Lift out day!!
 
Ours and Stella’s first lift together!! We had spoken to the marina office who were a bit wishy washy about the date of the actual lift. It was left that it could be Monday 24th or Tuesday 25th. They asked us to come and see them at lunchtime on the 24th to find out. On the 24th we were pretty much ship shape for the lift, we decided to have breakfast then meander over to the marina office at about 10am to find out if we were ‘g’ for go on that day. As I took out the hatch to greet the day, I saw one of the marina staff on the pontoon by Stella (apparently he’d been there for 20mins or so, whilst we’d been indulging in le petite dejeuner). Now our Turkish was on a par with his English (non-existent). He merely pointed at Stella then at the travel hoist. The power of the point crosses all language barriers! We were green for go! Now when I say we were ship shape I may have over estimated that a bit we still had the hundred or so lines to sort out, canopy to take down not to mention putting away the kettle and toaster!! Whilst we set about getting ready to move, another member of the marina staff turned up, you could tell they were chomping at the bit to get us in the hoist. Finally we declared that we were ready to rock and roll (hopefully not too much in the travel hoist). Engine started we were ready for the off. Now those of you who have visited us know how Team Stella work, we do what we do and usually manage to get the job done. Having 2 Turks who don’t speak English helping means it all gets a bit confusing add to that a slight steering situation and it all adds up to a bit of shouty shouty!! Turk number 1 on the pontoon was going to catch lines which we would collect later. Turk number 2 on the bow was going to drop the lazy line. As I started to take Stella forward, I steered ever so slightly to port (that’s left for you landlubbers), but guess what the boat didn’t go to port (quelle surprise I hear you mutter). My thoughts of ‘that’s less than ideal’ were interrupted by Turk number 1 and the Captain shouting at me to reverse. Turns out Turk number 2 hadn’t let the lazy line go. Whilst reversing I tried to point out to the Captain that there was une petite problemo with the steering (I can see your impressed with my ability to multi-task en Francais). The Captains response was that the steering was fine, he even went as far as to suggest that I had left the steering lock on (a schoolboy error way below me). As we moved forward out of our berth we were heading towards Moli, despite the fact I was steering away from them, concerned that ploughing into them might cause a rift in our friendship I once again tried to explain (somewhat panicky it has to be said) that the steering wasn’t working. At this point the Captain took (more of a snatch really) the wheel muttering ‘It’s fine’ followed by ‘oh right I see what you mean’, we’d managed to miss Moli but were now heading towards the boats on the pontoon opposite. The Captain soon realised that if he turned the wheel to starboard (that’s the right) the boat went left and visa versa (he really is very clever you know). His eagerness to point out to me that the steering was in fact working, but it was working in reverse (details details) was met with the look it deserved shipmates. With this new found knowledge we were able to make our way (with the help of a nudge or two from the marina dinghy) over to the travel hoist area. As we approached the hoist area there was a rather heated conversation between Turk number 2 and some marina staff on the quayside. Slight change of plan they wanted us to go along side rather than straight into the hoist area. Another boat needed to be put back in the water before we could come out. A few dinghy nudges later we found ourselves tied up along side. To our relief and Stella’s the marina staff merely walked her round into the hoist area when the time came. She was strapped in and then lifted out. All went well and as you can see from the pics she had a very very grotty botty!! The marina staff gave her a hose down which made a huge difference got rid of lots of her botty barnacles and the anti-foul!! I’ll bid you a barnacle botty farewell for now, Speak soon mateys. Love & steering wheels that work in reverse!! The Captain and the beetroot head (honestly it’s not that bad now) XX
Thursday, 27 March 2008