Week 6 MdR- 25th June to 3rd July – We become locals and the boat gets launched!! 

Monday: Thunder and Lightning and Rain, no work on the hulls though we have got the 220 shore power fixed. No sign of a battery we are waiting for, or a relay for the bow thruster, or the sails. 

Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Snails Pace

The engines were finally serviced on Tuesday, and process inched along Wednesday and Thursday with the hull was slowly getting finally finished between too much sun and too much wind. We washed the boat down and stocked up hoping for Thursday afternoon but no such luck.

Friday: Frustration

No sign of the sail makers again despite several promises of sails. Finally they said no go before the weekend as a big weekend and too much to do!!!

Lunch time came and went as a Friday lunch became a party – barbecued Tuna, and shrimps and Prosecco. We were invited and really enjoyed the food but work was non existent for several hours. Seems like we are now part of the scenery – I am not sure this is a good idea!!

Put the yacht in the water late Friday (much too late).

Great relief to finally be in the water but…. firstly the water pump on the port engine would not get going.

  

Got towed around the corner from the drop in point and tied to the yard dock. Not a quick fix and any hope of leaving first thing in the morning for a short cruise around in the weekend was looking dim. 

             

About 2000 they gave up and said they would fix it first thing Monday. Hew and I were resigned to having dinner on the boat in the yard but at least in the water. Had a shower and then the grey water pump alarm went off – not pumping out properly . Up go the floor boards again and the alternative manual pump was used. Had dinner and went to bed felling exhausted. 2230 the bilge pump alarms went off. Up go the floor boards again. The boat was leaking from the transducers in the port hull under the forward cabin floors – change from plug to a transducer seemed to decrease the leak but not entirely. Checked all the bilges and the aft port had a slow leak around the stern gland – so some quick engine run and flexing of the rudder seemed to stem the flow. Similarly the starboard stern gland was also leaking but much worse, same treatment and the leaks decreased. Also slight leak from the aft starboard cabin and around the fridges. All these multitude of slow leaks made for a restless night. The boat had just been on the hard too long!

Saturday: no work

All the problems discussed with the boat builder and the yard manager. No sign of any action as everyone was involved in the regatta in some way. We gave up trying to get anything done and used the RIB to tow two of the staff out to the race course and watched for a while . Flat calm and at 3.30 finally a 5kt breeze, but faded shortly after and towed them back to the marina. Took out the Yard Sales Manager as well to watch the process.

Sunday: Sailing another yacht

Invited to go sailing with the crew we towed out the day before. Luckily on a slightly bigger boat . Finally got some wind about 1500 and managed to get around a shortened course but did not cross the finish line. Hew and I thought we were doing 1 loop with the finish after the mark – as apparently did quite a few others but finish was just before the mark!! Second race good start for the little boat and we finished the second leg. Went to prize giving in the local bar with the boys and found we had got second prize in Division B  which they insisted we keep for the yacht!!!!  To top it off we meet the Commodore and his wife from the Royal Malta Yacht Club and got invited to drop in if we went to Malta which we told them we had planned for Monday!!

    

Monday: We waved goodbye to the Malta boats as they had a race in the morning back to Malta – wishing we were with them. Sailmakers who were supposed to turn up first thing in the morning arrived at 1600 without the new main halyard, or the spinnaker, or various other pieces. Took 2 hours to rig up the main and some mouse lines for new reefing slots,  and they  said would be back at 1200 Tuesday!! The yard meanwhile was busy working firstly on the port engine, then discovered the generator was leaking badly – not a small leak they had thought and they had to order a new muffler. Next we found that the large fridge/freezer saltwater pumps were not going so we had to order 3 more salt water pumps.

   

Tuesday : Sailmakers finally arrived in the morning with the new halyard and reefing lines. By the time they finished it was after lunch so we decided it was best to leave until the next morning. Even though we had many items unfinished it was pointless waiting in MdR for parts to arrive and we may as well get our other problem sorted out – the Costituto – which meant we had to go to Pozzallo to leave Sicily and then to Malta and back. A major sea trial.