Wind, rain, and more wind

Although we've had a few bright, even warm, days, the theme for October seems to be very strong winds, heavy cloud, and a fair bit of rain, from thick drizzle to heavy downpour. Not the sort of weather we want to be cruising in.

We found a suitable dry period the other day during which we re-waterproofed the cratch cover. Having washed it again a few days earlier, and it being dry largely thanks to the high winds, we brushed Fabsil over the outer surface. It applied really easily, soaked in well, and dried within a very short time. The whole job didn't take the two of us more than half an hour. We used less than 2.5 litres of the liquid. It rained that night, and most of the day, and it was gratifying to see how effective the Fabsil was repelling the water. 

On Thursday, we drove out to Debdale Wharf to see John Barnard, boat painter, with regard to th repainting of Kantara. He was dusting off a fifty foot boat of about the same age as Kantara, which he had stripped to bare metal in preparation for painting. There was not a tiny patch of paint to be seen. We chatted with him for some time, and he showed us a number of examples of his work, moored around the adjacent marina. They all looked superb. John has a long history with boats, and a good deal of experience of this work, and we left certain that he would be the man to do the job on our boat. An indication of his reputation is the fact that we couldn't have the job done until September next year. Since that would take six weeks out of our cruising time, we won't actually get the work done until February 2015! But it's worth waiting for. In the meantime, we just have to find a way of making sure Kantara doesn't get shabby.

As I write, we're back with the kids in St Albans for a couple of days. It's really good to catch up with them and their lives.