30th April

Today was meant to be for final jobs before heading off. The dinghy was placed on the davits, instruments checked, and then I came to start the engines. Port engine started first time. However, starboard engine is dead as a Dodo. A quick phone call summoned David who had serviced the engines last year. The engine starting battery is dead and needs replacing. So it will be Monday at the earliest before it gets replaced. There's always something going wrong in a boat.

29th April

We were up and out by 7 a.m. The sky was blue for the first time and there was no wind. The main was on before breakfast. The diver hadn't turned up but I discovered he was here and getting changed. It took him about 15 minutes to clean and check underneath. We were still in time to walk to the square and catch the bus to Sassari.

The guide book says that on first sight Sassari is not an immediately appealing place. It didn't improve on looking further. We came back on the narrow gauge railway. Well at least it got us out of the house.

28th April

Today was cold (ish) and overcast. The promised diver didn't make it today and is now, possibly, coming majana. Anyway the weather for the weekend is miserable so no chance of heading off in the meantime. It was too windy to put on the mainsail but all the other major jobs have been done. We're off for a proper Italian pizza in town and then on with murder, treachery, incest and dragons in Game of Thrones.

27th April

Today we put on both the foresails. Still the main to go. The roller reefing at the end of the bowsprit needed attention. Somehow I found myself sitting in the bosun's chair dangling over the water unable to get back in the boat. It seemed a good idea at the time. We unpacked our new dinghy and painted a name on it which reads IMAG NE as we only have one set of stencils. A diver was meant to come to clean the propellers and check underneath. He's coming Domani now, a word we've heard quite a lot. Tonight episode two series five of Game of Thrones.

26th April

It takes adjusting to being on the boat. All night the boat rocked gently and the lines squeaked. This morning we carried on cleaning. An underwater video showed barnacles covering our propellers. They can't lift the boat here. Lucinda won't get her hair wet so there was only one thing for it. Believe it or not I went over the side in my wet suit. It wasn't too bad. However the suit provided so much buoyancy that I kept on bobbing up and couldn't get down to the props. Back to the drawing board. In the afternoon we took the bus again to Alghero. Today the shops were open so we're stocked up.

25th April

The flight from Stansted was uneventful as was the 10 minute taxi ride from airport to marina. Imagine looked pretty good as well. We decided to go to Alghero to stock up. It soon became apparent there was a festival today. All the shops were shut, there was a funfair in town and the streets were lined with market stalls. We managed to get a few basic supplies, had an ice cream for lunch, and went to bed early accompanied by the beat from the music in the town.

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