Angelasails.com

I don’t even know where to begin… So much has happened the last couple of weeks.

I was approached by a Dutch owner of a Sweden Yacht 45. She needed to be delivered from Vathy 🇬🇷 to Scarlino 🇮🇹 for a refit.

On our first attempt I left the marina with the owner and 2 friends for the 5 days journey. 12 hours in, so much had happened, that I decided to call it in the middle of the night: “we are going back to the home marina”

1,5 week later I returned to Vathy with my own crew. Ready to bring her to Scarlino. Due to a huge weather system we decided to find refuge in a marina close to Rome but 18 hours before our arrival the engine started making a weird sound and there was smoke everywhere!! We had water in the saildrive..

(Which is sheer bad luck by the way – not bad maintenance)

Since we were literally in the ‘calm before the storm’ it took us 16 hours to do 32nm towards Napoli. Land has never looked so close and yet so far away.

My crew left the next day and I stayed behind to oversee the boat being hauled out of the water.. That is now 8 days ago. The company that suggested the current marina forgot to tell us the boatlift is 12nm away! The weather has been so horrible that a tow was only possible on 1 day but the company ‘forgot’ to set everything up..

6 days in I was brought in contact with the surveyor of the insurance company and things are moving along a bit faster now. It seemed that the initial company was literally in it to make a shitload of money of us and soon backed out completely after the surveyor entered the scene..

While on the mooring line in the marina the boat is behaving as if it is still sailing. The swell is nothing short of what we had outside, the rain so heavy that even non-leaking hatches start to leak and the boat is continuously leaning to one side due to the big winds only to be pulled back with a tug by the lines securing her to the dock. Cabinets have actually flown open because of it!

In the meantime I have been struggling to get the bilges oil free and empty of seawater… and when I had done just that (took me 4 days!) a Volvo engineer came onboard, started the engine and now I am back to square one.

During all this I am battling with the WORST outbreak of eczema. I have only had this once before, some 15 years ago, but the cause is the same: allergy for (too much) productsoftner when washing my clothes.

The itching is driving me absolutely crazy! I can’t sleep, can’t wear clothes (but have to 🤗) and the pills from the pharmacy don’t seem to be working. I am at wits end.

And to top it all off: I really wanted to be home on the 6th of November to celebrate my son George’s 8th Birthday 💫 – with my family. Since sailing professionally I have either been on the Atlantic or on a course and I really wanted to make it this time…

But then my sister texted me: “don’t worry sis, my Birthday was always celebrated a week later because of the boatshow where mom and dad had to be… So it is ok to celebrate it as soon as you are back..♥️”

.. and she is right.

In the end it is the worst for the owner. A 5 day, pretty straightforward, delivery has turned into a (financial) nightmare for him …

To be continued..