The 700-mile trip from Marseille to Gibraltar, while proving a challenge for some of the crew, presented only a few issues for Cassini.

After six months laid up, most of our preventative and maintenance measures, undertaken back in October, have served us well. I was able to run all the electrical system up on a brief visit to Cassini in February. The only major issue that I found being the wind generator controller which would not start up. A call to the manufacturer necessitated bringing it back to the UK for the UK distributor to then forward to Portugal for repair. This seemed like sense at the time, but after a five, yes, five-week delay in Portuguese customs, it was finally repaired in under 24 hours, but too late to return to us before we left. Instead, we had it shipped straight to Marseille where it arrived just 24 hours after dispatch – no customs border, no problem, Brexit eh! All re-installed now and working well again.

Another quite important issue uncovered in Marseille was the dinghy engine pivot or steering bearing which had seized solid – no steering. The dinghy, for all our time at anchor is our ‘car’. Without it we are really restricted to marinas, so quite important. Despite my best efforts in Marseille, it refused to budge. We were able though to get it to a workshop here in Gibraltar and they’ve managed to free it up nicely. Nigel successfully tested both the engine and dinghy in the marina here.

We did find a few other issues on the sail down here: a leaking stanchion base above the forward cabin was letting water into the forward bathroom and had created a fault on the heads light switch nearby. Nigel and Mark set about fixing the stanchion (pictured below) and I’ve put in a temporary switch until the proper one arrives.  

There are a couple of small water leaks in seals and hoses that we’re in the process of fixing. We invested quite a lot in spares for the Atlantic trips, so most of what we need to effect repairs is onboard already. I did though have a ‘moment’ when Catherine told me the sea water inlet to the heads (toilet) was leaking; my first thought, “not the seawater side of the hull valve please”. A wholly different prospect to a hose or seal on the toilet pump weeping a bit, where at least I can isolate it with the hull valve!

We had completed a full engine service in October but the alternator belt still needed tightening again. I set Mark onto this. As an RN officer of engineering of some 30 plus years, surely, he was well suited to the task – it turns out more for supervising than actually doing, but he was game though! And after years of telling marine engineers under his charge what he’d do to them if he caught one with an adjustable spanner, I could not resist taking the photo below!

There are two autopilots on Cassini – a hydraulic one, George, and a wind controlled one, Mildred. Mildred works hardest as she comes free with the wind. George uses quite a lot of electricity but is very powerful. After a couple of Atlantic circuits in the last five years, Mildred’s red ‘dress’ was getting increasingly shabby and patched up, so we fitted a smart new one here. I’ve inspected George, and so that he doesn’t feel too left out, he’ll have a little gentle wire brush clean-up this week to remove the salt water corrosion that inevitably builds up on his hose connections!   

And that just about rounds up the jobs following Cassini’s shakedown cruise. As any yacht owner will tell you though, cruising is just fixing your boat in exotic places – next stop, Cadiz, and hopefully a short list of ‘to-do’ with some proper exploring of the old city and an ice cream, tapas plate, or glass of rioja maybe.  

Pictures
The adjustable spanner ‘engineer’
Dinghy and outboard engine test
Before and After Mildred ‘sail’
Repairs in the lazarette Nigel finding the leaking stanchion