We finally got the results of the allergy testing for Lars-Göran on Monday. There was a slight reaction to one of the creams he was using in the early stage and a slight reaction to epoxy. But nothing to explain the violence of this outbreak. However, the specialist said that in a whopping 80% of cases, the cause is never found. He also said that it will take six months or more until his skin recovers enough to be less sensetive. So it will be a summer of wearing white cotton gloves and bathing his hands in cream. But at least we have a proper treatment schedule that seems to work. Let's hope it survives the summer sailing.

Isn't the weather report a laugh lately. I wonder what they are sniffing? They appear to be keeping all of their options open by covering the map of Sweden with suns, white clouds, black clouds, clouds that have rain coming out of them, clouds that have no rain coming out of them, clouds that block the sun, clouds that don't block the sun, arrows of wind that point in all directions at once and present you with every imaginable windspeed! And the weather here is pretty much as you'd expect for the time of the year - sunshine, then a little cooler and overcast in the evening. Go figure!

Böldpest

We raised the boat yesterday to wash the hull and check her over. Most people keep their boats on land in winter and do this, but why bother when you can leave the mast on and do it when the weather is warmer. Anyway, we discovered that she has developed tiny little bubbles on part of the under water hull:



This is the telltale sign of böldpest or osmosis. It can be successfully treated, but it means that we will have to haul her out, sand them off, dry the hull thoroughly over the winter and re-apply the epoxy gelcoat. A lot of work, but luckily it is still at a very early stage and we can still sail her over the summer.

Today, L-G went down and polished the fibreglass areas so she looks clean and shiny



And we repainted the waterline red, so it looks so much better than the black stripe she has had since we bought her.