December and the clock is ticking

Well having returned from the warmth of the Algarve there have been many things to sort out and plan , The main bilge pump I felt needed a new diaphragm kit so all the rubber bits will be new , the chart plotter chip needs updating and for that it has to be sent to Jeppersons in Italy , £ 148.00 later it is right up to date , locate stainless screws and nuts for the furler that has had new bearings put in so will act as new when I put it back together, Albertina will be making a spare pendulum for the hasler just in case of loss or breakage , gotta start thinking New life-raft and flare pack even though there are lots of Flares on the boat, "Cant have to many flares a mate once said " I will need some new oilies for the trip back even though it will be July/August the sun don't shine like it does in the Algarve .A hundred things need sorting and it is just a matter of listing everything and ticking of when completed .
One important task was to meet up with David Hopkins , who will be my crew from the Algarve to the Azores, he live's in Zurich and so when he flew in for a few day's we arranged to meet and have a bite to eat in Meadow-hall Sheffield , It was a great and positive meeting and I felt we got on great , we had a lot to chat about in a small amount of time , Likes and dislikes on food , choice of life jacket, and so much more, David I would guess as being late thirties/early forties was fit, and good looking and madly keen to do a trip like this on a small yacht , he is little inexperienced and will learn a lot on this trip alone , He was a flight engineer with the R.A.F and flew Nimrods on search and rescue and other such missions in the north Atlantic , he is used to low level flying and claims that sea sickness doe's not affect him, I wish I could say the same , But I know how to deal with it when it hits , the cooking will be the real devil but I am up for that task and am already sorting out the menu's. The meeting finished with a committed hand shake and we went our separate way,s .knowing that when we next meet in early March it will be to relaunch Simo and have a week together sailing and taking her back to her mooring on the Guidiana river where she will wait patiently for early June, when the real preparations will start for a trip that Simo at least will love,

  So we have met David and now we wait , and at some stage we will meet Glen who has kindly agreed to sail Simo from the Azores back to Ipswich with me , Glen is from the States and byt he sound of it is pretty fit as he does a lot of mountain bike stuff , but enough for now we will get a full update in January.
   

WORK STINT NEARLY FINISHED

Albertina a craftsman with a smile at Dias & Sabino

Well guy's Ive been down here living on the boat ad off scraps of the land for nigh on five weeks , and what is most tiring is up and down the scaffold and the ladder up to the boat, so I am bloody knackered , also the n is not working on the key pad see what I mean, I have done so many jobs I can hardly remember them but Simo doe's look great , |I have had two new locker lids made at a reasonable price a bit of caulking on the top seam just under the rubbing strake and she has green lines now not fake gold leaf , The mast came out yesterday ad will be coated with deksolj ,,, 12 coats when i come back in February along with the anti fouling primer and anti foul proper ,, a lovely red this time , I have replaced the galley waste pump seals , what a job that was I could have been stuck for days in that little orifice ad not be able to get out , horrible job , found a birds nest in the lazarette , it must have been there a while co's the eggs were skeletons. The boom has been shortened about 4 inches so I am praying that now when we gybe the thing misses the back stays. I am also making up a kicker for the boom ( a strong one ) so that also should hold her down ,.

always eat your porridge

So tomorrow if is of to old blighty ad the cold wind and rain ad back to racing the brit pop for a while,
the covers will go on  tomorrow a quick clean up and Ill be ready , I did have a bit of a set back last Saturday , had cooked a bit of pork and wet down with a three day food poisoning gig just got over it now .
Deck works have all been painted just need to put a bit of none slip on the suicide area's coach roof has been varnished , toilet lid the wooden bit that hides it has a new brass piano hinge , the old one was just about dead I should have taken a picture of it, all the locker fids have been painted nice shiny white bowsprit been painted wykham martin furler is having new bearings and should be here before I leave tomorrow , checked all the fittings ad blocks on the mast all OK , i guess the boat is a ton lighter cos all the junk that has been on the boat for the last seven years and never been used is getting trucked back to the UK and that includes a 40 pound Luke fisherman's and 20 meter's of chain a great big chum another 20 pound Danforth ad old garmin GPS and  gear and loads more stuff , gotta make way for a load of good old English tin food for the trip and of course a life raft

paint work done on the topsides

 Next to me the is a sixty foot wooden yacht of Belgian flag  but owed by some french people Steff and Betty with there two grown up kids , they are setting of to the Caribbean soon, the boat is almost 100 years old and is a ketch , Ill try and get a pic for you tomorrow gotta say she looks a beauty,

just had a wash down

gotta do the name and home port,, later

My space at Dias & Sabino

OK START AGAIN 15 MONTHS LATER

Well a lot a water4 has flowed under Simo and me during the last 15 months , she has been up for sale and had a few dreamers wishing but hey they are the losers because they could have had Simo at a snip of a price , but sorry she is now off the market out of the water and preparing for another adventure , We are out at probably the best yard on the Algarve where they care about wooden boats , and there craftsmen when you need them are second to none, no job is to big or to small for these guys , they are headed up by Sergio and the business has been in the family for thirty five years so if your looking for a great yard and great people Dias and Sabina tel  00351 916252908 and they speak great English ,enough said.

Simo has been languishing up the Guidiana for a while having the occasional outing to Culatra , but hey no great shakes just patiently waiting for her owner or maybe her new owner to take her out to play, Well it seems the owner has come to his senses, or hang on is he crazy, who knows ? but the upshot is she is hauled at Olhao and is having a spanking new paint job two new locker lids a bit of work on the boom and various other bits and bobs , It is now November 2012 England have just wopped France 46/4 at rugby league the sun is out chill con carne is simmering on the cooker and we are planning an adventure , are we planning an adventure !!! . it all started when I got notification of an OCC meet in the Azores in July the 10th to be precise , and I thought ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we are going to do that , but not alone I am getting a bit achy for all that with no sleep and stuff , so I had an email from a guy in Zurich , expressing an interest in going sailing in a Vertue , Call it fate if you want , I then sent another email out to a few guys who had expressed interest in buying Simo , yeh you got it the dreamers , I got a great reply from a guy in the states Maybe Canada, so now i have two guys willing to give it a go , but wait there is another guy that replied to my email and said he would do anything , and he actually has been on the boat (twice)  so i have three guy's now and have decided the trip will be leg 1 Algarve to Azores's,,, leg 2 Azores's,,,, to Ipswich  maybe stop for a pint in Falmouth . welcome to my crew, David who will do leg one, and Glen who will do leg 2 now we do have Cesar who is Spanish, and I am hopeful will agree to be my first reserve should the other two guy's have an accident ,, or more likely quickly come to there senses . . So that's the basics , i have seen a picture of David but have not seen the other guys pics yet. I will try and fill his blog with some interesting stuff and pictures maybe a bit of video, just to keep it interesting there will be no schedule, just as it comes . if my missus sees this blog she will go spare , she thought my sailing days were over !!!!!!!!!!