Sailing into Liverpool

After a very long trip around Ireland where the weather was truly awful ...wind, rain and we were even boarded by customs!!!.. we finally sailed into Liverpool after an eventful trip from Arklow on Saturday 3rd September. We were lucky not to have been run down by a container ship the Coastal Denise just off the coast of Angelsey early on Saturday morning. The ship changed course having followed us safely for a couple of hours. George and I were on watch and we both could not believe it! We were forced to turn hard to starboard to avoid being mowed down and thanks to the wonders of AIS we were able to find out the name of the ship and with the help of the Liverpool coastguard elicit an apology from the ship. The guy on watch claimed he saw our green light but he could only have seen that after he had passed us and we all agreed that it was highly unlikely that anyone even knew we were there despite me shining our strong flash light up into the bridge and onto our sails as the ship got closer and closer! Still no harm done and we live to sail another sea! Orion is now safely moored in Liverpool Marina while we continue to work on her and we are looking to head back down to the Med next year.

Finally on our way!

We are now back from our adventure getting the boat back from Lagos to Liverpool Marina. It has taken me a long time to get around to putting this on the net but finally I decided to get my finger out and get it done!! It wa a good trip from Portugal to the Azores ... lots of dolphins, a turtle and even a whale! John tried to get some work done with his sextant which sometimes he was more successful with than others! The weather was on the whole kind to us on the first leg of the rip though the first ten hours or so out from Cape St. Vincent were a bit choppy causing us all to feel a bit queasy but we all stuck it out even Paul who was really quite poorly again. However give him his due he never complained once and just stuck it out down below with his bucket til his body got used to the rockin and rollin! He must have felt better because on Johns 61st birthday he made a tuna bake all his own recipe and really tasty it was too! We arrived at Ponta Delgado 5 days or so before we had anticipated. A really nice place ... good value and a very friendly place. We took time out to hire a car and see more of the place and Paul decided to live a little dangerously hiring a Quad bike. Quadman as he was known as from therein on followed us up the volcano. It was a good day.

Coppercoated!

Jobs a goodun! The work on the hull is now complete and we are back in the water in Albufiera awaiting crew for the trip back to Liverpool. Both John and I are very pleased with the work carried out at Sopramar and will certainly use them again should the need arise.

finally ... a nice new hull

Orion has been in Sopramar Lagos for over two weeks now and I have got to say that they have been great really getting on with the job in hand. I think you can tell from the pic that the hull is now ready for the coppercoat which should only take a day followed by 72 hrs out the water then she should be ready to take around to Albufiera to await crew. Then its onto Azores and Galway!! John is still busy beavering away fitting stuff we have bought and never had time to fix. The boat was treated to a forward seeking sonar as both John and I figured that whilst she was out the water we might as well take advantage and get it sorted, the deck speakers have finally been fitted, the GPS finally works and as you can see we have put the name on the bow!

Starting to feel that things are slowly taking shape

Frustration!

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks the painter in the yard has been as useful as a chocolate fireguard and would not recommend him to my worse enemy. It has been a catalogue of broken promises and manyana moments! Finally enough is enough and we have decided to leave Sotogrande and get the work done in Sopromar in Lagos... they have given us a 2 week max timeframe which is a little more encouraging. It has been a costly mistake coming here but you live and learn. John has got some way with the decks but has been frustrated by the weather ... the wind has been too strong to put the deck paint on to try would have resulted in dust and assorted debris being painted on our decks! We go back in the water .. ready to sail down to Lagos on Monday 25th lets hope for some decent weather!

Friday 8th May

Currently in Sotegrande having started the messy but hopefully really useful job of putting Coppercoat on the Hull instead of having to go through the annual anti fouling chore. We will still have to come out of the water but hopefully it will not be quite such a bind. John is supervising the job whilst at the same time painting the deck. I'm still stuckin Norton working... not quite sure who has the better deal. All existing anti foul is now off the hull and Orion is sitting in the sun drying out. The plan is to have the job done and dusted so we can take her to Portugal at the end of the month. I think we are both finding it hard to rely on Toni in the boatyard to complete the job but John has befriended a local (English)who lives in Spain .. Ted who has offered to supervise proceedings when John has to go at the end of the week. Thanks Ted.

John thinks he looks like George Clooney in Perfect Storm. I am still struggling to see the likeness!

Deb