Nimrod Oceanlord

It seems incredible that it is almost three months since we left Nimrod in Marina Di Sant’Elmo.

Jo has come back to check everything is okay and oversee the engine service. We would normally do this ourselves but we get an extra year’s warranty if the first full service is carried out by a Volvo certified mechanic. They were booked in for 9am and arrived about half an hour later, which is pretty good going by Med standards. One and a half hours and €360 later, it was all finished. They provided the oil and parts which cost us €180 so you can see why we do it ourselves and buy the parts in the UK! Still, good to have the extended warranty – just in case!

Generally, the boat seems in good condition and none the worse for her first winter of the Mistrals although there appears to be a blockage in the gas regulator that won’t budge so dinner last night was a bag of crisps and a banana! Out tonight for a local pizza at the Pesce d’Oro – our favourite restaurant in Alghero. We will sort the gas when we are back here next month.

The weather is warmer than UK during the day but drops to 2/3 degrees at night so glad the heating is working fine.

Pictures of the harbour at sunset and Nimrod on her mooring.

The last two days have been spent doing the final jobs to bed Nimrod down for the winter and a spot more sightseeing. On Sunday it was bright and sunny so we cycled to the other side of the bay from Alghero and visited a Roman bridge just outside Fertilia then walked in one of the many nature reserves around here. Lovely walk but cool out of the sun. Monday, we cycled south to look back on Alghero and suss out beach bars and restaurants for next season.

Most of the jobs in winter for Nimrod are the same as if we were in the UK such as adding Milton to the water tanks, topping up the fuel to reduce the amount of condensation in the steel tanks and checking all the bilges are dry. We also took down the spray hood to reduce the windage on the boat when the next gale comes through. We kept it up whilst we were there as it allows us to have the companionway open when it rains without the weather joining us in the saloon!

It felt very strange to be leaving our home for the last 7 months. Nimrod has looked after us so well, no matter what the conditions. We shall miss her but looking forward to seeing her again at Easter and maybe earlier.

Pictures of Liz on the Roman Bridge and Nimrod this morning as we left.

We flew back to Sardinia yesterday as we planned to take the boat out of the water to do some routine maintenance work. We needed to repair the paintwork where the shaft anode had ground into the hull in Mallorca as well as generally check below the waterline. However, the weather gods have other ideas. The temperature was quite pleasant when we arrived from the airport at 17 degrees but the sky looked grey and foreboding. The forecast wasn’t great with 40+ knots of wind due to arrive over the course of Weds and Thurs and then again on Sunday/Monday. The rain lashed down all night but the winds weren’t more than 18 knots so we had our fingers crossed that they could lift us out of the water sometime today. We walked round to the boatyard in torrential rain to speak to the guys but knew in our hearts that it was extremely unlikely. The windy (ventoso) conditions were due in soon and tomorrow (Thursday) was a definite no-go so we now have Friday pencilled in but it will depend on whether this front goes through quicker than expected and that the next one doesn’t arrive too soon as we have booked our return flight for Tuesday. If we can’t get her back in the water on Monday we will be incurring charges of €50 per day until we do so that could turn out to be very expensive, especially as we have a paid for berth already! As it happens, the wind picked up as soon as we got back to the boat, registering over 30 knots by 11am so today was definitely out.

If we had been in the UK we could have just decided not to go down to the boat and arrange for the lift out next week without any of the complications of air travel. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have booked our return flight but the price goes up exponentially as you near the departure date so you are caught either way. The upside is that we can do our Xmas shopping here and learn some more Italian as we are both woefully poor at anything other than the basics although we do now know a few nautical terms!

We have spent the last few days getting Nimrod ready to be left for the winter. This is making us very sad as it means that this episode of our adventure is drawing to a close. We have taken the opportunity of being in a marina to wash the boat down thoroughly as we have the luxury of water, clean the chrome, put away the dinghy until Spring, take off the genoa sail (the one at the front) and wash the sheets (both the ropes to the genoa and the bedding!).

We are going back to the UK for a week and then are back in Alghero to have the boat lifted out of the water so that we can inspect her and continue the maintenance regime. The weather here has turned much cooler in the evenings but still generally warm enough during the day for t-shirts and shorts. I suspect that it won’t be the same in the UK! We have managed to have lunch outside every day and the light in the late afternoon has been just stunning.

Apparently, the warm weather we are currently experiencing is not common for this time of year but we are not complaining! We took the opportunity of blue skies and temperatures in the 20s to continue to tick off our maintenance list. Liz replaced the motor on the anchor windlass so that we won’t have to pull up the anchor by hand. We had enjoyed doing it as it gave us exercise and it wasn’t too bad with the right technique. However, we did recognise that in strong winds we might need some help! Liz also replaced the zips on our spray hood so that we can completely enclose the cockpit in bad weather. This is very useful when at anchor or in a marina as it gives you an extra room. Jo polished all the chrome on the boat as it had become stained and starting to show signs of corrosion having been subjected to months of sea water crossing the decks.

We still had time to stop for lunch in the sunshine to have fresh bread and homemade soup.