It never seems to get any easier!

It's the day we dread every single year, this year we decided to make it 'easier' on ourselves by booking into a marina for a couple of nights ahead of the lift. Only they gave us the trickiest berth we've ever had to manouvre our way into. It was right on the end of a pontoon so we needed to manouvre around 180 degrees, the probelm is at marina speeds there isn't that much control over direction, not helped by gusty winds. The space didn't have enough room to turn around and there we other peoples lines in the water, if you get stuck on one of them it's carnage! The marineros on this occassion were not exactly helpful thankfully we managed to stay calm, a kindly neighbour took one of our ropes and helped us get in, my husband managed admirably.

We can't stay on the boat while it's in the yard so I'm currently in a beachfront cafe typing this while hubby heads off to get the keys to our apartment for the week. Side note: They didn't tell us until today that we must collect the keys from their office, a 25 min walk each way since we don't have transport! Consequently hubby has headed off on a rented scooter while I guard all our luggage. I think he got the best end of the deal but it's a big boy toy and more fun for him than me, it'll make him happy and I have time to write = we both win!

It's frustrating when you pay a professional for work which is substandard, last year we paid to have the essential 'anti-foul' paining done in the boatyard. We took the gel coat right back to the hull and redid the epoxy coating, then it should have been primer and 2-3 coats of anti-foul. Judging by the state of our underside they either skipped the primer OR the anti-foul was watered down so much it was totally ineffective. Lesson learnedAs it happens this lift out was the smoothest we've had, it's a very professional yard which makes all the difference.

This year we're paying for the prep work (scraping off barnicles that are 3 layers deep mainly) to be done. It's a grotty job and it'll save us days of work but we'll do the primer and anti-foul ourselves, that way we know it's done right. Once we splash back in we should be able to sail at our regular speed of around 4.5 knots (a fast walk), rather than the 3 knots (a very slow walk) we're been limping along at.

I plan to maximise the week in the apartment by filming some content (YouTube channel is about to be launched) and continuing to write my book. I'm close to the exciting point of sending my pitch to some agents so fingers are tighly crossed. It can take around 12 weeks to get a responce so I'll have to just try and out it out of my mind once submitted, otherwise I might drive myself a little crazy. I will continue to write because I am REALLY enjoying the process and I'll self-publish if I can't get any agents interested.

In other news I have some press articles coming out soon, Take A Break and Best Magazines are running our story which is exciting, I'll update once I have a release date. In the meantime I've set up a waitlist for anyone wanting book updates so feel free to join my waiting list - you'll also receive regular communications with lovely photos of our favourite anchorages or stunning sunsets.