Airlie Beach - 20° 16' 03" S 148° 42' 59" E

By -
Our time aboard Popeye has come to an end.

Over 7,000 nautical miles and ten months have passed since we met Craig in Krabi Boat Lagoon and accepted the responsibility for this lovely 47 foot Beneteau.

We now both intimately know the boat, having been hoisted to the top of the mast and down to scrub the bottom of her keel.  We've dealt with leaks and creaks, battled the electrical system, maintained the engine, stitched sails, whipped lines, tried to sink her twice, ran her onto a reef, scrubbed her bottom, swobbed her decks and recaptured rogue halyards.  We've pushed her through rough conditions and marvelled at her robustness.  We have shed skin and blood on sharp, pokey things above and below decks.  We have found and learned to avoid spots where you can stub a toe or catch an elbow or shin.  We know where the squeaks are, how to stop them and if they need to be stopped.  We can sail and motor, anchor and moor her double-handed, in light or heavy conditions.  We can make our way up to the foredeck in three metre swells, hanging in mid-air as she drops into the next trough and dive into the rear lazarettes to turn on the water-maker.  We have experienced amazing places, stunning sunsets and slept on her decks in deserted coves under a star-studded sky.  Through perfect, blue sparkling days, ferocious rain squalls, Malacca Straits traffic, and the relentless Trade Winds, she has kept us safe.

Shortly after racing finished on Saturday, our eleven race crew made short work of the big job of reloading the cruising gear.  The new delivery crew arrived and we felt somewhat redundant following months of being responsible for Popeye and keeping her afloat.  So many nights we lay in our bunks, listening to every ping, creak, slap and rattle that came from above, below and around us.  We learned to identify the dangerous sounds and ignore the benign.  We were always aware of how she was secured - by anchor, mooring line or tied to a dock - ever conscious of the slightest change in the weather, tide and current. Something feels oddly missing to be sleeping in a bed without one ear open.

Sunday morning saw Popeye leaving Hamilton Island, bound for Pittwater (near Sydney) without Sean and Kate.  Co-skippering Popeye was an amazing experience.  Craig has kindly offered us 'Lifetime Use' whenever we want to take her for a sail.

Safe travels, Popeye. We'll see you again soon.

And Craig, WE DIDN'T SINK THE BOAT!!



Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 28, 2017 at 11:08 AM

    Great memories or our time on Popeye and being part of the adventure. Thanks for inviting us.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Check out our most popular posts!

Moving Aboard - 49° 38' 27" N 01° 37' 00" E

By Kate and Sean -
Image
Wow, that was a big week.  We are exhausted. ... and smitten! Monday was a paperwork day, but aboard Chinook.  We went over the contract, item by item, to ensure that everything the contract stated would be delivered.  There were a few things missing or incomplete (mixups in ordering, vendor delivery timing issues) but they were noted with written assurances that they would be delivered, changed out or corrected.  This all needed to be clearly stated before we transfer the lion's share of the purchase amount to Garcia. Signing and double-checking the contract Anything that wasn't in place, was incomplete or not working properly would be dealt with by the warranty team.   There was no refuting that they had delivered A boat. We had no idea how she sailed and there was no way that a single day of inspection would allow anyone to check every bit of the more-than-5000-person-hours of labour that went into this sleek looking vessel. The "Grin and Grab" p
Read more

Leaving Chinook and heading back to Canada - 49° 38' 27" N 01° 37' 00" E

By Kate and Sean -
Image
 Yep, you read correctly.  Our plans have changed, as plans often do and our 2024 is looking somewhat different from what we wrote in a previous post - A Rough Plan for 2024 .  Chinook will be left safe and sound at Port Chantereyne Marina - with her Garcia friends! We still plan to head to the UK and Ireland after Easter and will spend until mid-June cruising around, exploring the area and putting Chinook through her paces.  Our plan is to sail to Alderney, just off the coast of Normandy, on Easter Monday or Tuesday.  It is a short hop but has some major tides that can run up to 10kn so we need to time our departure well.  We bought the "Aurigny' (Alderney to the English-speakers) courtesy flag from the local chandlers here in Cherbourg We will then cross the English Channel to Portsmouth and work our way west along the coast of England to Wales and Scotland before heading south along the eastern Irish coast.  We need to be back in Cherbourg by mid-June for the 3-month warran
Read more

Garcia Boatyard - 49° 38' 48" N 01 35' 47" E

By -
Image
When we rocked up to the Garcia office for our Monday morning meeting, we couldn't help but notice that a mast-less Exploration 45 was parked outside the shed door where we had previously seen our hull parked.  Could this be o-u-r boat? Nice boat.  Could it be ours??? Marie, our project manager, confirmed that it was our boat!  Although we had come to the yard to put the Boat Show goodies that we had acquired into Garcia-provided storage, we were meeting with Christophe, the after-sales guy to go over spare parts and after-delivery emergency equipment that we were putting on our order.  We would not be getting a look ON BOARD this marvellous aluminium creature.  We would just be admiring through the meeting room window.  Our boat tour was tomorrow. The next day, we had mistakenly thought that the meeting was at 11 am, rather than the scheduled 10 am.  at 10:15 we received a text message from a puzzled Marie.  "Are you coming for the meeting?  Don't you want to
Read more