Knackered

It seems like a million years ago and another lifetime that I was working in Vernon, the change from work life to getting a sailboat ready for blue water cruising life has be so drastic and so complete. The two are not even comparable. I've been spending 12 hour days running around getting parts, crammed into holes trying to get bolts onto nuts with my eyes closed whilst every second you spend only makes it hotter, and yet I've been loving every second... well except when the vaccine I took kicked my butt today, but then I had a little nappy-poo on the sails and felt much better ;o)

Every job we finish crosses one more thing off the list and gets us one step closer to sailing. All of this right now, the final preparations, the last minute running around and drop ship ordering things is hard work, but the light at the end of the tunnel is sailing off and having everything stowed neatly where it should be. I really really really really for real hope we don't forget anything important. I do have a secret stash of chocolate and rum though, just in case ;o)

I thought I was tired yesterday. I'm now more tired all over than I thought possible. I feel a little bit like I did the first week of treeplanting, each day you think your body hurts all over... more than it has ever hurt before. You think that it hurts 'the most', that it can't possibly hurt anymore, that is until you do another day.

Our bodies are incredible things, they get tired and they hurt... but they keep going long after your mind has decided that it can't possibly do anything else. At some point, you switch over to some ancestral subroutine and finish doing what has to be done. Yeah you're exhausted when you're done, but you're still done, you didn't actually fall over and die the way your mind had convinced itself that it would.

I'm so knackered, its exhausting to type... like I'm not even kidding you. But, I will finish this post for you Internet, because I'm swell like that.

It was a good day! I hauled things in and out of the back lazarette again, and installed a shelf. We got a couple crates to store 300 feet each of anchor rode, which are now neatly coiled inside and fit perfectly. Dad got the wire bit for the boom-vang re-crimped (because it exploded yesterday) so that's done as well!

OOOhhh yeah and the big job for today was putting the manifold back in! I'm confident that octopus-slave-labour was used to install it in the first place, and I'm thinking of writing a strongly worded letter, and attaching a petition against the use of octopi in engine work.

After some interesting maneuvers (I had no idea my arm, elbow and wrist could bend like that AND still work a wrench), oil, water, grease, gunk and a little dropsy we got everything back where it should be. We also discovered that the damn alarm that has been plaguing us was the temperature sensor - NOT the oil pressure. *yippeeee!* Luckily for us we were able to scroung one from the motor graveyard inside the mechanics as nobody in town stocks isuzu parts.

We de-masted 'The Other Boat' to get it ready for storage. This is the Captain showing off his huge muscles by manhandling it into place.



It was neat taking the mast off, but a little scary, basically you have it hanging from a crane on the dock... but the boat is still moving while you're undoing forestays etc. to add to the sphincter-factor there was no handle for the winch so I was using the large screw driver. It took this moment (the one just after I took the picture below) to abandon its station and jumped into the chuck. I heard it, saw it on the dock as. it. was. rolling... managed a "$#!*&..." and got there just in time to watch it execute dive sideways and *sploosh* into the gloomy depths below.



What with this being the long weekend and all, we should be able to get our final shopping list together and under control as there will be little movement of parts due to the long weekend. Cross your fingers, we should be heading out next week...