Subject: Day 1 Thursday 17th October
We finally left Port Grimaud on Thursday
17th Octoober, a day later than planned, but
considering that we could not get on the boat because of work still being done,
until 5.00pm on Tuesday, it was quite an achievement to get away when we
did.
The final weeks before departure
have been a total nightmare with every conceivable thing that could go wrong on
the boat doing just that leading to sleepless nights and anxiety that we would
not, after all the months of planning and preparation, be able to go! I
suppose the worst worry was the generator. For weeks we had been
struggling to get a new part fitted and when that finally happened it still did
not work. It's all very involved and complicated but the bottom line was
that we had to get a new "back end" shipped from the US which was finally fitted
2 days before we were due to leave. So looking on the bright side Free
Spirit would be ready to go with: newly fitted satelite navigation system, new
radar, new water maker, new solar panels,new satelite phone with email
connection, new water turbine, a clean bottom, a polished hull and fully
stocked with food and provisions for weeks at sea! But...not
quite...having worked hard to turn chaos in to order...just as we were ready to
go we discovered that the water tanks were completely empty. How could
that be? A pump was found to be the problem, so the tanks were refilled
and at 1045 on a beautiful provencal day we set sail for Gran Canaria. The
winds were strong and there was quite a swell and three of the 5 of us were sea
sick. Tomato and red pepper soup was maybe not the best choice for dinner
that evening! (CH)