Friday night drinks take 2…
Que music, Edith Piath singing “Rein d’rein”…
But first, the week that was…
The first week of owning Saboteur was busy… We have lots of things going on. Lots of moving pieces…
And I broke my own rule of not using the word ‘busy’. Reset… my challenge is to see if I can get to the 26 October without using the word ‘busy’ again. Anyone else up for the same challenge?
We (well mostly Martin) has organised and scheduled;
– De-rigging,
– New decks
– Boom furler (LeasureFurl)
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Side note: What’s a boom furler you ask? It is an awesome piece of kit that automatically raises and drops the main sail for us. That’s what it mechanically does for us. What it really does is makes sailing much, much easier for us.
It will help as our bones start to ache and creak… Whenever that day comes.
Deposits flying everywhere as we lock in dates to make this all happen.
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Fade Edith Piath
Que music the Bangles singing “Manic Monday”
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much normal days for both of us.
Fade the Bangles
Que music, Otis Reding singing “Sittin’ on the Dock of the bay”.
Thursday, I headed to the Gold Coast City Marina where Phoenix (our old boat) is berthed. Did I mentions she is now for sale? I worked from Phoenix in order to be there for two punters to check her out to see is she was perfect for their adventures and also did a coaching session on her. I am sure getting use to conducting coaching sessions on the boat… As always, I was accompanied by my trusted advisors, Nitro and Moo Moo (Shit Zu, Toy Poodle cross).
I am loving the marina life, and the characters we are meeting… Phoenix is on a private marina at the Gold Coast. We stayed overnight and the dogs met 3 other dogs and all get on just fine. The live-aboard cat chose to stay inside. I also found a dog groomer who could fit the boys in at midday Friday. Brilliant…
And the boys were shorn. Huge transformation! They went from looking like miniature black Scottish sheep to rats with fluffy ears… My brief was summer cut (super short) and no fluffy bits. They came out with fluffy, fluffy ears… (And colourful bows) He, he… They don’t seem to mind, however Martin… well that’s another story.
Friday 2.45pm I hit the highway. So, it was from the Gold Coast City Marina and Phoenix to East Coast Marina (Manly) and Saboteur.
I have to admit it is now with a tinge of sadness each time I leave Phoenix. I love her and I started this blog on her.
Friday night drinks take 2…
I was arriving from the Gold Coast and Martin was arriving from home. Damn, I forgot my East Coast Marina key… Fortunately, Martin remembered his…
We had to arrive early in order to get ready for our guests…
Getting ready, was not just getting the cheese and biscuits and drinks out. It meant re-laying the floorboards, putting away a million shackles, sheets (ropes) and ceiling boards and whatever else had been pulled apart by the riggers in preparation for de-rigging today. Yes, de-rigging today.
Thanks to Martins efficiency Saboteur is having her mast removed today. The crane was booked for 7am. Yes, a crane is required.
Can you hear dollars being ripped up? Anyway, that is a separate post.
Back to Friday night drinks…
So we re-laid the floor boards… and… we tidied up as best we could before our guests arrived.
Ah shit, I remembered I had taken the sheets off the bed and taken them home to wash… Quick call to Martin or Bill I can’t remember which to grab the sheets so we had something to sleep on tonight. Phew…
Bill is one of Martins’ oldest friends. They have known each other of 50 years today. I organised Bill to bring the cheese and biscuits and the bubbles.
Thanks Bill…
Our first guests arrived, Mim and Howard. Mim and I have known each other 30 years and were each others bridesmaids.
Then Peter and Silvia arrived… We have only known them a couple of weeks. They were the previous owners of Saboteur. They owned her for 23 years and lived on her for 17 of those years before moving back to land.
Silvia said to me, she hopes she does not cry when she sees her…
So our guests arrived before Bill did who if you remember was bringing the cheese and biscuits and the bubbles. No problems, as our guest bought nibbles and bubbles to help us celebrate.
Martin grabbed Howard to help carry the genoa back to the car. Thanks Howard.
And then Peter’s son, wife and 1 year old daughter arrived along with his in-laws from Germany. The party was getting underway. And Bill arrived…
I was not sure what we had in the way of plates, so I asked Bill to bring a couple of platters to serve thing on. We had enough glasses.
It was awesome to have Silvia here. She showed me little practical things that she had set up. So, so good. We will take them sailing when the work is finished.
The dogs were happy, lots of people to cuddle and pat them. Martin managed to take the “pretty” bows off them before the guests arrived.
We meet many people who live at the marina. As they walk past they congratulate us on buying such a beautiful boat.
The champagne flowed…
For Friday night drinks we toasted Saboteur and her new adventures. We heard stories of her old adventures while celebrating with new friends and old. We were in the moment.
Side note: The stories included Silvia going up the mast to repair the TV antenna (amongst other reasons). Hats off to you Silvia. May I have your courage when the day comes.
Somewhere along the way, all the stresses and madness of the past week fell away.
Our guests gradually started leaving. Silvia really did not want to go… She was so happy to be back on Saboteur.
Then it was Mim, Howard, Bill, Martin and myself and we could hear Scotty (on a dock nearby) playing beautiful, beautiful jazz on his Saxophone…
And finally, it’s Martin and I…
We meet 7 years ago on 18 October on a Qantas flight from Sydney to Brisbane. I knew life would never be same. I knew it would never be boring with you baby.
Thank you for this amazing journey we are on.
Happy anniversary baby.
I love you.
#loveourcrazylife #Ilovesailing “Ilovechampagne #whatareyouwaitingfor #marinalife #Reindrein #ManicMonday #Sittinonthedockofthebay