At first, the remaining work on the SAN progressed slowly. With the exception of the refitting of the starboard hull. Here we didn’t want a sleeping cabin but instead a kind of work and storage space. The middle section is finished like the cabin version, so the transitions are neat and there is no gaping hole in the saloon where the back wall of the mirror cabinet usually is. In the front part, the shower cabin was inserted during the construction phase before it was noticed that we had not ordered the option at all. We now have a bathroom there without a toilet or storage space for wet things. But we took over the rear part in its raw state:
Slowly it becomes a practical space.
There are still two guest cabins left in the boat – so for 4 fellow sailors at once, we probably won’t be able to cope with more anyway 😉
We couldn’t stay too long in La Rochelle because there were other bluewater preparation courses going on at home. A course was due to start in Neustadt on Friday, so we set off on the Wednesday before. But we didn’t get far, 7 km out of La Rochelle the engine of the new beautiful Mercedes SUV suddenly switched off – in the middle of overtaking! We rolled off the motorway with the trailer and came to a standstill on the exit ramp. Stupidly, it turned out that it was not an exit at all, but a feeder road to the motorway. Accordingly, a lot of lorries and other traffic rushed past us. Mercedes hid the warning triangle in the boot at the bottom. They probably assume that their cars will neither break down themselves nor ever have to help others. Luckily, we were on our way back and could quickly clear out the boot.
Pretty quickly the police showed up and secured our car with orange distance cones.
The towing service to the workshop, however, only arrived after 3 hours.
Behind the trees, you can see the masts of the boats in the inner harbour of La Rochelle. So after several hours we were back at the starting point.
In the end, everything was OK, we got a small rental car, left the Mercedes and the trailer in France and set off for Hamburg.
The only irritating thing during the journey was when this car also suddenly switched off the engine in the middle of the journey. The sat nav had selected the shortest route and we were therefore driving through the Netherlands on the smallest roads along canals on uneven paths when the display lit up: “Tyre pressure is not correct” and the engine switched off. Fortunately, after visually checking the tyres and kicking them hard, this problem could be solved by a reset.
In Neustadt we took part in the safety training. This is a two-day training where you go through 4 stations: Water leakage response, fire on board, climbing into a life raft and handling pyrotechnic signalling devices.
Mathias drove back to La Rochelle and back the following week to pick up the Mercedes and the trailer again. I stayed at home and had my last days of work at NDR.
The following weekend came a course on marine diesel engines. That was very instructive. We disassembled an engine in the group until the cylinder head gasket could be changed and also managed to reassemble the engine.
Still on Sunday, we went to La Rochelle again. This time the boat was actually supposed to be moved and it actually happened:
The sun is shining on our solar cells
: )
After that, the weather became uncomfortable, rainy and stormy. But on Friday, a first test sail was made and the calibration of the instruments was done.
