The handover

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The day we’ve been dreaming of for years arrived and there were tears of joy. The only problem being that it was so cold, my tears almost froze as they fell.  Our boat handover coincided with a particularly brutal cold snap that gripped La Rochelle for a week which meant rather than celebrating with champagne in shorts and t-shirts we celebrated with copious pots of hot tea whilst wearing every thermal layer we brought with us. 

The cold weather couldn’t dampen our smiles or our spirits and as I write this I am sitting (with a hot cup of tea) watching the sunset over thousands of yacht masts in Les Minimes Marina on our second day living aboard Dreams of Infinity, feeling more relaxed than I have for a long time, despite knowing there are endless boat tasks ahead of us before we can set sail for our next destination, Gibraltar.

The handover started on Monday morning with our Atlantic Cruising Yachts representative Romain reviewing paperwork with us for an hour or two.  We were then handed over to Alain, a professional skipper who took us out for a sea trial to test the rigging and sails so that we can sign off that everything is in order.  I have never been sailing in such cold conditions.  Despite all my warm layers under my foulies, I could feel my brain malfunctioning with the cold.  Once back on the dock Romain suggested it would be a good time to turn on the heating/AC units to make sure they all work. I couldn’t agree more!

Tuesday was the systems and technical walk through of the boat, again with Romain. We knew this was going to be an intense day with lots to take in but by the end of it we were surprised to find we weren’t feeling too overwhelmed.  We chartered an Astrea 42 in the USVI a couple of years ago so some of it felt a little familiar.  We might already know how to sail, but there’s much to learn about how the boat systems work which will take time and a lot of patience.

Day two complete it was now time to move on board and live on the boat for a while before leaving La Rochelle.  This will give us the opportunity to identify any snagging that needs to be addressed while we still have access to the Fountaine Pajot post-factory team.  Although right now I just want to get out of here and head to warmer weather!

Romain inspected the boat last week and already had a snagging list with over 200 items. He’d been very thorough, detailing some things even I thought were pretty minor, such as excess silicone on some seals, but I’m happy he’s a detail guy!

Move in day!  The sun came out for a nano second as we stepped aboard with the  last box of boat stuff we’d brought over from England. We took the day to organize and nest and write lists of things we need to buy and things we need to do. The lists are long.

We slept comfortably on our first night.  So comfortable in-fact that we woke with a start the following morning to find it was already 9 am.  We’d slept for 11 hours straight! We must have been more tired than we realized. 

Not surprising really, it’s been a busy few months.  To be honest it’s been a busy few years; leaving California, moving to England, buying a house and finally buying a boat.

Each step has taken longer than we’d planned but fingers crossed the big challenges are becoming fewer and we can start to enjoy the life we’ve dreamt of for so long.