July 2018.

With a lot if emotions we saw how the keel touched the water, followed by the rudder in its shiny fluo-orange antifouling. We put on the last layer of antifouling the day before almost in the dark. On “crane day”, we stood up very early to sand the last bit of renovated teak on the bathing platform and one piece of renewed gelcoat on the portside hull. We knew that we will have to be finished with everything on crane day and the last days on the hard have been quite exhausting. Not only because of the hard work itself, but mostly because of the strict deadline in front of us. And many layers of antifouling we had to paint. Additionally checking the saildrive, rudder, anchor, thru-hulls… hot sun and annoying mosquitos didn’t make the work easier, but the absolute lowest point was when we realized that the box with all the antifoulings including primers was missing…which meant some extra tasks to get all the stuff in time to be ready to start painting. But yes… we made it. Our SY Johanna made it back into the water!

Finally, she started floating, slings removed and engine started. What a feeling to be back in the water, the engine running, the boat moving with the small waves of the river, a fresh breeze around us! We immediately had the strong wish to set sails and head for the open sea but it is not time yet. Instead, we took the last free space on the pantoon nearby to stay there for the month of August for the final preparations. We still have a long list of work on the boat and already separated the remaining tasks into categories “has to be done ASAP” and “can be done on the way”.

Despite of the wide range of tasks and to-do’s, we are incredibly happy and relieved that our floating home is floating again. It was a big step towards “departure day” and now we can fully concentrate on the bimini, solar panels, liferaft and – something very trivial – a table for the cockpit. But in the process of preparing the boat we still have to move out of our apartment, pack our belongings into boxes, store them in our parents’ houses, do some paperwork, insurances, saying goodbye, selling the car etc… We’ll see that August will be way too short. But it’s the final sprint!!

By the way, our first destination is Cape Corse and once arrived, we have the plan to DO NOTHING for three entire days. Let’s see if that really works… 🙂

For the full boat work video, click here.