Learning not to worry quite so much

I have been waking in the middle of the night worrying about our Achilles 24 moored in the Yealm, not properly laid up, out there in the cold and the wet, spinning round and round in the googly winds off the steep, wooded slopes of her anchorage. So at last I get to go down and do the business of yacht tending.

It is all a learning curve. I learn not to drag the tender over the mud because mud likes sucking on boots. I learned that the outboard starts on 5 pulls with choke out and then one with choke in (which is nice). I learn that the creek is very shallow when the tide is out but you can still get out. I learn that our boat has not sunk and the various leaks in the topsides are slowly responding to treatment. I learn how to put a needle valve back into a carb (tricky). I learn that the carb still leaks petrol at a totally unacceptable rate, so I have to take it out again. I learn that unless you tie the mooring buoy on deck it falls into the water, and gets into a knitted formation with the anchor chain which takes 20 minutes of puffing and sweating and not falling in to get fixed.

Oh, and I learn not to leave my glasses aboard so you have to go back next day and pick them up.

But the main thing is that the reality was not as bad as the night time worry fantasy.