Here in the Northern hemisphere spring will soon be knocking at the door. Today is, in fact, a beautiful cloudless day in Belgium (where I am at the moment), and so thoughts go to that most wonderful of all maritime jobs, with the exception of unblocking the heads; applying anti fouling.
For the last few years
NAUSIKAA has been under the maritime equivalent of house arrest. She has been confined to the Baltic which is a nice place to be but the Baltic Sea is neither fresh not salt. It is a lovely but strange place where cod and pike swim together, both living at the edge of their existence possibilities. It also means that marine growth is severely inhibited, in comparison to warm, salt seas. That, combined with legislation prohibiting heavy metals and poisons means that Baltic approved anti fouling has about as much kick as a rock shandy. Barnacles, if there were any in the Baltic, would not even get high on it!
NAUSIKAA's Baltic sojourn looks to be coming to an end as she heads later this year south west to the rias of Galicia where the waters are warmer, the riocha cheaper as well as plentiful, the seafood beyond belief and the sun more reliable but all this comes at a price; the price
NAUSIKAA will have to pay being that of marine growth. Anyone brought up on Homer (NO! not THAT Homer - the Greek author fellow who lived almost 3,000 years ago) will know that a Nausikaa was a princess who set very high values of personal hygiene - after all she ordered her maidens to bathe the half-drowned Odysseus. It therefore follows that
NAUSIKAA likes to keep her bottom clean.
So good people and fellow cruisers with experience of warm waters and barnacles, what say you? What should be applied to
NAUSIKAA's bottom to keep it clean? Keep your replies clean too - this is a family show!
Aye // Stephen
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