We have been working on Guiding Light, Monday to Friday since before Christmas! We have achieved a huge amount, but we still have a mountain to climb.
All the paint is stripped off the hull, inside and out. All the lower half of the ribs have been checked, sistered, or replaced. The planks have all been tightened, many of the fixings replaced. The whole of the interior has been stripped out, including the engine, prop shaft, and engine bed. All the seacocks and skin fittings removed…. The sails are with the sailmaker, who also very generously gave us a Baby Blake toilet! The mast is down and stripped, the bowsprit and bumpkin removed. All standing and running rigging removed and catalogued. Over 100 shackles cleaned, polished and checked!
I have taken over 1,000 photographs, and dozens on videos. I have documented everything I can think of! Now we have wrapped her up in old sails to protect her for the next four months.
Obviously, I am worried about leaving her, and that we didn’t get as far on as I had hoped! However we have done a great deal and so Antigua Classics 2022 is still the goal!
Fair winds and keep everything crossed that all will be well and we can return in October
Fair winds
Alasdair
