Almost there...

11 months and the Aurora refit is getting close to completion.  We may actually get to sail this beast.  She saw water 5 days ago.  We got the main engine cranked up OK and after replacing another 4 sea water hoses she stopped leaking (for now).  The generator even started and runs smooth except it was not hooked to anything which would allow the electrons to flow where they might do some good.  The guys who took the generator out and rebuilt her took pictures of how she was wired but that was half a year ago and those pictures have long been blown away so it was anyones guess how to wire her. At least we could get to the fuel dock.  There was a traffic jam at that dock so I made a bad decision to tie up to another dock,to wait out rush hour,  without being prepared to do so.  I ended up hatching my wife Eilo -as she attempted to get the dock fenders from one side of the boat to the other so we did not trash her hull,  she fell down an open hatch and for that effort won her first boat tattoos… some very significant black and blue marks which are still maturing. Of course I was oblivious to her hatching, being more concerned with crashing into the bad choice dock.  She is wearing her fist battle scars well - I am impressed.  We finally got Aurora filled with diesel and uneventfully eased her into a transient berth in the marina.

We had not re-named the boat so the longer she sits in the water, wondering what her name is, the more tempting it is for Poseidon or Neptune to come screw with her and consequently us. It’s a very bad idea to tempt that fate. The next day we had some friends on board and with her black and blue marks well covered up Eilo MC'd the renaming ceremony.  It went off nicely (was it due to good champagne???) without fire, brimstone, lighting, tsunami, or any other bit of havoc the gods of the sea and winds could have thrown at us - were they appeased?  Maybe… we shall see.All critical systems are now working unless one considers showers and toilets critical. Yes Eilo has a strong opinion on that but captain Ken is hell bent on setting sailtomorrow.  All that remains is suck up to El, an excellent rigger, and see if I can persuade him to tune the standing rigging which is the stuff that holds the mast up and see if Derrick can come through with a bracket, he promised was no problem to source several months ago, which connects the auto pilot to the rudder. We need to get the auto pilot running or source a  significant quantity of pure caffeine to keep us awake on the first significant leg of our journey down the islands.

Celebrating Aurora

Clive and Carrie

Aude and Mia

Chris and Karen

The renaming ceremony