Season is out… a while ago

At this time of the year the yacht clubs all over Denmark are officially ending the season. However, for us it feels like the season ended a while ago. Sailing Carpe Diem home to Denmark instead of putting her on a truck was the right decision. The adventures that followed with this decision has been fantastic, but the fact we can only sail during vacations means many months without sailing and not even being close to the boat. In these situations the plan does not seem all that genius.

I’m writing this as the longing for sailing is worst. Last year we were sailing during fall break in october, and there were a number of training seminars and courses to attend to: Safety at sea, meteorology, trimming, but there have not been new seminars or courses this year. This has left me in a state of restlessness which has resulted in changing address of this blog, a new Facebook page (/sycarpediemdk) and an Instagram profile (@sycarpediem), without being able to precisely explain why.

Happy to take a detour
Last year we decided to change the plans and not sail the more direct route through the English channel, but instead sail up to Ireland and through Scotland. The trip home has been extended with 500 nautical miles, which does not exactly fit the big desire to get the boat home.

We sailed 1200 nautical miles during the 3 weeks our vacation lasted this summer. For ocean sailing newbies like us, this was as much as we could extend it to, also taking into consideration that the boat is not as fit for this as it should be. The 1200 nm would have brought us to Amsterdam, which is not far enough to practically sail it the rest of the way in weekends. So we would still have to use the vacation next year to sail her home, even though it would be a shorter distance than what we have to sail next summer. But when we sail we want to sail as much as possible, so the extra miles in Ireland and Scotland, maybe seeing Nessie (the Loch Ness monster) is all worth it. Also, I’m sure we would not just have booked a flight to these areas, so we get to see fantastic places we would not have seen otherwise.

A new podcast has become my favorite
I have 2 podcast subscriptions on my phone. One of them has been added quite recently and is helping me soothe the restlessness.

The podcast is On the Wind by Andy Schell from 59-north.com. He has made over 200 episodes which have conversations with sailers that have circumnavigated multiple times, raced in some of the big ocean races (Vendée Globe, Volvo Ocean Race etc.), and recordings from seminars on safety, rigging for offshore sailing, and so forth. For example, I realized that when we suddenly had way too much water in the bilge (and above) south of Cornwall, my first reaction was to figure out where the water was coming in, a better first action would have been to figure out if the water was salt water or fresh water. The latter would have been the water tank leaking and therefore not dangerous. One way to find out is to taste the water, and I’m actually glad I didn’t because it would have confirmed what I just assumed, and there was oil, diesel and worse from when the holding tank was leaking (how well was the bilge cleaned after that?) in that water.

Bring extra warm clothes
Right now Carpe Diem is afloat in Carlingford Marina. In two weeks June, Laura and I will travel to Ireland to work on the boat, and in the end of the week, lift her for hard standing during the winter months. Right now we are planning the work that needs to be done during the week, and which will make sure she is ready for the winter.

We are going to stay on the boat, except for the last night after the boat has been put on cradles, even though staying on the boat while hard standing is an option in the yard. Instead we will try to see some more of Dublin.

We have clothes on the boat, but it is summer clothes. We are sure we won’t need it, so we have to bring a lot of warm clothes. On our way to the boat from Dublin airport we will find a DIY store to buy a dehumidifier which will be running during winter and keep the temperature a bit up and the moist away. Also it will keep us alive during the week.

Being back on the boat will be fantastic. It does make a difference whether we are sailing or working on the boat, but the difference is minor. We are really looking forward to go.