MUM'S THE WORD!

 As the title suggests the family and colleagues have been conspiring which resulted in a totally unexpected visit from Mum!
Apparently this had been planned for more than a month with the guy's in the yard knowing, but managing to keep the secret until I heard footsteps the other night accompanied by the call "permission to come aboard" there at the end of the boarding ramp stood Mum, No small feat as home is 7000km away and to fly here involves a whole day in the air with transfers in Brisbane. Along with her carry on luggage Mum bought with her a Huge scotch fillet, Whole rump and 10kg of doughnut batter (not your standard luggage but goes a long way towards the understanding I share with my Family) As good quality beef is expensive here W.A Export beef is always welcome! Along with this welcome surprise came the news I had been waiting for from Ireland. My Irish Mermaid has resurfaced! a little worse for the experience but alive and well, and well on the way to making a full recovery.Congrat's Amanda you have no idea how good it made me feel to receive your email.May you enjoy gr8 health and a long enjoyable life
from here on.LIFE IS 4 LIVING! a very wise Mermaid once told
me.

This week also found me crawling under and over a huge 51ft Riviera Marlin boat,this sort of put the brakes on my working on the YOT but I still managed some progress each day after painting,antifouling and polishing this million $$$ plus monster.
 4 those boaties out there "Jag" is equipped with 2 x 1068 HP diesel engines that are capable of propelling this 16 tonne monster along at 36 knots, the downside of all this power is the 4000 litres of fuel only last for 300miles. But if you can afford a boat of this size and afford to pay 3 people for 3 days purely to polish it I'm quite sure you could afford the fuel bill. With all this power and wealth it was heartening to see the boat put back in the water (very carefully) only to realize that he too has battery issues and flat batteries won't start anything.
I did achieve my goal of installing the new windscreen frames and roof supports this week and once again the difference to the YOT is amazing. I've begun to glue,seal and fibreglass the framework  

 which will take most of this coming week to complete.Everyone is making positive comments regarding the changes so I feel I'm on the right track.
Also of note is the speed with which the weather appears to be changing and all that reside here are of the opinion that the WET will be here sooner rather than later. So this week it'll be balls to the wall in an effort to accelerate the waterproofing of the main cabin area. The lines of the roof have been maintained and the design now finalized so I can glue the pieces into place with some confidence.
This week also saw my Birthday which just happened to fall on my favorite day FRIDAY. With such a special occasion and  lotz of quality beef available I decided to have a slap up

 Birthday lunch with morning tea also receiving special treatment. I settled on an Fresh Apple and pear strudel for smoko which was served with warm custard(shop bought) The strudel was made on the rear deck kitchen bench during an evening of cheese and crackers Oh and a few Bourbons with Mum,Matt and Kim keeping the conversation cracking along. Lunch on Friday was a full on cookup! Peppered scotch fillet steak in puff pastry crusts served with my famous creamy pepper sauce, an almond butter coated vegetable medley and garlic and basil gratineed potatoes. Oh and more Bourbon of course. The meal was a hit with all those that attended.My birthday present from the guy's in the

 yard left me speechless,not one but two shiny new 2 speed self tailing winches for the sides of the new cabin.These will be used to operate the WFT's(see prior posts) Mum also bought with her some hand stenciled FELIX cushion covers for the rear deck couch/bed. these covers are actually pillow cases so during the day the pillows can be folded inside the cover making a square cushion then unfolded if necessary at nite to give spare pillows for the rear deck bed.Lotz of effort has gone into the planning of the YOT so everything has at least 2 uses which Mum has now taken further with even the cushion covers having multiple uses.Also in the birthday package was a Captains cap that will be worn in jest on special occasions such as this.
 I did buy myself a small present A very, very nice MUIR anchor winch for

the front end of the YOT this should hopefully save my life more than once or twice over the next couple of years as itz about three times bigger and stronger than I would normally of bought, however the wisdom of the yard prevailed over my decision to purchase a cheaper inferior product and for that wisdom I'm eternally greatful.The upgraded size and quality allows me the use a much heavier anchor that from my view would stop a damn battleship from drifting.
The V8's are about to start, so I'll bid you all a fond farewell. Thanx heaps for all the phone calls and emails this week itz been humbling to realize just how many people care deeply about my welfare and shows  how many friends and freinds(Brad and Dee) are following my journey. Thanx once again and a good life and health to all.
Captain Felix