Friday 28 June

The storm blew through in the night, Temptress rocked and rolled, fenders squeaking as the wind changed direction and began to press the hull against the pontoon. It rained heavily too at some point but we were snug in our bunk and fell asleep again. Come morning the wind was north west and gusting down but at least it was dry.

The night before Hurricane Jack’s crew had come over for supper, Duhbie finally working out our companionway steps so she will no longer have to suffer the indignity of being humped up or down by her humans. We tucked into roast herby veg (potatoes, butternut squash, aubergine and peppers), topped with fried haggis slices and scallops with a whisky cream sauce. As a side there was a freshly cooked crab claw each. When we’d recovered, we devoured the puddings our guests had brought too. Food comas ensued as we carried on catching up on a year’s worth of news and chat. Eventually, gone midnight, as the wind was rising HJs crew departed by dinghy back across the harbour. Seonaid’s text to say they’d made it safely back wasn’t received until my phone restarted itself at 6am this morning.

As the morning was relatively dry I took the chance to do some laundry, finding an empty machine in the harbour’s busy laundrette mid-morning. I love the conversations you have waiting for machines to complete their cycle. The first couple were sailors who’d sought shelter here on Tuesday like us. They’d sailed up the east coast from the Medway then through the Caledonian and thwarted by the weather from getting further north were off to the pub whilst their laundry dried armed with pilot guides to plan their southward course for the next week or so. When I returned to fold our own dry laundry into the sailing bag, a lady with an English accent but a resident of Austin Tx told me she was staying in a cottage over near Ulva and recommended several walks over that way.

Then the rain came, I hastily retrieved a jumper I’d hand washed that was hanging from a reefing line below the boom. The shower was heavy but short lived. The big boats on the outside of our pontoon changed again, the fishing boat having been replaced sometime yesterday afternoon by the huge Blue Clipper of Jersey whose bowsprit is only a tad shorter than Temptress’ overall length! Within minutes of her departure The Flying Dutchman moored up, though back down the pontoon leaving a space in front of her. The harbourmaster stood up the reserved berth signs leading us to believe another commercial vessel is booked in opposite us tonight.

After lunch we took advantage of the sunshine to empty the forepeak. The outlet hose for the watermaker needs replacing, we’ve carried the new hose for weeks dreading the task. With the bikes and sails on deck Kevin heaved and jiggled the old pipe through the bulkhead into the heads cupboard under the sink. Then threaded in the new one and attached it to the seacock high above the waterline. Meanwhile I made some refrigerator pickles with the one large gherkin the greenhouse had supplied before we departed a week ago, then ground some coffee beans whilst we have shore power.

Having repacked the forepeak it was time to strip our bunk of everything including the mattress and boards below. The whole lot was piled in the saloon blocking the passage. I passed tools over as requested. The fitting was extracted and dipped in hot water to soften the old hose so it could be removed. Then the new hose was threaded through from the heads under my Tshirt locker and into the space behind our under-bunk drawers where the watermaker lives. It connected up relatively easily and after many months our watermaker has a fully functioning outlet for the waste brine once more. Kevin then spent sometime trying to get the rest of the system working again, then just left it running. The harbour is relatively clean and we are plugged into the 240v supply. Eventually sweet non-chlorined water was produced, the first time for several years and in quantities not seen since we were in the Pacific.

The next task was to fathom out the mystery of the sticking drawer. There are three under our bunk. Kevin stores clothes in the outer two and I have the middle one. Of recent weeks it’s stopped gliding smoothly in and out. For no obvious reason the drawer gets stuck part way but not every time and as a result the catch which also functions as the drawer pull is coming loose. Too many clothes? No it can stick even when empty. Not in the runners correctly? That’s been checked several times by lifting the drawer out completely. Runners loose? Nope. Kevin cleaned off a small rusty patch and smeared on some Vaseline, the result a smoothly opening drawer. I wish all boat jobs were as simple.

Friday evening Temptress crew wandered along the Tobermory seafront. Aperitifs in the Mishnish were followed by a glorious feast of seafood in Cafe Fish. Excellent food and friendly staff as always. The baked monkfish on cauliflower dahl and Bombay potatoes was brilliant. On the way back we called in on Hurricane Jack who had moved to a marina berth. Another late night ensued!