Hello again! We’re still in the marina at Les Sables d’Olonne, but we’ve been very busy and we’re finally almost ready to leave port! After the first few delays, we’d hoped to sail away today but because the installations have taken so long, we are still in sailing prep mode. Unfortunately, we haven’t even been able to go for a day sail yet! Since we weren’t ready to leave last weekend, our scheduled delivery captain has gone on a different boat delivery, returning to the area on Wednesday 10/17. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we are able to set sail on 10/17 or 10/18!
Now for some other exciting updates
- The water maker installation was finalized this week – this allows us to turn salt water into fresh water at a rate of 105 liters per hour!
- The wifi antenna and router installation was completed yesterday afternoon! So we should have more consistent access and be able to provide more updates!
- Our pallet arrived Friday morning! We have everything unpacked and organized on the boat. I’ve never been more thrilled to see my wool socks!
- Our Code 0 sail arrived Friday morning! We had our first sail up!! Although we didn’t actually go anywhere, this is solid progress! This is a downwind sail, like a kite, that allows us to harness more wind efficiently. We will be using this a lot during our Atlantic crossing, and it should save us a day or two of travel time!
- The remaining solar panels and custom frame were mounted and hooked up Friday, which now allows us to make more green energy for all our electronics (like this computer!).
We are currently organizing things for maximum efficiency, and stowing things away to avoid damage during sailing. I’ve pulled out some of my kitchen electronics from the pallet to try them out before we leave. I’m probably most excited about the bread maker, because I’ve never had one and it will be great to be able to have fresh bread to keep the crew happy during 4-5 weeks of the crossing!
Last night, we bought some fresh fish from the store and cooked fish for the first time in the galley kitchen. It’s been interesting getting used to the small space and the different stove, but at least I’m used to cooking on a gas stove! It turned out pretty well, just fried in oil with some Herbs de Provence! This morning we noticed that we can’t get the fish smell out of the cabin boat though… I’ve scrubbed down the entire galley area to no avail! Hopefully we solve this mystery soon!
We’ve done so much already, that to blog it all would take forever! With so much more to do, I better get back to helping Bob on deck!
Megan