New boom in place, heading for Guernsey

New Boom arrived yesterday :)

Now the only thing is missing is a Cruising Main, which should be wating for us when we limp into Ijmuijden... I have the Racing Main onboard but probably will not use during delivery with only me and Anna onboard.

Iroise Greement of Brest did the works and they did a superb job. They also carry a good stock of Gottifredi Maffioli ropes. Took the opportunity to change the oldish 14mm SK78 to a new 12mm Powersprint 78 for the Mainsheet

Sun is shining and light winds, maybe a bit too light. Today we head for Guernsey, where we plan to arrive tomorrow morning. The boat is bunkered with "products of France" so even with no wind the trip should be a pleasant one:)

Brest, Waiting for new boom to arrive

Just got a message today that Sparcraft has not sent the boom that was supposed to be sent around wednesday. Well, I know Iroise Greement is workin on it and hope they do their best to get me the boom asap.

Meanwhile it is time to enjoy good weather and do some small stuff around the boat. Such as:

Out with the old plywood step that was getting a bit worn out and should really be teak.

And in with a new teak step made by a local classic boatyard on the pier. Now we just have to wait for the sun to work its magic and turn the wood to grey, then acid to "South of France White"

Cost? Too small to mention.

Brest, Mast repair and waiting for new crew (And enjoying Seafood and Rose...)

My father enjoying the scenery at Bay of Biscay.

The pictures are in no particular order. Just wanted to keep this blog alive with new content.

Seanna at Gibraltar waiting for weather in La Linea, Marina Alcadeisa.

Getting crowded under the bow

Outhaul "exploded"

...And the boom is bent, along with cracked gooseneck attachement.

Today I was able to organise the repairs, hopefully everything goes smoothly and I have a new boom by the end of the week.

Lagos waiting berth. We tried out to atlantic once but wind and seas from the north turned us back to Lagos. Very nice harbor and not a worst place in the world to wait for weather to improve. The Marina Club Hotel even had a sauna, a big thing for a Finn :)

Lagos - Seanna bunkered for Atlantic.

Internet has been bad so no posts... Hopefully it will get better going north. Tomorrow 3 crew will arrive and the plan is to get as far north as possible in a week. Fingers crossed for favourable weather.

No internet since Valencia... I try to sort things out later on...

SE(ppo and)ANNA

I said I would write more about the Valencia Boat Show in the next post... Past few days too much other stuff has been going on, so I combine everything. The internet is not very good and it is time hard to attach photos...

Here is the bottom after washing. Good condition after about 6 months stationary in Marina Real Juan Carlos.

During the weekend there was not much happening at the boatyard so I had time to visit the Boatshow. Nice show, not too much new boats, mainly services and charter-orientated companies, some equipment such as sails and general chandlery. I spent a lot of time at the North Sails booth, met some interesting people, again, and got a good contact to help me with the rigging that needs to replaced. So that contact decided that at least for now Gottifredi Maffioli will be the main "ropeloft" for Seanna. I was actually planning on going with Alpha Ropes but let's try GM and see. They are the top shelf stuff, maybe the best, on ropes so I have no conserns whatsoever.

On North Sails stand we took a nice Team Picture, I hope would have it to post here.

Now Play this: http://thetutsies.bandcamp.com/track/monday-night

This is a song by "The Tutsies". The lead singer Luis Martinez Doreste is a commercial director of North Sails Mediterraneo/Valencia (I am not sure which is the official one). He is also a good sailor, google it if you don't believe me :) My contact at the North Sails, Nacho, says they are even better when performing Live.

So that is the boat going back in with new antifouling and polished sides. Some small fairing was done around the hull penetrations. One of the planned main jobs was to change the color of the stripes on the hull, this job was cancelled 12h before planned start by the contractor. I hope I get my money back. TIP: Do not accept any vendors/contractors unless you can confirm their reliability from another sailor.

Back at Juan Carlos, the jobs continued on and below deck. Here is a upholstery contractor for Serv.Inn.Board doing a final fitting with new cushions. The shapes and padding etc.. will be added now that they know the size is correct. I

In the beginning the idea was to only get a new set of covers but to make an old boat look and feel like new you have to do more than that...

 Polishing of the superstructure started by Abel from ATR Nautica. The picture says more than 1000 words. In the picture teak looks not so good, I think it was a little damp, hence the black stuff. However it does not change the fact that it is there and needs to be taken care of. Time to pop out the acid again... The work is still going on and the intermediate results are promising ie. the gelcoat is good, it only needs to be taken out to daylight once again...

In the picture below, you see the shrouds with neoprene/PVC cover. (Project Eliminate Electrical Tape, Part II) Also new rail cushion arrived and I put them on yesterday.

Wifi is not very good so..... to be continued :) Just got back from my neighborhood living room " Vivir Sin Dormir. For me it is very much "Vivir Con Dormir". ..Sta luego

Valencia Boat show 2015

I guess there is not a boat show without something in the bag on a way home... On a table is the Jib Inhaul -system to be installed... Tomorrow will be a new day at the boatyard, a lot of jobs to be done on the boat and possibly a piece of TP52 will be added to Seanna... I will write more later...

I will write more and put on more pictures of the great show and most importantly the great people I met during the show. I think I said it in one of the previous posts: Valencia is a Sailing City and average sailor like me can only be amazed by the amount of sailing experience one meets once you sit down to f.ex North Sails booth.

Also the kindness of people is overwhelming. Valencia feels like home, the people have welcomed me to their life in good (and bad at the times). But, that is what friends are for and I do feel like I have made a few☺

Project Eliminate Electrical Tape, Part 1

Electrical tape is great. The possibilities for use onboard are almost limitless, however, I think I try to come up with better solutions where possible... Here's one:

Marking "rudder midships" with whipping twine.