Back on board Blue Velvet

We flew out from Guernsey on 4 April to Gatwick and spent the night there before flying out to Athens very early on 5 April. We had arranged a hirecar to drive to Koiládhia and so we were met at Athens arrivals and driven in a minibus to pick up the car. Arriving on the same flight and sharing the mininbus with us were Charlie and Maggie from Alkira. Thrown together by fate, it turned out that we were heading for the same boat yard and we subsequently spent several very convivial evenings together over drinks and dinners whilst we prepared our yachts for launching.

BV on the hard   

The drive from Athens was relatively painless and the payback for the very early start in the UK was that we arrived at the boatyard mid-afternoon and almost immediately bumped into Annie and Jonnie from La Perla who we had met at Koiládhia last September. They had arrived a couple of days before us and had just 3 days to get ready for their launch day. After a brief reunion we turned our thoughts to BV. It is always a tense moment when you return to your yacht after ignoring her on the hard for 6 months.  Fearing the worst we checked her over carefully. Fortunately, BV was in very good order and the hard work we had put in preparing her for the winter had paid off. The only real issue that we spotted was indications of a small leak from the saloon skylight.

And so started 4 days of chores as we worked through a 2 page checklist of tasks to get BV ready for launching on 10 April. Part of the problem is that there is so little space. The saloon was covered in the contents of the 4 large bags we had brought out; next to no clothes, just lots of bits and pieces for BV.

Stripping down our Duogen to replace the bearings    

The ‘on the hard fridge fix’   

Where possible we worked in the cockpit and on deck; no real hardship when the daytime temperatures are already well into the 20s Celcius. We dug out the running rigging from below and re-ran it, ready for the sails arriving in a couple of days.  Lockers left open to ventilate were refilled and closed up, and the new gear was gradually packed away. Finding the box of new bearings for the DuoGen prompted a strip down and service which temporarily brought the ‘down-below-chaos look’ up into the cockpit. However, every evening we stopped and took the opportunity to socialise. One of the restaurants in Koiládhia we’d visited last September proved to be a gem even this early in the season. We found Charlie and Maggie checking e-mails waiting for the restaurant to open and joined them for dinner. No menu; plates of mezze were brought to the table for you to choose from and then, whilst we sampled those tasty dishes, platters of fresh fish, squid and prawns were also brought for our selection. It was the first of several excellent evenings but this one, in particular, revealed a gem of information. We mentioned the frustration of not being able to use our sea water cooled fridge whilst we were on the hard which prompted Charlie to share his work-around. Re-plumbing the fridge to draw cooling water from a large bucket in the saloon almost immediately resulted in cool beer; outstanding! Oh, and we could also keep our food and milk purchases fresh as well. Thank you ‘Team Alkira’ for that top tip.

Annie and Jonnie hit their deadline for launch but only with a last-night graft until midnight. True to form though, as soon as they were launched and tied up to the town quay, the invitation went out to join them for drinks on board. Stepping on board La Perla reminded us how amazingly different a yacht feels when she is on the water; it made us look forward to BV’s launch all the more. Dinner ashore was a delight; great company and non-stop interesting conversation. However, in the way of yachting, it turned out to be our last with Annie and Jonnie because they sailed away to Ástrous in the morning. We shall keep our eyes open for them in our travels.

The new heater exhaust   

Coiled up in our luggage when we flew out was a 2 metre length of heater exhaust. Goodness knows what the guys running the airport x-ray machines must have thought when they first checked our bags; they probably had similar thoughts to the guys who x-rayed our bags last year and saw 2 toilet seats in them – amazing what people take with them on holiday! However, arriving with the new heater exhaust prompted lots of crawling around in difficult to reach corners of BV to fit it. As always, a seemingly simply task, when applied to a yacht environment makes it take at least twice as long as you would expect. However, eventually it was all connected up and the heater got its annual functional check before being shut down for the summer.

Fixing the leak in the saloon skylight    

The unexpected chore we had was removing and resealing the saloon skylight. We’d seen witness marks of a leak in the saloon when we first checked BV on our return, however, when I washed down the decks it was clear that the leak needed immediate attention. A 10cm length of the seal between the deck and the aluminium frame had failed and so we had to remove the whole hatch and scrape off all remnants of the old sealant. A fresh thick bead of sealant was squeezed out onto the frame and, for good measure, a thinner matching line of sealant put around the hole in the deck. Once back in place, the frame was secured with screws and bolts; hopefully the last time we have to worry about leaks from that skylight for a good few years.

Fixing the leak pretty much completed our list of pre-launch chores. All of the below the waterline tasks, such as servicing the Blakes seakcocks and changing anodes, had already been ticked-off and whilst there was still a lot to do, it could all be completed when we were afloat. It was a good position to be in and worthy of a small celebration. Charlie and Maggie came around for pre-dinner drinks and we had a fab last-night-ashore dinner out in Koiládhia.

Koiládhia, Greece