Cagliari - 20 September 2021

It was a prompt start this morning. On Saturday we had visited a chandlers, but they did not have what we wanted. They said that they could order it but it might take 2 days to get here, and if we wanted them to do this, we should return early on Monday morning.  We were in the shop by 9:30. There were a couple of things that we needed, the one that required ordering was a spare impellor for the engine. We had used our spare while in Bosa, and we don’t like being without at least one spare.

The other thing that we needed was a new controller for the anchor winch. This has been an ongoing issue for some time. We have 2 and had eventually proved that the primary one does not work, and the backup does. However, during the intervening years, the design of the connection has changed and they did not have one of our configuration. After weighing up the possibilities, we concluded that we should replace the fitting on the boat with the new style and get the new controller to this specification and a new connection for the backup controller. So far so good.  We talked to the guy in the shop about the connections and on examination it seemed that some did not have the ability to be screwed together, they had to be soldered.  In a nice way, we were told how important it was to have a soldering iron on a boat, which we don’t!  Anyway we left the shop with all the pieces we needed. Later in the day, after the boats connection was changed and the new controller was working beautifully, I looked at the new backup connection, and realised that this also needed to be soldered. I never thought I would be wandering through the back streets of a city, trying to buy a soldering iron. Google maps was helpful in identifying hardware stores, but the definition seemed quite broad, and the first 3 places were either closed or had the wrong type of goods, locksmiths etc. We got to see parts of the city that we would never have otherwise visited. Eventually we were directed to the right shop and we are now the proud possessors of a soldering iron. Every boat should have one!

It was very much a shopping day, as we also went to the supermarket to stock up with food for the next few days. We have friends arriving tomorrow night, and if the weather allows, we want to leave on Wednesday for Sicily. We expect the crossing to take about 36 hours and our plan will be to anchor initially on arrival, so we need food for 4 or 5 days. We found a supermarket that would deliver to the marina, and this took a lot of the difficulty out of transporting all the food back to the boat. The procedure is that you go to the supermarket, shop as normal and pay. They then store it until the agreed delivery time and bring it to you. The guy was able to stop right next to the boat and just passed the food over the fence. All very easy.

We also had another chandlery visit, to ensure that we had the charts we need for Sicily. The ones we have stop about half way between here and there, which is not ideal. The company that makes the charts for the boats chart plotter has their act together. Individual stores do not hold stock of the electronic charts, they just download them to appropriate cards when they are required. It is very reassuring that you won’t be caught out without the charts you need.

Where we are moored is right next to one of the main promenades along the seafront, in the middle of the town. It is always interesting to watch the people walking past although I’m not really sure if they are our entertainment or we are theirs.

The quayside, in addition to doing sterling service as a “lover’s land”, also hosts fitness classes from time to time. The guy who runs them has an impressive amount of kit that he sets out, and is obviously also super fit. He spent at least 30 minutes alone on gymnastic exercise before the class participants arrived. The session is a form of circuit training and he has a bell that goes off about every 30 seconds to indicate the time to rotate through the exercises. We put on some gentle background music to mask this as we sat on deck eating our evening meal.

Steve (and Tricia)

Distance today               0 miles

Total distance 2021:   144 miles

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