Ålesund, igjen

Holidaytime means that useful people like boat-crane operators are away doing their holiday thing. Several vague answers, like “it might be possible next week” were not encouraging. Took time to find a definitve answer. Finally there was a place a little distance away where the voice on the phone was most helpfull. Harald. Mausavåg Bil og Båt. Visited, to check it out. Rather scruffy, but equipment seemed solid. And Harald oozed competence. Other sailboats on the hard, so sailboat no problem. Friday 10:30 when the tide was suitable, OK? OK, we’ll be there. Thursday evening a gentle potter to Mausavågen, tucked away in a shelterd bay. Crane pontoon occupied by several small runabouts, so we had to tie up to a spare, rather wobbly pontoon, but as it was flat calm, no worries.

This was the monster to lift out Josin: Different, but effective.

And up and over the hard, to hang conveniently while I worked. Very strange that so many of the anodes had trouble, the shaft one completely dissappeared. Not happened in all these years before. Mystery. Unexplainable. So, scrub and wash very clean, and the new ones, expeditely sent from Seatronics, carefully installed with plenty Loctite on the threads. Job done:

Hull remarkable clean. Only some grass on the rudder, and a little along the waterline. A quick wash, with a very powerful high-pressure washer, made almost new again. Josin lowered back into the water and tied up. Tools away. Office. Pay. Thankyou and shake hands for excellent work. Welcome back. Well maybe. Another possible place for winter storage.

Hot sunshine. Perspiration. Lusj. Relax. Snooze a whole hour. Oops! Bit late to reach Larsnes now. Motored out into Vartdalsfjord and sailed and motored in very conflicting conditions, to Raudøyholmen, at the inlet to Ørsta fjord, intending to anchor, but found a mooring buoy, all waiting to be used, instead. Supper. Bed. Day over.

What with one thing and another, progress-less days going by, and not having heard from Stjørdal, and northerly winds predicted by three different sources for the next week or ten days, I have decided to wend my way home, and not leave Josin hereabouts for the winter. Maybe next year, we’ll see.

Larsnes next, and Statt after that. Alls well.