Sat and sun

We all slept on the boat for the first time for about six years, sleeping quite well considering, and woke to pouring rain and no wind at all. Once we dragged ourselves out of bed Guy and I got the genoa up and furled, and Ben & I got Guy halfway up the mast so he could rig the lazyjacks (the light lines which hold the mainsail in place as it comes down). Normally this takes Sam quite a while and lots of swearing. Guy's technique is different, he does all the swearing first and then rigs the lines in about 10 minutes.

After that it stopped raining = good, and the wind got up < good, gusting up to about 20 knots even in our very sheltered mooring - the whole sound is pretty sheltered so goodness knows what it's been like in more exposed areas. Anyway, we decided to leave the mainsail until tomorrow. However as a bonus the sun came out = very good, and cheered everyone up.

Guy has been a fantastic asset on board and I would love him to stay with us for the first week of sailing, but as we feared, this may be at the risk of a mass family killing. So if we can book it he will set off homewards on Tuesday, taking a train to Amsterdam, staying overnight there, and heading down to the Hook to get the ferry the next day.

Our plan is to have a short day sail if we can on Monday, take Guy to Flensberg on Tuesday to catch a train, while we cross into Germany to stock up with booze etc, and then on Wednesday Sam, Ben and I head off.

Ben and I are still trying to replace the elderly gas hose, and headed down to the camping shop this afternoon to try and get different parts. Strangely it seems the shop is closed on Saturday but open again tomorrow, so we may try again. Or we might just give up.

This evening I ran away from everyone for a short walk around the sound to Augustenborg Slot (castle). I sat in the sun for a while, and felt better. All the worrying and planning, resolving family friction, looking after Sam and physical hard work takes its toll, but the walk helped, and I came back to cooking spaghetti bolognese with renewed vigour.