Busy busy again

Well, not so much us, although we had a good night's sleep last night and were full of energy this morning, but things have been happening around the yard with a vengeance. In particular, we got up early and stripped the bed, including removing all the stuff stored under it. This enabled a piece of the sub floor to be liberated, and the yard staff, including the usefully tall and slim Peter Mason, then removed around 600 kg of ballast.

Sanity Again is now floating about 2 inches higher at the stern, which should make navigation of shallow waterways a good deal easier. There's still about 3 inches from the surface of the water to the uxter plate (the flat bit under the counter) so there's no risk of ventilation of the prop.

Whilst this was going on, we turned out the bow locker and went over to the winter configuration. This means that the coal box is now out on the well deck, and the folding chairs have been put away in the locker. I've also bought the first supply of coal, 5 bags of Supertherm.

We had a sociable time this afternoon with Peter and Gill from Cala and Martin from Ice Breaker, sorting out various IT issues.

Later in the afternoon, we had a bit of excitement when the community boat the Mary Sunley broke down just on the Deeps, with totally failed electrics. After much fiddling around and various solutions being tried and failing, Peter Mason was called, who instantly diagnosed a dead main engine fuse. A quick replacement and she was sorted.

The other theme of the day has been departures. New Dawn, Nimue and Mi Amigo have all left, and Cala hopes to get away tomorrow. We also had time for a natter with Keith and Alison on Janet Grant, just back from a short cruise.

It's been a merry meeting, and we look forward to more of the same at Crick and here in September next year. The Owners' Weekend works because it's anarchic in the best sense of the word. Apart from Peter and Susan showing us how they want the Open Day to be arranged, there's no formal leadership, we all just muck in with whatever skills we can bring to the party, and as a result, everyone feels involved and engaged.

Thanks to every one who made it happen; as I said late on Sunday evening, my word, I love you guys!

/wahaha