This morning Matt and I pulled out Prion the jet boat. Due to our slick operation the water needed to come up another 6 inches before there was enough to fully get her out. We hastened the procedure by backing up the trailer a little further. It is always a little nerve racking as the slipway stops abruptly and if you back the trailer too far it is a large issue getting the trailer back out of the water. Apparently the last boatman had the experience of having to use the jet boat to hoist the back end of the trailer back onto it when it was backed in to far. Matt and I don’t wish to have that experience!

The job list isn’t too large and as we have now changed to a 2 monthly haul out from a 3 monthly one and the water is not as warm as in the height of summer there was not too much growth on the bottom. Anchor locker checks, heater repair, jet unit checks, full clean of the interior of the cab and engine bilges and painting of the handrail to stop the ice light from reflecting into your eyes. One or two small things that are nice to do not need to do and she will go back in the water on Monday when I come back from holiday.

I spent mid morning writing up notes for tomorrows boat school about position fixes, transits and depth. Calling it a day when I got to running fixes so tomorrow morning I will need to finish that up. I took an extended lunch break as it was good weather and instead worked till 5:30. During my lunch break I hiked up to Deadmans in the snow. I took my snowshoes but it wasn’t deep enough for that. Ali and Katie had come back from Maiviken only 2 hours before me and in many places there tracks were already obliterated. There was enough of a breeze that the flanks of Hodges had a halo where the sun was glinting on blowing snow. The snow snaked its way across the surface as I walked up Bore Valley. When I got to the top of Lewis Pass there was quite a lot of blue sky and it was very pretty indeed.

Tomorrow more jet boat work, boat school and packing my bag with winter trip requirements before off on holidays on Thursday.