With Play d’eau’s three and a half months in the Plastic Surgery Operating Theatre to deal with her extensive blistering and GRP issues, the finishing touches to her new bootline and antifouling have been completed.

Play d’eau is perfect, ready for launch, sea-trials, acceptance testing and departure to Beaucette Marina, Guernsey, on Monday 22 December.

Weather or not

But as much as she’s straining at her warps to cast off and come home, she has a wary eye on the weather. With two cold fronts stretching west-east across the UK’s Midlands, the forecast for Monday midday is W’ly F4 gusting F7 with rain.

Sea-trials should be OK since they’ll be in the shelter of the River Itchin and Southampton Water, but departure for Guernsey could be a completely different story. Strong winds have been blowing for so long that the seas will have been heaped up and are likely to be really uncomfy – to say the least.

So we’ll see.

from the Meteorological Office
of our temporary abode
not on Play d’eau
Fleming 55