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On Tuesday 29th
August we started the first leg of our journey and made passage from
Puerto de la Duquesa to Gibraltar. The weather was dull and we even
had a few drops of very dusty rain. With a light south-easterly, Gib
was shrouded in a typical levanter cloud.
The trip was uneventful,
apart from a close encounter with a group of Spanish fishing vessels
who were concerned that we were going to run near their nets and waved
us off around them.
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and we skirted around the large tankers lying off Europa point before
dropping our sails in the lee of Rosia Bay, and moving slowly under power
between the outer mole and the various tankers and container ships offshore,
to the area adjacent to the airport runway, where we arrived at
the Customs dock soon after high water.
After a day's R & R
at Marina Bay, we moved around to Sheppard's to get Oasis hauled out
of the water for some bottom painting and so that the forward-looking
sonar could be fitted.
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What a heart-stopping moment,
as the boat is lifted clear of the water and transported to ground level!
The anti-fouling (7 coats
of Awlgrip) which Graham had carefully applied in Tollesbury, had lasted
well, and only a bit of touching up is needed, and a new overcoat. We're
also taking this opportunity to repaint the boot stripe in high gloss
(and raise it a bit). As we can't get more Awlgrip, we will be using
International Micron Extra this time.
On inspection of the propellor
and shaft, it was decided that there was too much play and the cutlass
bearing would need to be replaced. Removing the old one was easier than
we expected and fortunately, a replacement was available from stock at
Sheppard's.
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