July 2017- We're back in the water!

Before we went back in the water, Mattis installed two of our old chainplates to the foredeck for the inner forestay. Our anchor will have secondary use of the chainplates. Months ago, we toyed with the idea of having a windlass for the anchor, but in the end we decided to use a chainplate to secure it when not in use.

We went to Southampton and collected our...

- 16kg Kobra anchor
- Mainsail
- Genoa
- Working jib
- Storm jib
- Offshore flare pack

- Serviced liferaft
- Binoculars
- Foghorn
- Day shapes
- Sailmaking kit

Since then, we have been organising of all of the lockers, compartments and spaces inside the boat. Tools and spares are going to be kept in the forepeak, medical equipment and food are going to be kept in the aft lockers and clothes will be kept in the compartments behind the seating areas. We've written a detailed inventory and aim to keep it up to date. This is especially important for emergency situations when we need to find something quickly, such as bandages for cuts or wooden bungs to stop a leak. Whilst we were searching through all of the compartments, we were lucky to find a Danforth anchor in one of the cockpit lockers that we didn't know about. We decided to keep it and use it as a spare (maybe use it for our outboard too). We've been testing out our new equipment as they have been arriving in the post, like the bilge pump...

Jobs we did before launching on Friday the 7th July 2017...
​
- Installed bullseye for the mainsheet traveller (as ours was broken)
- Installed sheaves for the mainsheet traveller
- Shortened the backstay
- Installed the mast wedges (wedged the mast at partners)
- Installed the mast boot (or gator)
- Modified the tie bars for the chainplates (for the inner forestay)
​- Installed the chainplates to the foredeck
- Installed a chainplate in the anchor locker
- Cut the forestay and fitted the cascade block
- Mocked up the purchase to tension the inner forestay
- Put all the split pins in the shrouds
- Put eyenut on U-bolt
- Put chain in anchor locker and lashed the anchor
- Recommissioned the engine after being winterised for the last 8 months
- Once in the hoist, we anti-fouled underneath the keel and pads keeping Jingo upright in the cradle

We'd been out of the water for 10 months so the launch was a really exciting moment for us. Now that she's back in, we're looking forward to getting to know how all of our equipment works and start sailing.

We have 10 days in our berth and given ourselves time to...
- Wire up the solar panel
- Do the plumbing in the galley and the heads
- Install depth sounder
- Install spare water tank (100 litre)
- Finish rigging
- Get sails on
- Complete all wiring
- Get rid of things that we don't need or aren't using such as our old boom, 11kg anchor, old rudder, teak cockpit grate, old propellers for boat and outboard
- Fill our 3 jerry cans with diesel and a spare 5 litres of petrol for the outboard
- Sell my car
- Get sailing....

We have lots of fun things to look forward to on our trip...
- Hammock
- Snorkelling gear
- Camera equipment
- Reclining chair for relaxing in the sun and reflexology
- Sketchbook, paints, pens, pencils
- Reading books
- Books to learn how to use our sextant, learn the ukulele, Portugese, Spanish, German
- Lots of podcasts (especially for nightwatches)

​Our last few weeks in Plymouth...