Sailing with Claire and Elliott

This was a very gentle 8 mile sail up the coast this morning. To start with there was almost no wind at all, so we slightly more than drifted up the coast. I was thinking about trying to get to the Dhekelia Sailing Club to see what they were doing, but we didn't get quite there!

The bolt that allows you to fix the speed of the ouboard had broken on the last sail -- the plastic outer knob had sheered off -- so I attached a Jubilee Clip to the bolt head to enable me to turn it without needing pliers.

I hate bodging things, and I'll replace it correctly ASAP, but this enabled me to get out and sail and that was important for chilling out time (for both me and Claire for different reasons).

This was Elliott's first time sailing… sometimes smiles and sometimes intense concentration!

I was actually most worried about… him getting sunburnt! The Cyprus sun is intense and people who are unused to it can burn easily. When sailing I even use high protection factor sunscreen.

My intention is some time to replace the bimini on Liza, it was built for the previous sails which were cut incorrectly and the main sheet would not be able to be used if it were opened. So I will have to replace the metalwork so that it extends behind the aft-stay. Probably won't happen this year!

Trying to get a selfie with all three of us on a relatively small boat is not easy… but possible!

One of the things about sailing is that it gives a totally different perspective on where you live. We see the land close up and it looks big, with large hotels and the like. Seeing it from the sea puts it into perspective… we live on a planet of sea with some land, not the other way round!

We stopped for sandwiches and I put Liza hove to. I was interested to see how she would handle that. She drifted at about 1 knot, but was very stable and enabled us to eat in peace.

Then back to the marina… and a beer. It's still 30C here so a cold beer is welcome.









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