Hurrah! Back for the last part of our trip. Pixie's bow is pointing south (ish) and we're heading towards Ireland.
Kirsty myself and our new crew member Dick flew up to Glasgow after work last night. We were picked up from the Airport by Muir from Flymingo Yacht Charters who is a friend of Kirsty's. It was gone 11 and drizzling when we had arrived, and once onboard the work started. In the 6 weeks since we left the boat I've had all manner of equipment delivered to Pixie, we're using this trip to do some gear reviews for Yachting Monthly. We're testing Tiller Pilots so we've gone from having one broken tiller pilots to having 4! With the extra crewmate Dick, Kirsty and I are able to spend more time doing nothing, which for us is novel.
Muir had kindly taken all the boxes of kit onto Pixie, so when we arrived, half the saloon was taken up by brown cardboard. Once unpacked we had a nightcap before turning in.
This morning I had work to do on the engine, I adjusted the valve clearances and went to replace the oil. The oil suction pump we bought had two pipes to feed into the sump, both were too big, so Dick and I headed off to the chandlery and then to the next door dive shop where they had the perfect bit of pipe. Getting something sorted this quickly is a new experience for me. It usually involves hunting around 10 different shops at different ends of town. We went back and drained the oil befor replacing it with fresh stuff.
Then it was time to settle the marina bill. We'd overstayed our winter berthing arrangement by 15 days, but again I was met by a welcome surprise. Largs give 50% discount to winter berth holders who need to stay on for a short time after their winter agreement runs out. All paid up and with another package I returned with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. This package contained two clever bits of kit from Digital Yacht also for me to test on the way down. One bit of kit is a WiFi NMEA transmitter, the other does the same but also transmits AIS information. Where does it transmit it to? I hear you ask. Well to any device that connects to WiFi like laptops and smart phones. All this means that I can take all the information from Pixie's onboard instruments and see them on my phone.
Once back onboard I set about installing the Simrad tillerpilot. Unfortunately it's not a direct swap for our old Navico pilot but 30 mins with wire cutters, crimps and a file to make the plug hole bigger and it was installed. It took a little longer than planned to tidy up and sort the boat out but we managed to slip our lines at 12:45, not quite the midday start we had hoped for.
It was grey and a bit chilly this afternoon. We had a couple of hours of good sailing, but eventually the wind died. Now and again we were able to get a bit of sailing in, but for the last few hors we've been motoring in 3 knots of true wind.
We had my 4 tin chilly for dinner, testing out the first tillerpilot while we ate.
Kirsty and Dick are off watch, it's getting darker by the minute. It's overcast and a bit cold, but the tillerpilot is doing it's stuff as lighthouses in the distance blink into the night.
Best go and write the log, good night
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