The winter of 2025/2026 was the first winter where both of us weren’t working. Slight apprehensions about getting bored were quickly eliminated by spending time with friends and family, working on projects and going to the gym A LOT. Camilla used the rainy and cold days to do a diesel engine maintenance course while I learnt how to sew on a sewing machine. Both skills very useful on a sailing boat, although admittedly one being more critical for survival than the other.
We had originally planned to use the beginning of the season to sail north up to Croatia as we haven’t yet been there. Reality however turned out differently, mostly driven by a river cruise (yes, you read that right) that we did with my family at the end of April. The logistics of going forwards and backwards between the UK, Greece and Germany would have made this plan a bit tight. Instead we thought we'd give ourselves plenty of time at the beginning of the season to do a few boat jobs that we’ve been kicking down the road for a while. We had 10 days between arriving at the boat yard and starting the river cruise, which should have been plenty of time to tackle gelcoat repairs and wood scratches. It's usually a massive rush to get the boat ready for launch, so having some time felt like a bit of luxury. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out that way.
We had one seacock that was seized and needed replacing. For the less nautically inclined reader, a seacock is basically a valve that allows sea water into the boat when you need it (like for flushing the loo for instance). More importantly, you can close when you don’t need it. One of those valves had become stuck open and replacing it should be simple. Disconnect the hose, unscrew the old valve, and put a new one in. Simple! Well, in trying to do exactly that, we saw that the whole fitting started to turn inside the hull. That’s a problem, as this indicated the sealant had failed, and seawater would start seeping into the boat between the valve and the hull as soon as we got back in the water. Not good!
On top of that, typically, the old valve wouldn’t unscrew, so the whole fitting had to come out, which involved grinding it down to get it off. This is the second valve which has broken in the last 2 years, so we thought whilst we were at it, we might as well do all 5 of them. So what was planned to be an afternoon's work turned out to be at least a week of grinding, swearing, banging and pulling ... all in the most awkward places on the boat.
We also had a leak on the engine's raw water pump, which Camilla took off the engine and rebuilt. This plus a whole lot of other things meant that we only just about managed to squeeze in all the work before we set off to Germany. We literally got up at dawn, headed to the boatyard, worked all day, came home falling dead into bed, and start all over again. Poor us, I know!
What better way to recoup from boat yard work than spending a week on a river cruise in Germany's most famous wine region? My sister had a few days off with no other plans, so she, her daughter, my mum, Camilla and me set off with 150 other oldies on a river cruise from Cologne to Mainz via France and Switzerland. What a change of pace that was! From going flat out with boat work to having copious amounts of breakfast, lunch and dinner while checking out some of the regions most impressive architecture. It was just what we all needed! The extra 5kg I put on wasn’t necessarily needed though!
We flew back from Cologne to Preveza to stay two nights on the boat before launching. We prepped the boat on Sunday for a launch on Tuesday morning. Then on Monday afternoon we got a knock on the hull with the friendly but firm stipulation that we would launch in an hour. So we went back into the water somewhat flustered on Monday afternoon, only to realise that some of the seacocks we’d replaced were leaking! Usually that means the boat needs to be hauled out right away, but luckily ours were just leaking on the hose side of things, which was quick to fix with a bit of Sika. Phew!
We spent the windy afternoon tied up in the crane slip before heading over to Preveza marina for two days of final boat commissioning. The switch from boatyard life to marina life is nothing but amazing. While in the yard the boat is covered in tools, spares, dust and random bits and pieces that always seem to be exactly where you don't need them. Once in the marina all of a sudden Bini turns into a comfy living space that is gently rocking you to sleep at night. It's an incredible transformation.
However, we weren’t completely done with the boat jobs just yet. In fact, are you ever done? Probably on the day you sell the boat. One job that we still had outstanding was to replace the tricolor at the top of the mast. For you land lovers, this is a bright LED light that sits on the top of the mast (the big pointy bit that's holding up the sails) and it allows other ships to see us when sailing at night. The old one had disintegrated last year, and getting the new one installed meant drilling out old fittings while hanging up the mast (18 meters above the water), which is not the most comfortable thing to do. It also meant Camilla had to winch me up the mast 4 times in two days, you should have seen the size of her shoulders after that workout!
This was luckily the last critical job on the list, and after two days in Preveza it was finally time to bid another farewell to land life and start sailing the high seas again.