From a sailing point of view, 2019 has not been that good. With the local geography restricting the conditions in which I can safely sail, the chances for me to get out on Naiad have been few and far between. What sailing I have managed to do has been good although quite frustrating at times.

I had hoped that Naiad would have been out of the water by now but, and this is the bad news, my frozen shoulder makes it impossible to sail Naiad especially to lower and raise her mast which is required when sailing to Ely where she would be hauled out of the water.

This also means that even if I were able to get her hauled out and onto the hardstanding at home, I'm not going to be able to work on her. So I'm just going to have to wait until the shoulder has freed up enough to make all that possible.

These delays have a knock on effect. I can't get the boat out of the water for several months and when I do I then have at least a month or two of work to do before she can be put back in the water. Realistically this means that she would not be back on the mooring until the Summer at the earliest and that then begs the question of whether she should go back in during 2020 at all. To be honest it is looking like she will not get back into the water until the Spring of 2021.

Whilst this is a bit depressing, and I'm making light of the situation here, it does have a couple of plus points. By the time my shoulder has recovered enough to work on Naiad, it should be warm enough to make things much easier than trying to do the work in the cold of Winter. To start with I'll not need to be wearing gloves nor thick boots and coats, nor will I have to light up the heater in order to be able to work on the inside.

It also means that varnish and paint will be much easier to apply and the epoxy will be within its working temperature range instead of below it.

So all is not completely doom and gloom.

It just feels like it.