Equinox2018

It’s Good Friday and most of the local businesses are closed but there are still some boats being launched. The weather has been better today, less cold (rather than warmer). The snow has melted significantly and the wind has died down.   This was all good news as we had to check out of the hotel and move our gear, in order to sleep on the boat going forward. We cranked up the heating and by the end of the day had a tolerable temperature on board. Our son Chris arrived today. He is with us for the Easter weekend, with the original plan that we would be moving homewards. However the weather is unsuitable and has hampered our preparations in any case, so we will vacation in Fehmarn, it is a holiday spot. Chris’ journey was a bit of an adventure but he made it successfully, and we met in Fehmarn town. There is a fish shop and cafe here that does a roaring trade. Assuming it must be good we went for lunch. The cafe is a bit up market from a fish and chip shop, but also serve...

I leapt out of bed and with eager anticipation, flung the curtains open. As predicted, there was a beautiful white world outside. Our hotel room and the breakfast room overlooks a small wood, which looked very pretty with its snow coat. There was about 3 - 4 cms of snow, well settled and, as we walked to the boat big fluffy flakes were coming down. Cautiously, we stepped on board, then were delighted to find the boat still lovely and dry inside. As we pottered about down below, it was a little disconcerting intermittently hearing and feeling the thud of snow falling down from the rigging onto the deck. Christian was due to come mid morning to help us put the main sail on but we cancelled him, and the delivery of the repaired jib. The deck was sufficiently slippery to make any of this dangerous. We have rescheduled these jobs and reconciled ourselves to having to stay put and be land tourists on this holiday island for the weekend. At least we are in a thoroughly nice part of th...

The boat is steadily coming back to life.  Christian the rigger has been a couple of times today, he is incredibly busy as there is a succession of boats being relaunched, and most need to have their masts reinserted.  The weather has not been so helpful though today, it has been windy and very cold. The wind swirls around the buildings in the harbour making it unsafe to be dangling long tubes (the masts) from a crane.  As a result he was pleased to find a below decks job, and we worked together to reconnect all the electrical cables that run up the mast.  There were a couple of worrying moments but then all of the lights and the masthead instruments were operational.  We then went back to the two items that were the most troublesome last year, namely the PC and the depth sounder.  Both did not choose to play straight away, but after a little reconsideration, and us turning on all of the necessary switches,  they both worked.  Hooray! Lat...

It’s the first morning, since we’ve been in Germany, that we had an alarm call. Christian, the rigger, was due to be at the boat at 9.00. It’s amazing how much just a two hour time change can take your body clock to adapt to. It felt like getting up very early but it wasn’t so. One day at a time, this week, we’ll work towards the alarm going off earlier, so we are in good shape for an early start on Friday, if we are able to leave then. When we arrived at the boat, Christian was already there, threading the furling loop for the main sail. We spent the morning retrieving some bags from dry storage, followed by a little unpacking. I’m trying to leave as much as possible still in dry bags, as it’s so cold and damp. So far, though, we’re managing to maintain dry inside. Getting back to full operation The new mainsail has arrived. That’s very exciting, but we’ll have to wait for Christian to finish the rigging to unpack it. There’s fish shop on the quayside, with an adjoining caf...

So the moment of truth has arrived.  Had all the winter storage elements worked or would we face a string of problems?  We went somewhat nervously from our hotel to the harbour by a little after 10:00, we are still adjusting to 2 hours time change. Very quickly the boat was brought out, and looked magnificent on the outside.  The gelcoat on the hull had been checked over and repainted with anti-fouling.  There were the usual moments of tension as Equinox was lifted carefully from her trailer, and then swung gently out over the harbour and lowered in to the water.  I was invited to go aboard quickly to check for any leaks from the areas that the yard has worked on over the winter, but all was in order.  Below deck she looked every bit as well cared for as she was on the outside. The next job was to lift the mast back into place, which went in much more easily than it had come out. The rigger started to attach the shrouds, forestay and backs...

The clocks changed from West European time to WE summer time so we lost another hour. It wasn’t really a surprise to me that I only woke at 10.30 on the new time. Fortunately we then had plenty of time to sort ourselves out and check out by 12.00, then just cross over the road to the lovely deli for brunch. Having refuelled, we set off to walk along the side of the lake in the centre of the city. We found ourselves on a path along the waterside, amongst the locals, jogging, cycling or walking, mainly the former. Under the steely pearl grey clouds, it was cold, but it was so good to have a long walk, outside, and enjoy the fresh air, after the prolonged winter. We will have to get one of these for our balcony. We arrived back at the hotel to pick up our bags and headed for a train an hour earlier than originally planned but there seemed no sense in hanging around. We arrived in Fehman early evening, in nice time to check in to our hotel and relax with a good dinner...

It has seemed to come round very quickly. We have both been working hard, and all of a sudden it is time to change gear, in more than one sense, and head back to Germany. I was working up until Thursday, and Friday was filled with preparations that had seemed so distant only a day or two previously. We were given a rousing sendoff meal by some of our closest friends on Friday evening, but we were not in bad shape afterwards. Even so the alarm going off at 6:30 was a bit of a shock to the system.  Final packing done, and the bins etc emptied at home, our lift arrived to take us  to Luton airport.  It is the second time I have been there recently and I am still scandalised that they charge you for a drop off, even if you don't park. The airport processes were unremarkable, as was the flight.  We arrived around midday, took the train to central Hamburg, and were checked into our hotel and off in search of lunch by about 2:00 local time.  We ate well and then st...