Home and dry

I know that I am going to have the problem of knowing what to write and indeed the ability to do it well so rather than get caught up in a lot of nervous negativity about it I will just bash out a few sentences to update the blog.
The boat is in the last stages. The hull and the deck are being sanded down for painting. This process requires that all the outside surfaces are wiped with a blue coloured solution so that the specialised team of sanders know which areas of the boat they have covered. With a sanding pad in one hand and a sponge of water in the other they spend hours splashing water, sanding, splashing, sanding. When they are under the boat this means that their arms are above their heads. Very tiring work as well as being wet and dusty.
Inside the other team is putting together the ballast system. A series of pipes, gates and pumps which can move 750 kilos of water from one side of the boat to the other.
The steering mechanisms are being installed at this stage too. Twin rudders which are still being fabricated from the fibreglass moulds.
The location of the lights, the compass, the electronics, the bunks, the inside navigation equipment, the radio, the torch are all being finalised now.
Jonathan has also been hit with a bill from the South African custom clearing house for the New Zealand Quantum sails that have just arrived into the country. They require the tax, duty, 25% levy and a 4% charge to be paid up front before they release the sails.
All but the 4% will be returned to Jonathan when he leaves the country no doubt after going through a day and a half of bureaucratic paper work. Anyway this bill is substantial and was unexpected. Jon will be spending a fair bit of today moving money around from Canada to SA.
Later.