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Winter update 2014

 

 

So, one full season has now been completed. Lovely time sailing in Greece and hopping from island to island. Not so good in Italy. Very expensive going from marina to marina, especially as I was still paying for my own mooring in Rome. Loved Sardinia, well worth the visit and might go back there again, but only if the yacht goes further west than Italy.

Last winter I had the boat treated with Coppercoat. This was not as successful as I expected so will need to treat it again when I return in the spring. When I was in Sardinia I got the diving gear on and had cleaned up the hull, but when the boat was taken out of the water in October the hull was still covered in barnacles, mainly around the seacock openings and the prop. Admittedly this was not treated when I installed it, but there were still areas on the hull and rudder that needs to be treated.

 

 

Work to be done over winter:

 

1.   Redo coppercoat on prop, keel and hull (seacock area).

2.   Install electric jabsco quietflush toilet.

3.   Manufacture new s/s bracket for folding passerelle.

4.   Install new wind speed and direction indicator and link to  

      chartplotter.

5.   Replace old gas pipes from gas bottle locker to cooker. (This

      was due to be done last year but wasn't)

6.   Replace galley tap as current one is leaking.

7.   Sort out leak from aft heads holding tank.

8.   Repair hole in main sail, clean main and head sail.

9.   Repair crazing around the guard stanchions.

10. Repair rudder - delaminating?

11. Have plastic insert put in bimini - to view top of mast. 

12. Teak replaced in cockpit area.

13. Replace calorifier.

The circumnavigation.

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My journey started in June 2018 when I left Preveza, Greece, in my Bavaria37C, a monohull bound for Gibraltar. I had decided to cross the Atlantic with the ARC and had declared that Gibraltar would be my stepping point in order to prepare the boat for this passage. I had ordered a Hydrovane self steering mechanism to complement my autopilot. I also ordered a water maker as I thought that with four crew on board and only holding 300 litres of water, I would need to make some during the trip. The person I had asked to carry out this work was, let’s say, rather slow, cut corners and, to be honest, never finished the work. An ongoing project between Gibraltar and Cape Verde. From Cape Verde we sailed with the ARC to St. Lucia. The boat was left on the hard in St. Lucia over the winter of 2018 before I sailed her back to Greece in 2019. At that point I knew I wanted to go further but needed to think about the type of boat required to sail round the world. At this point I decided that a catamaran would be the best type of boat for this passage so sold my Bavaria and bought a Lagoon 380 S2. The boat was based in St Martin so it was sailed from there down to Trinidad in May / June 2022. It was left there for quite a bit of work to be carried out before setting off again in January / February 2023. Leaving Trinidad to head through the Panama Canal across the Pacific I left my last crew member in Bora Bora. From there I sailed solo up to Sri Lanka where the boat was left once more over winter. In January 2024 I will return to Sri Lanka to complete the last leg of the circumnavigation, heading up the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and back into the Mediterranean. All of the daily blogs have been written and placed on my website.

The legs

Greece to St. Lucia via Gibraltar, Gran Canaria and Cape Verde.

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St Martin to Trinidad.

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Trinidad to Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka to Greece.

Change of Boats

In order to complete the circumnavigation I had decided that a 'larger' boat was needed. Not necessarily in length but wider, a catamaran. Also my old boat only had one heads (toilet) and a second was required. So, from a monohull, a Bavaria 37 Cruiser a Lagoon 380 S2 was bought.

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