Shore Leave



The Purser and the Owners Agent

What on earth do you do when the weather is set fair, with the wind in the right quarter and your boat is back with the builders?

Have lunch, of course, at a simple little restaurant somewhere in Oxfordshire.

I would have to have been at home for this anyway as the Owners Agent and I together with the Purser and his wife and the Mathematician and his wife have been celebrating at this establishment each year for the last several years.

This enforced shore leave also means that I can cut the grass (and it's growing like fun), plant the Runner Beans and we can put the house on the market! And, of course, celebrate the Jubilee with the family. I've even made a flag pole and hoisted the Union Flag for the occasion.

News Flash ------ Vagabond will be back next week, all fixed and improved. ------

She will have a mooring cleat in the centre of the aft deck, making it easier for me to moor "port to" or "starboard to" at the last minute and a topping lift fitted. The lazy jack halyard had been both holding up the boom and supporting the lazy jacks. It meant that the throat of the lazy jacks was small and, although they caught the mainsail, it was awkward to pack the top third of the sail away. The new scheme of things should overcome this. I can't wait...

But will have to do so as she doesn't go back in the water (at Eastbourne) a week next Thursday. Meanwhile, of course, it's blowing nicely from the East and the current weather system is bound to collapse before then. Perhaps I should turn round and go the other way.