Raimbaut's time as a shop keeper in Ethiopia, and here I stand in the Richards Bay sun, listening to poems I haven't heard since high school times... Weird!

The nice weather has returned after the cyclone a few days ago, and we will take it easy today.
Mary Ann should be back in the water next week, and work has progressed well. Still a long list of things to do, including the anti-fouling paint, but no rush, a bit of rest will do us all good.

Almost a bad day

Yesterday was almost a very bad day:

Spent the whole morning trying to fix my bow thruster, couldn't get it to work.

Then at noon, the yard manager came to advise there was a forecast for VERY heavy wind in 2 hours... So, with Jean-Pierre, we decided to tie some ropes around the mast and secure them on strong anchor points (trees, pegs in the ground, etc...).

In driving rain, I climb up the mast to put a rope around it,.... and slip.

I fell from about 2.5 meters backwards, and landed on deck, pretty hurt.
Hospital: no broken bones, but concussions on the both feet, and a bad pain in the back. Meanwhile the wind is howling, trees are falling, and the forecast announces the first cyclone of the season.

Back on board at about 4:30pm, all is well, and I go lie down. Could have been worse.

And today, we managed to fix the bloody bow thruster (6 different faults), our friend Frank manages to fix the windlass,... and all looks a lot better.

I still have to hobble like an old man, but it will gewt better in a few days.

No 2 days the same.

Vivien went with Jean-Pierre to a FREE paella at Tuzu Gazi Marina, next door, and I am on board writing this blog. I have wine, so all is good!

The haul out

This is how it looked like. The travel lift was a bit short and very narrow, so I had to aim right to get in.

Then the bow gets tied, two spring lines from the back, and up she goes. Very stresfull as one starts hanging from 2 slings and slowly the tractor and electric winches pull us up...

This was one of the heaviest boats ever pulled out here. We weight in at about 28 tons, although we took off a lot of weight and put it in storage... anchors, chain, jerrycans, gas bottles, sails, etc... All went well. Now the work has stared and its a mess everywhere. We've got work to do on the diesel engine (change engine mounts, do a complete engine revision), transmission (change the sterngland box), electric systems (redo wiring in various places), hydraulics (boom vang leaks), outboard engine, dinghy, watermaker, dive compressor, eletronics, and so on.

I expect we'll be stuck here for a couple of weeks - on the dry - then another week to 10 days in the water, and then hopefully we can sail on to Durban and Capetown.

On the dry in Richards Bay

OK, I've procrastinated long enough, so here starts Mary Ann's blog...

We have been on the dry since Saturday, November 7th. This wasn't planned, but our stern gland decided to pack up, and we were taking on water, so no choice but to haul out.

The facilities here are borderline for this: 30 ton travel lift, but a bit short in length. Eric, the lift out manager, came on board and decided it was OK.
So, Saturday last we came to the slipway with the 4pm tide, and Mary Ann was slowly hoisted up, secured, and pulled to the dry. We spent the night still attached to the travel lift, and in the morning, stilts were installed to hold the boat. The lift was pulled away, and we are now sitting on grass.
A new experience, with no water, no toilets, thankfully we have electricity, but the morning run to the loo is not our preferred activity...

Sunday was spent cleaning the hull (with a good, borrowed, Karcher power cleaner) - we started at 8am and finished at 7:30 pm, quite exhausted. The hull is now clean, and awaits a new pair of coats of anti-fouling paint

Monday we started organizing the work, lining up a mecanic, diesel specialist, hydraulics expert, electrician and still looking for specialists on electronics, compressors and watermakers.

This morning, Tuesday, work started on the propeller/shaft/stern gland... basically the whole main engine transmission system needs to come out to fix what's called a "stern gland packing box". This is the system around the engine shaft as it passes through the hull, to allow the shaft to turn without letting water enter the boat. Our packing box collaped after showing signs of weakness for a few months (we couldn't fix it as we were at sea most of the time and nowhere near a place to go on the dry).
All day was needed to take out the shaft and access that box. Tomorrow, we'll see what needs to be done to fix it... hopefully.

Right, first post, and it's about techical issues... sailing is as much about fixing the boat as it is about navigating. One thing I have learnt since we left almost a year ago.