Time flies when you are having fun. We all know that. I personally know that when I’m busy and having fun I lack the time to write blog posts on my website. This is why I basically ended my personal blog as maintaining one is less work than two. But then I still ignore this blog and then all the followers are left behind wondering what’s up.
So last week I received a message from a reader asking me for an update. That reminded me that it’s long over due to write an update on what I’ve been up to. And as I’ve shut down my personal blog I’ll go in to some detail on BAIA’s blog too.
After BAIA’s launch day there was still some work to be done which couldn’t have been done with the boat on the hard. Like climbing up the mast and fixing the LED toplight. As it turned out the cable was bad and had to be replaced. The installation on the watermaker was finalized, and the polishing of the deck was done and completed.
And this 20 year old boat looks like almost new again. When Mark the polisher was working on it I had a good look in the tools and materials used to do this and I bought the same stuff to keep up this beautiful finish.
So long story short: BAIA is basically ready to set sail to warmer climates. So why haven’t I left? Well I’ve been busy in my personal life and also been on several yacht deliveries and I’m not going to elaborate on all of them. But one in particular is an interesting one:
Dancing Queen
So I got in touch with a company that was commissioned to deliver this brand new Arcona 50 (hull #1) from La Rochelle (fr) to Southampton (uk). And I was accepted to join along as crew on this beautiful yacht.
After delivering her in Southampton I went to the USA (personal) and now I’m back in Holland I’ve been requested to crew on this yacht again. So I’ll be flying to Copenhagen to join the delivery going to Holland. A known route as I sailed this in last February with BAIA and I’ve traveled this route before on my previous boat too. It’s going to be a nice trip, but cold again!
Pied-a-Mer III
And through the same delivery company I’m boarding Pied-a-Mer III a Seawind 1160 catamaran in December. This will be a perfect winter job as I’ll be boarding on Lanzarote. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Saint Lucia, then through the Panama Canal and then up to puerto Vallarta in Mexico. An epic 2 to 2.5 month trip and my first Atlantic crossing. Giving me a lot of miles of experience in my logbook and I’ll skip a large part of Europe’s cold winter. So I’m looking forward to this trip a lot!
What about BAIA then?
Well she’s in her new slip and I’ll properly winterize her before leaving. I’ve upgraded the mooring lines to that they will not snap in a storm and I have several people checking the boat on almost a daily basis.
“New Slip”? Yes I’ve moved her to a bigger slip as it’s easier to park. The old slip was a bit too narrow so you always hit the post or the finger pontoon. And as the hull is nicely polished I don’t want scratches.
So a bigger slip means some more maneuvering room while docking and I’ve added dockfenders on the finger pontoon.
This eliminates the need for fenders and then I don’t get rubbing marks from swinging fenders all winter.
So she’s al set for winter: all the maintenance work has been done and she’s basically ready to go down South coming spring and I’ll start planning for that when I’m back from this epic delivery. Weather permitting I’ll be leaving in March and just following the European coast line down trying to not run into a pack of Orca’s.
I hope y’all enjoy this update. As it will be a while before I can write anything again. For all my old IT colleagues/co-workers etc: No guy’s I’m not coming back to that life. I enjoy sailing too much and It’s been an amazing year since making that decision. With a life long dream of crossing the Atlantic being fulfilled soon I can’t imagine going back to an office and sitting behind a desk all day anytime soon.