Cavortings in Corfu

Emergency scooter gangplank deliveries

Having a couple of electrical engineers on board has been very useful. They have managed to sort out the wiring for the shore power cabling, the spaghetti behind the electrical boards and the speakers for the stereo system. Many thanks chaps.
During the passage yesterday there was a slight problem in that the genoa would not fully unfurl. So the combined mechanical genius on board set about working on this.

What is going on up there

Inspecting the head of the sail while furling and unfurling it seemed that the top spinner was getting partially jammed by the halyard getting twisted round the forestay. This was exactly the problem we suffered a year ago resulting in the sail getting stuck in the unfurled position. This was cured by using a different halyard emerging from the mast at a lower position, increasing the angle between the halyard and the spinner thus fixing it and preventing the halyard getting twisted round the forestay.
It then dawned on me that the halyards had been replaced since then and possibly replaced in the original (wrong) configuration.

Emergency cultural supplies

So we dropped the sail and swapped round the halyards - problem cured. The only issue is that during this process we found a bit of nylon apparatus lying at the front of the deck. I am not totally certain where it has come from but I suspect it is a bushing that sits on the forestay and protects the aluminium foil extrusion. If anyone recognises it I would be grateful.

Again the weather has conspired to befuddle us. We left Mourtos with the plan to have a night of isolated splendour under the stars in a secluded bay. However the forecast was for heavy rain the following morning and the consensus was to head back to Corfu town to avoid the wetness. The crew had booked their return flight at an uncivilised early time the following day and there was concern that getting a taxi at 4am might be an issue. So they booked themselves into a hotel adjacent to the airport to allay anxieties.
So we have a couple of days in Corfu, enjoying the restaurants and cafes, and unwinding (unravelling).

The team

The visiting crew departed after a good night out. We will undoubtedly miss them, it has been great fun having them on board and I think the novices have enjoyed it. The boat seems a bit quiet now but I am sure we will get back into the swing of double handing.
So far the predicted cataclysm has not happened. We have seen this several times before that bad weather predictions are overblown. However these cannot be ignored.