So April and May flew by again and I didn’t have the time to write proper blog posts. It’s something that’s been happening a lot lately. But I’m busy so that’s a good thing right? So what happend these months that are worthy of writing a blog post about?
CWO Instructor Course
I came into contact with a nice small scale sailing school in the north of Holland and they were looking for sailing instructors. I went there for an informal meet and greet back in April and got a good idea of the place. There were several people interested in the instructor course and I was one of the ones that got into the program.
Because my RYA papers are not recognized by the dutch ‘CWO’ system I had to do a complete CWO-4 training before starting the instructor course. So I spent the majority of April on an Elan 34 sailing around the Frisian waters. And this is still on-going.
Spring cleaning on BAIA
Then I spent some time on BAIA again. Lots of spring cleaning, like washing the hull with Renskib, polishing the stainless and several other small jobs. There was some wear on the maindrop lazybag so I got that repaired and I cleaned the main sail track and all the blocks. And yes my clothes were drying on the rail as I flipped the SUP-board and took a little swim while cleaning the hull.
Great customer service by Steiner
I’ve owned this Steiner Commander since my first yacht (Hallberg Rassy 31 Monsun) so it’s over 13 years old now. Still working perfectly and in good condition. But the plastic on the eyecup failed. Which isn’t that strange for its age. One e-mail to Steiner and they sent a new pair free of charge.
Toilet hose replacement
My parents went cruising with their motor yacht and messaged me that they were forced to abort the trip because of a blocked toilet hose. While it was spring holiday in Holland no technician would be available to fix the problem.
So I went there and replaced the hose so they could get on their way. Have a nice trip Mom & Dad! Stay safe.
Feadship 821 launch party
With Doreen working at Feadship we got invited to the launch party of project 821. It was a nice evening but for obvious reasons it wasn’t allowed to take pictures. So here is one posted on Superyacht Times when the 821 was launched from the dry dock the day after the party.
Cats aboard!
During the Ascension Day weekend I brought my cats (Solla & Storre) aboard BAIA for the very first time. They are 5 years old now so normally it’s a bit too old to start teaching cats to be aboard. But it was a long 4 day weekend with virtually no wind and nice temperature. I stayed in the marina and they carefully inspected the boat and their new environment. They even made friends with some neighbors but are obviously not allowed to jump ship and walk on the dock. So I’m teaching them to stay aboard. I think they really liked this weekend and they felt comfortable. Next time I’ll just start the engine and see how they react. Another boat nearby ran the engine so they already heard a similar sound.
Delivery of a new Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42
After this relaxing weekend with the cats on board it was off to La Rochelle to join a delivery of a brand new FP Astrea 42 from La Rochelle to Southampton. The captain on board is named Andy and it was a nice trip with just the two of us. It took me a while to figure the man out and for him to figure me out too. But it was a very pleasant delivery. And we spent a couple of nights on anchor off the Isle of Wight as the catamaran was not to enter the UK. It’s shipped to Australia on a cargo ship. So a giant crane was waiting for us on Dock 45.
I used Timezero iBoat (featured in a previous blog post) to do my navigation and I must say I like it more than Navionics or iSailor. After a short learning curve it’s easy to work with and all the information is there. The sad part is that I recorded the trip and for some reason it disappeared and I cannot find it anymore. Luckily I also tracked it with my Garmin Marq Captain gen2. smartwatch.
Andy and I both found that we work well together and it’s very enjoyable. While waiting at Southampton Airport for my flight back home he contacted me for another delivery. So I’m going back to La Rochelle next week to join another FP going to Algeciras.
BAIA’s itinerary
So BAIA will remain in the northern part of Europe for now. I’ve decided to drop the plans to go down south. Apart from the Orca problem, it’s crowded and expensive. Especially after talking to Andy about the plans and options that I had in my mind.
Anchored of the Isle of Wight showed me it’s beautiful up here too, and I’ve seen images of Norway that just look amazing. So I might take BAIA to the UK or Norway this summer. But it obviously depends on my schedule. I have several other job opportunities before me. From another charter skipper role, to a flotilla skipper role and some other maritime related things. So I’ll probably have to make some decisions on what to do.