Christmas

Christmas started with mulled wine and mince pies hosted by Matilda in the V&A Marina on Christmas Eve. This was followed by dinner with the crews from Zoe (George & Lynda) and Dreamcatcher (Charles & Marie)at the Hillebrand Ristorante. The rest of the crews had tapas upstairs so we joined them afterwards for coffee. Christmas Day we joined George & Lynda on Zoe (at the Royal Cape YC) for a brunch with bucks fizz and eggs & bacon etc. Marie from Dreamcatcher joined us for an hour on her way to the beach where several crews were meeting for lunch. Dinner that night was a pot luck supper on the dock but actually ended up on Anastasia which is a spacious catamaran and perfect for a party! I had cooked a 3 bird roast and sausages and there were even roast potatoes and brussel sprouts and of course christmas crackers! Boxing Day Peter serviced the main engine then we took a taxi to the shopping mall to stock up on fresh fruit. Back on board we met up with a local boat owner who has told Peter he is interested in buying our Windpilot which we had advertised for sale on the Yacht Club notice board. We have not used the Windpilot since we started and only carried it as it was an insurance requirement for double handed crews. Luckily the insurers have now agreed that as we have done over 12,000 miles double handed they will lift the requirement from our policy. Peter is delighted as we will have space to use the dinghy davits again! Anyway we have now agreed a sale of the Windpilot. So...yesterday Peter started removing the Windpilot as we have now been paid in cash for it. Not as much as we paid for it of course but at least it is something. Once off it became obvious that it needed lubricating as it had not been used for so long and that took quite a bit of time and effort using hot water and WD40! Anyway it is now off and we just have four holes in the back of the boat to get filled in again. We were able to remove the wheel drum also which was good as often ropes would get caught on the wing nuts. Remaining jobs are being ticked off now as the Generator was serviced by Peter yesterday morning and today we hope the water maker will be returned. Unfortunately the repair done in Mauritius did not hold and we have now paid for new tubes so no more leaks..we hope! Another job to be completed is the new piping and new solenoid and sensor for the gas which has had an intermittant fault for ages. We just await the Electrician to install the solenoid. Today is a bit of retail therapy with Lynda whilst Peter deals with the workers on the boat!!