Month: May 2021

Stern – First journey to Oudenburg

30th May 2021 – I made a first journey with the Stern as she is converted now. It was a challenge to me since I barely move my own ships, unless it is for a yard visit. I prefer converting boats instead of sailing them. I was in doubt whether I should keep the Stern or not. If the journey went fine, I would keep it as my own yacht. Since I made this promise to myself, I need to keep it.

So I will continue with the Stern. But how was the Journey? Well…

I left Bruges at 7:47 after I forgot to disconnect the shore power. The bridge was open since they were replacing some parts of the internal lifting system.  I was not sure about the height of the bridge so I lowered my mast. I’m glad I did since the bridge was not totally open.

The rest of the journey went fine, I arrived at 9:30 o’clock at Tordino. She is not very stable to navigate and from the moment you don’t pay attention, she goes her own way. I don’t thing she will handle bad weather nicely…

Stern – Preparations for a small trip

26th May 2021 – Before making any other changes, I want to know how the ship is steering with a new wheelhouse. The last trip was two minutes from her previous mooring to my ship. Sunday will be the day. One of the major issues will be the noise of the engine, but that is the least to worry about at this stage.

I cleaned the decks and made sure I now have a free deck to walk around. Last time, with the old wheelhouse I had to crawl on and off the boat to get to the front. I don’t want this to happen now.

Stern – Continuation on a nearly abandoned project

23rd May 2021 – The project of the Stern stopped where it becomes difficult to me. The electricity and plumbing needs to be done, the finishing touch of the interior, the sliding door and the problem with the sound insulation of the engine room.  I had a few acceptable excuses why I didn’t continue, but now the Baron project hasn’t gone through, I might as well just accept the challenge and finish why I bought the Stern for in the first place: to cruise.

Watergeus – A bit of cleaning

21st May 2021 – It was a very windy day, but I gave a little clean to the Watergeus. The decks were green and the grass around the flower pots reasonably high.  You notice these things when you are more often on the ship, but lately by working on Tordino, I had no time maintaining her or the Stern.

Baron – Cleaning

18th May 2021 – I’m not the owner yet, but I already started cleaning the ship, opening the floor, checking the bilges and removing rubbish.  At the end of the evening, I got some fries and and ate aboard the sailing yacht. My own experience so far is that she is stable in the water.

Stad Rotterdam – To the yard

14th May 2021 – There couldn’t be a more inappropriate date to move the ship to the yard then one day before the opening. But since I promised my neighbour to move her ship, so I did. I arrived a little late, but the bridge was stuck anyway.  We arrived after midnight at the yard, having done half the journey in the dark. It was an experience, one I prefer not to make again…