People think what I am doing is potentially dangerous. The dangerous time however is when the yacht is approaching or in contact with dry land. On ‘deep clean day I was taking a wet vac full of bilge water up to be emptied. As there was a group folding the old mainsail starboard and aft I walked up to the bow. Next thing I realised the was my right foot had hit air instead of the deck and was falling down the open sail locker hatch. I managed to somehow to grasp the edge of the hatch and break my fall . I sustained an injury to my right side and almost certainly a fractured rib or2,but nothing too serious. It’s a 2m + fall to below : could have sustained a head injury on the ladder or fallen to the boards below and broken my leg . Hatches left open are meant to be roped off.

I didn’t realise I’d paid a whole lot of money to do so much work. The team was just 8 consisting of Luke, Sue ,Liz ,Rachel, Ed , Michelle , Ashfin , Carl plus Jorge and Seamus.My first task was to check over the medical kit ; a task at home I delegate ! Over the next few days we ran new netting round the guard rails ,made new sail ties from old ropes , serviced winches , serviced the jammers. Various other minor tasks and addition inside.
Finally we got our new sails. The headsails needed the hanks numbered ,the spinnakers needed the panels numbered ,strops spliced for the clews , then to be packed ready for deployment. Then all the new lines needed to be whipped and then new halyards and reefing lines run to replace the old ones. Then finally the food . How do you pack 2 tons of food in readiness for an ocean crossing . With expert guidance ,we did. Of course there were a few trips to the Castle for refreshments and BBQ with our new friends and rivals Punta Del Este.

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