Sunday 2 Jun, MD day 8: An up-the-mast day.
“Prevent purple poo” is today’s mission. And we address it as the morning’s priority. Glen arms himself with all needed tools and I winch him up the mast. Where he stays for quite some time, removing the Windex and Raymarine wind transducer. He then covers the top of the mast with heavy duty bin liners. “Birds, you may now land here as much as you want, or can. Just keep your poo on the bin liner please.” For the next stage of the “anti-purple poo” strategy, he ties thin gardening wire along the length of each spreader, a few centimeters above them, to discourage the birds from landing on the spreaders. And that kept us busy all morning, till we ran out of wire. Quick run to the hardware store to buy some more (daily visits, wasn’t it?!) and job is resumed and completed by early afternoon.
At which point Ray pays us a visit, and we go through the list of jobs we might need his help with throughout the summer. Long pending varnishing needed on some teak panels, by the nav station and in the cockpit being the most important ones.
Mid-afternoon we resume jobs on the deck, removing all halyards (except the mainsail one) from the mast and putting them for a soak in the inflatable paddling pool. And at the same time we have live entertainment from the Skipper’s bar across the bay where a band plays some good music. It’s Sunday atmosphere there, but not on Cloudy Bay. No rest for the wicked! Washing the halyards was a full workout, we forgot how long and heavy they are!
Next, we waterproof the Furlex on the forestays, by wrapping them in cling film, and the one on the mast gets a brand new lid made out of a yogurt pot. That should seal them nicely, protecting the hole left by the hydraulic motors.
And just as the rain starts in the late afternoon, Glen has the perfect opportunity to desalt the last areas which were pending cleaning and where rain normally doesn’t get to: under the radar, under the BBQ and the underside of the solar panels. And he throws himself into a desalting frenzy, out in the rain. Also performing some ballet stunts while he’s up on the davits washing the radar pole.
For the evening we retire inside. Glen to do some tests for his motorcycle exam on Thursday (in the UK), while I commence the (dreaded) task of starting packing for the trip to Europe. As one thing leads to another, the packing exercise turns into a “clear all the cupboards, re-fold all clothes, and spray with tea tree oil to prevent mildew growth while we are away”. Which kept me busy till midnight, and I only managed to go through half the cupboards. To be continued tomorrow.
We are both exhausted, can’t even remember when our heads hit the pillows.
