This is the first time I’ve been able to get to the boat since Christmas. There have been at least three ferocious storms and I was anxious to see how Blue Mistress had fared – particularly the port stern line which chafed badly against the Windpilot during the Autumn.

Strong winds are forecast again, but this morning all was calm.

Blue Mistress is just over the stern of the red-sailed Cornish Shrimper.

The extra tubing on the stern line worked. All is slack on the incoming neap tide.

The boat cleans up well. The hand pump sucked dry – great. The no.2 battery was almost flat – not so great. But the engine started on the no 1 battery and I ran it for over an hour. We shall see how far it runs down next time.