We have Launched

After owning Vida for 7 years we finally launched on Friday 11th September!

We had 36 hours in the Travel Hoist slings and needed every minute to make sure that everything essential was in place. We had to connect the transmission and fit the propeller. We had to connect the hoses to the seacocks (underwater holes in the boat with valves). We had to connect the steering and fit the watertight caulking around the rudder post. We had to paint the underside of the keel.

But we did get it all done. I was very impressed that Jane managed to get on and off the boat multiple times while we were in the travel hoist. It was a tricky vertical ladder, then through an automatically closing safety gate onto a sloping open grate walkway and then climb over the safety barrier, over the 20cm gap and onto the edge of the boat. All while the boat was swaying, sometimes by quite a lot.

Our launch video is now out!

Next steps.

We are sorting out safe places to keep things on boat and getting everything sorted to be able to sail (and motor further than we have so far). We had hoped to, just, be able to sail to Chichester in time for the Southampton Boat Show, but the weather forecast changed and the wind is too strong for our preparedness (and from an unhelpful direction).

So we hope to go to Victoria Dock, Caernarfon on Wednesday for a couple of weeks, we will go to the Southampton Boat Show by train.

After that we will be looking for safe conditions to sail south. We want light winds, ideally with some North in the direction forecast for over 48 hours starting at high water Caernarfon in daylight :-) It may take a while.

We are incredibly happy and tired 😄

Love

Dave and Jane