I think it is the same whenever you acquire anything new, there is always a settling in phase, getting to know the ins and outs of how it all works and figuring out where upgrades and/or changes may be warranted. This certainly seems to have been the case for us with Lady M. So, not only have we been slowly chipping away at the “must do” ‘B’ items found during the survey to satisfy the insurance company (we are about a third of the way through those), we have also been making a few upgrades. The ‘A’ items were fortunately readily addressed. The idea is that by Spring 2022 all major systems onboard will have been reviewed, repaired, or replaced, giving some assurance that they will work reliably for the foreseeable future on our eventual passage east through the Med.

Much of the electrical work has been done by Gonzalo, a lovely guy, who has also put us in touch with other specialists (refrigeration, water-maker, etc.) as necessary. We will probably keep him busy for a while yet! It turned out that the rigger whom we chose independently is his brother, another lovely person with a great team that works for him. Mediterranean Rigging is located in Port Balis, about 20nm north of Barcelona so to save on transportation costs, we opted to have the work done there. However, a trial sail with Sue and Ash a week or so before taking Lady M up there indicated that we had a very dirty propellor and bottom. Fortunately Alexis, a diver with two lovely Portugese water dogs, was able to come to our rescue and scrape off all the growth.


Port Balis has a strong sailing school, as evidenced by the numerous Optis and Lasers that entered the harbour shortly after our arrival.

Our berth made us look very small as we were on the big yacht dock (there being no free berths on the dock usually reserved for yachts of our size). At least we had plenty of room to manoeuvre into our berth.

We were thankful to have our bikes with us which made it much easier to explore the local towns a little and buy provisions during the 2+ weeks we were there. Now we have shiny new Dyneema halyards, running backstays, and mainsail furling lines as well as a fully serviced mainsail and its furling system, as well as all the  winches and blocks.

We had a lovely sail back to Barcelona and found it so much easier to furl and unfurl the mainsail than during our previous sail with Sue and Ash.

The next major work to be done will involve taking the boat out of the water, dropping the rudder to service the bearing and do some repairs in the aft lazarette. Where the work will be done and by whom is still to be decided but hopefully we will be able to make that decision soon. Meanwhile, Howard is gathering items to enable him to sand the decks and make a few repairs, while Hope is gearing up to maintain and add to the canvas.

We have also had a bit of fun exploring Barcelona and some of its attractions. We enjoyed the Barcelona Boat Show in October and finally visited the Maritime Museum last week which is just across the pedestrian bridge from us!

The boat is docked at Reial Club Maritim de Barcelona, in the heart of Barcelona, an easy walk to the sights and numerous restaurants. The club caters for primarily Spanish/Catalan sailors, with only a few expats present.