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This past weekend saw us buying up the tools needed to keep us on top of things on Dignity.  In many cases we already had older versions but just the one.  Having the right tools at hand can be a critical safety factor and given that the sea rarely hands back lost tools redundancy is not a bad thing.  My recent experiences aboard Windancer IV have certainly influence some of my purchases.  I bought plenty of heavy duty cable straps which played a key role on the rudder jury rig.  I also bought some large wrenches and a few other things that had to be borrowed.

This morning I successfull tested the Garmin 18HD radar.  The chartplotter and radar are now packed ready for storage.  I’ve also tested our old 7.5hp outboard prior to selling it on eBay.  Helen’s been busy packing away some of our old china.  She’s also progressing through the task of selling off a load of our old hardback books.  Still much of the weekend left and the story will be more selling / packing.  Slowly we are making our way.

At noon today, Helen will be retired.  Not that she’s got any teaching to do today but that’s the time she will be done.  Lucky bugger.  I’ve got 37 work days left to go.

The two biggest items yet to buy are going to be the water maker (we know we’re going to get a Spectra) and a decent downwind head sail.  The latter is taking some thought.  My mind is turning more and more to a parasailor.  They seem to perform well at many wind angles, reasonably easy to handle and less prone to tearing.  But boy are they expensive.  Over a long period of time, this may turn out to be a good proposition.  We’ll see.

In addition to the Hookah, we will be taking our scuba gear too.  We’ll be taking our BCDs, regulators, tanks, weights and computers.  Prior to deciding on the Hookah, I had been looking at compressors – both electric and and gas powered.  The idea being to rid ourselves of the dependency on land.  In the end I felt the combination of Hookah plus dive gear without a compressor met our needs.  In addition we are able to take folks diving on the Hookah with a basic briefing, avoiding the necessity for extensive PADI training.  (Some would argue this is not necessary either but I disagree.)