Sunday, 11. January 2009 : fifteen weeks to go before launching
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It is quite cold today when I open Sir Francis’ winter cover with frozen fingers. It is beginning of january and minus 10 Celsius. I climb up the ladder and enter the cockipt - everything looks exactly as it did when I was here last time, two months ago.
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Even inside, not much has changed, which I am glad for - some winters ago, we had an unwanted guest during the winter, an animal, possibly a homeless cat. The only thing revealing the secret visitor were some fur hairs and a slightly molded surface of one of the cockpit cushions that I had stored in the main cabin.
The moisture absorbers I hang up in both main cabin and forepeak, have shrunk from melon- to orange-size. They have done their duty and the condensed water has filled the two buckets below them halfways. It is hard to believe how much humidity there is even at lower temperatures - time to replace the absorbers. A look at the battery control panel shows a 90% charge and I connect the mains cable for a day’s charge to fill them up.
The to do list is already long and its number one item is nothing I am looking forward to: sanding down all the wooden parts of the cockpit and putting layers of varnish on everything. How many layers will depend on time and weather. Apart from that there will be some minor changes to the path of the anchor chain, possibly a new cockpit table, and changes in the shower arrangement on the aft platform. Anyway, I will wait for temperatures to raise a bit, before starting any work.
A more pleasant way to spend waiting time is planning for the summer. We are planning a trip eastward past Helsinki and Viborg (russian border) then up the Saimaa canal and through the Saimaa lake system north to Kuopio, Hilkkas home town. Charts are purchased and routes drawn (with pencil). One highlight is already fixed: tickets for the Savonlinna Opera Festival on july 9th are waiting in my desk drawer.
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