Patience

Patience is not exactly a virtue from which we have gotten a lot, here in Italy it is very often put to the test. Waiting for a spare part, waiting for someone to listen to the problem, waiting for something to be organised. At the moment we are waiting for the relocation of our boat support points. 

Katinka stands on six blocks which support the ship on land and keep it stable. There where the blocks carry the catamaran we could of course not paint. Now we wait until the blocks are moved in order to be able to work on these areas as well. These are no longer large areas, but the points have to be sanded, primed and then painted 6 times with Coppercoat. All in all a good three days of work and five days of drying time, then another day of sanding until we can get back into the water.

Unfortunately the weather becomes more and more unstable and it will be difficult to find the right weather window. It was planned that we would be back in the water at the end of November, let's see if that works. In the meantime we pass the time with plumbing. We glued the board passages in again. Afterwards we set the stop valves and unraveled the tangle of hoses and laid some new hoses. To test if everything is tight, I built a hose adapter for each on-board outlet and connected it to our drinking water line. Then it was called water run! Immediately the first stopcock leaked. So remove it again and seal it again with sealing tape. This time two more layers. Again we put pressure on it and behold, it was tight. With the other taps everything remained dry inside. The last onboard passage measured one and a half inches and I needed three hoses inserted into each other to get the thing reasonably tight. The hose connections held also, but the plastic wall of the outlet was so smooth that the hose said goodbye after a while with a loud "Plopp" from the hole and the water poured over me. At the same time the hose whirled around and wet me from below. It took a while until I had caught the hose again and so I changed my clothes. After all, we are pretty sure that everything is tight.

November 1st was even a holiday here in Italy. Not that now everything stands still here and the streets are empty, no, here the shops are open and it is a big family day. Either you go on a trip or you go shopping with the whole family. We have combined both. First we circumnavigated the airport with our bicycles. During the round we passed, almost by chance, a big shopping zone and we enjoyed the sun and the warm temperatures with a coffee and watched the passing people with their big shopping bags. We almost forgot the time, it was still seven kilometers to our Katinka and we wanted to be home before it got dark. So we got on our bikes and biked the remaining seven of 28 kilometers home. There was then again " pasta day " announced. Delicious Rigatoni in a garlic basil tomato sauce filled our carbohydrate reserves again so really. Apropos food, since this week we have a canteen in the marina. A boat owner has been cooking every day on his boat since Monday and has placed two large tables on the deck where anyone who wants can have lunch. You have to pre-order in the morning and get an aperitif, a bottle of water and a main course. From time to time we have a small dessert and a coffee. We find a good idea, especially as you always meet other people. The boss of the marina is always there and so we recall ourselves again and again with our presence. So we learn, bit by bit, how to deal with patience. There is always something new to discover. Tomorrow we get two new neighbours. Two more catamarans are to come out of the water. A 42 foot lagoon and a 40 foot catamaran. The craning is always a spectacle and we are already looking forward to the crews. 

If and how long we will be put to the test of patience and who our new neighbours are, we'll tell you in the next blog. Until then Fair winds and keep your ears stiff.