Spent last weekend with my new friend Stan who had come up with an idea for reducing the need to flake the anchor chain as much. The problem is that sometimes the anchor chain build up in a nice pyramid until it interferes with the windless itself and causes jams. The solution was three thick walled PVC pipes laid at an angle for the chain to fall on and distribute itself in a wider area around the locker. Even if there is a last minute build up, there is no depth to the interlocking mess and hence its very easy to flake with a pole……. I will post a short video here of it working.
I finished polishing the boat this week snd then set about some gelcoat repairs of my own. Little tasks around the boat.
The Spinex top down reefing system arrived – we are just waiting for a calm day to install it and after that I can start editing part 1 of the furling video to be posted on the forum multihulls4us.com.
Met Bonnie and Steve from Paradigm Shift was originally called Knot for Sale which was Duncan’s (the owner of St Francis Marine) own boat. I was able to point out some things so as to help them avoid some issues. One is the loss of the main as the halyard boats have some issues which are just not being addressed. Even the latest boat show boat had the halyard break on its delivery run – I think that has happened on a number of SF 50’s including Suliere and when it happened to us I was blamed by Duncan in a personal attack on my sailing skills. Anyway, I did my best to show them some issues that they would encounter unless they took action to avoid them.
Slurpy the rib had her new replacement names put on today – she had lost a name when the PVC window on the cover stuck to the rib itself. So I removed both names and spoent hours getting rid of the outline left. The new name was made rather large by accident but we fitted it anyway and now nobody can miss the word Slurpy spelt out in, well huge letters, on her flanks.
The big news though is that i booked Lesley’s air ticket today and she arrives her in Ft Lauderdale this coming Thursday. So we hope to provision and set sail the week after. All the jobs ail have been finished and Suliere in a better state than at anytime in her history – just days away from the third birthday. We bought the boat in March 2010. It has been a roller coater three years but we have learnt a lot in that time.
Suliere's Blog 
As I read the words ‘flight booked’ its seems very unreal. Just as it doesn’t feel, on looking back, as though I was ever that carefree woman aboard Suliere with the wind in her hair and the sun on her face- a distant, fond memory!
My time in the UK has been a roller coaster of family health issues both medical and surgical unfortunately not over yet. However everyone is well enough for the time being to allow me to leave and have a break from hospitals and doctors for now at least and they’ve encouraged me to do so. I suspect that I will be very busy on Skype whilst away to keep my finger on the pulse at home, well a good nurse is always on duty!
We already know that Laura has more surgery to face on her elbow and ankle when I return in the summer and is not yet out of the woods from her four surgeries on her spine this year. We are also reluctantly coming to terms with daily facts that show us that her spinal surgery has not worked effectively, we therefore don’t know what the future holds for her and have to remain positive that there is still hope for improvement over the coming months.
So the packing has begun. My bags bursting with a strange mixture; clothes for warm weather (which feels strangely wrong as the weather here in good old Blighty bites down and temperatures begin to plummet once more), boat parts, a new toaster (almost fills my 2nd bag), kitchen implements and a few new boat gadgets that we cant possibly live without and of course a good supply of soft nougat for Paul, well he’s been working so hard on Suliere prepping and preening her that he truly deserves it!
It will be a strong and traumatic pull as I leave my charges behind but leave I must for a well earned break to refresh and renew.
Looking forward to sunnier days ahead 🙂
By: Lesley on March 9, 2013
at 10:18 am
Well done Lesley and separately well done Paul. I hope there are no more dramas with the new Spinex system.
Cheers!
Mike
By: Mike Bruce on March 9, 2013
at 2:29 pm
Hello Paul and Lesley,
Although we haven’t met you yet,Lesley, I am extremely pleased to hear you will be joining Paul soon! Hopefully our paths will cross sometime in the near future as our boats find their way overs the oceans and seas.
Paul, Brit and I wanted to thank you again for the time we all spent together at the LMC. Certainly hope we get to meet Lesley and see you again soon. We just filled all of our tanks today in Nassau (we’ve been in and out of here a few times rendez-vousing with family and friends) and wanted to let you know that we think of you everytime we pull the water filters out! They are perfect and certainly do the job! We filled H2O in Biscaye Bay and failed to use the filters (thinking US water must be fine) it’s taken a few fills since then to get the sedimenty brown look to go away. It’s so nice to be able to fill a glass with clean clear water.
Happy Sailing,
Sandy and Brit Horn
Halcyon
By: Sandy Horn on March 19, 2013
at 1:30 am