ocean-pilgrim

It’s taken 7 weeks from leaving our home in Tasmania to launching out boat in Greece.

5 weeks in Thailand where Rick slogged away at learning to wing foil.  It’s hard graft with a lot of time in the water or walking back up the beach dragging a foiling board and managing a wing at the same time. This is because as a beginner there’s a strong tendency to be able to get going while heading downwind but not being good enough to sail upwind. Anyhow he got the basics sorted and now it’s just time on the water that will help him improve.  As for me; I spent half of our time in Thailand sick. Not what I had planned but it was a good place to rest and recover from a nasty flu and pneumonia. But on balance it was a great experience and we have already booked to return next year.

On arrival in Greece we collected a hire car and checked in on our boat on the island of Aegina where we hauled our boat out at the end of last season. She was filthy dirty both inside and out but in good shape.  We’d had the generator fixed by the yard as it broke down days before we hauled out at the end of last season and we checked this was working. During the time the generator was being worked on the hatch to the boat was left open.  I found a cushion populated with ginger cat hair and dirt (thankful that was all it left behind) and a thick layer of dust everwhere. Satisfied it was repaired, we then dumped all the weird things we bring back from Australia onto the boat before heading off on a little tour of Northern Greece.  This was amazing.  The highlight definitely being the Monasteries of Meteora.  What an incredible place. If you are ever in Greece you should consider visiting as it’s an amazing feat of architecture from the 12-14^th centuries in an area of extraordinary natural beauty.  It’s a place best taken in by being there as its difficult to get a sense of it from photos.

So back to those weird things.  Every year our suitcases look different.  This year we bought 2 hard shell cases from the tip shop and filled them with….can you guess? Chux superwipes, half a case of filters for the water maker, the water system and even some engine oil filters, tea bags. A few kitchen items (including a few supplies from Thailand) A new wing for Rick (of course there was foiling gear!) A thermal cooker to save gas and slow cook pulses, waterproof bandaids plus all the usual stuff. Each year I think I get better at making lists before I leave the boat and this year I realised I should have consulted it and not deviated as there’s been a serious migration going on.  11 pairs of bathers? Seriously?  And how many microplanes and peelers and Victorinox knives do you actually need? Not to mention the endless accumulation of 240V adapters  for every country in the world in the top drawer …

So this year we decided to approach our lead up to launch a little differently to the previous years.  Firstly as the boatyard doesn’t really have any facilities to live aboard while preparing to launch (think adequate toilets and a shower here) and is a particularly dusty and dirty yard so we booked into off site accommodation which was great for hot showers at the end of messy days plus a good balcony to wind down is always appreciated. We usually we wear ourselves out doing every job to get her ready.  Last year our friends had their antifouling done and their topsides polished by the boat yard and we looked on enviously as their boat looked more and more lovely before they even arrived. We decided to prioritise less stress this year so did the same and both of us consider it money well spent.  Last year Rick changed the engine oil himself and it ended up with a long clean-up job both down below where it went all over the floors, walls, chart table and mercifully missed the upholstery but only because something was in the way.  It went on the cockpit seats and binnacle.  Sigh.  Total accident but getting it cleaned up took hours.  This year a guy came in with the correct gear and it was done with barely a splash in 15 minutes. Big tick there!

That said there’s a lot to do regardless.  The boat cover has been an amazing piece of equipment that we had made in Turkey in 2019 but its very big. It is so unwieldy that it’s divided into 3 pieces that have to be untied on the outside and unlaced from the inside then detached from each other, hauled off the boat then origami folded to get into the 3 bags.  Think three large tarpaulin army tents.  The boatyard was pretty filthy so we ended up folding it on a bitumen road outside it, moving it on and off as cars and motorbikes came past.  It was like playing chicken! Rick changed impellers and filters, charged batteries and did the million jobs on his list.  I unpacked all of the clothing and bedding etc that we pack into space bags over winter to keep is contained and safe from mould and remade beds, restocked cupboards with towels etc.

The day we took the cover off the dust storm from the Sahara rolled in at dusk and turned the boat red. The worst since 2018 according to the BBC. Upside was at least we didn’t have to wash down and dry the boat cover! Washing down the boat took quite a while but thankfully running fresh water was available for that. While we still had the hire car we restocked the boat ready for the season with all the non-perishables (and some cheese, of course).

But boat jobs aside the big thing about going into the water is anxiety. There’s a lot that can go wrong and it’s hard not to do mind miles about those possibilities. This year we had 2 seacocks replaced.  These go through the hull so it’s essential they’ve been done correctly and need to be checked the minute the boat goes in to be certain they are watertight, whilst still in the pen that she is launched into.  Then the engine has to be run to be sure there’s no air bubbles that will cause issues with the water intake.  The sea and the wind need to be calm so the boat doesn’t get damaged in the pen.  This is particularly a problem at the boatyard we were at as it is exposed to the north west where much of the wind comes from and we had seen a couple of mishaps with other boats. The boat was so tightly packed between other boats that she had to go onto a long trailer and be hauled out with a tractor to where she could be cradled by the travel lift for launching in a boatyard with almost no spare space but the guys there were absolute experts and that went off without a hitch, as did the engine, the seacocks and the weather Gods even smiled as we were carefully lowered into a calm sea.

We were actually elated rather than exhausted as we motored out from the yard with a few whoops and smiles and well wishing waves from the shore. We put up the sails for the first time this season and headed towards our first anchorage of the season.