Well, the boat didn’t get into the water until mid-day on Thursday.  They had to move us 5 times to get us in. This took three days total, as they’d work on us awhile & then do other things. We got in and went across the river to get fuel. After filling up, the starboard engine wouldn’t start. So we went back to the boatyard & tied up using just the port engine. I had Robert change the oil & filter on the generator so I could start doing wash, then he started working on trying to figure out the engine problem.  Then he took a break & changed the oil & filter on the port engine.  Never could figure it out that day.  Slept on it & the next morning got up, went below & had me try starting it & got it working.  Voila! Glad he was able to get it figured out, and we have a spare part for the one that is sticking.

I ended up doing about nine loads of laundry between Thursday afternoon & Friday. We got the halyards back up & the jibs on deck and on the ProFurls. Filled the water tank.  By last night we were ready to go.  Bad news is that a front came/is coming through and we’ve got strong winds out of the west. So now we’re waiting for those to die.  Worse news is that once they die there won’t be much wind! So we either have to go get the hell beat out of us or motor all of the way to Sardinia (about 127 miles as the crow flies). I’d rather motor than get us & the boat beat up, so we’ll probably wait ’til tomorrow & leave mid-day.

We had some friends from Australia head out on Thursday; they thought they’d have calm seas & motor the entire way. I heard from them today & the wind kicked up and they had rough seas & strong winds the entire way. It took them almost 28 hours to get there, & it was dark. Fortunately they’d been to the area where they were heading so knew it.  We need to arrive in daylight since we’ve never been there before.

We’re both anxious to get sailing again. We plan to visit the islands in the Bonifacio Strait between Corsica & Sardinia, then along the west coast of Corsica before we sail over to Menorca in the Balearics.

Our friend, Mike, who is making the crossing from the Cape Verde Islands with us, located another person for the crossing that has sailing experience & has owned his own boat.  Rod’s about our age & lives in Alberta. We’ve exchanged several emails, & it sounds like a good fit of people.  So we will have four people for the crossing the beginning of December.  That’ll make it easier on everyone for watches, as people will be able to have six hours off.