We arrived back at Burgstaaken on 16 May after a wonderfully clear drive from the Hook of Holland. Unbeknownst to us it was a public holiday in most of the European countries that, unlike the UK, have stuck to Whitsun and not standardised on the last Monday in May. The yard was full of people polishing and anti-fouling as we tracked Moorglade down in a dark corner of the shed and renewed our acquaintance with John and Brenda from Bunny B, who we encountered last year in Kristianopel and hadn’t seen since. The wind was very strong and that had kept Andy and Pauline on Odile in the harbour, but they were planning to leave on Wednesday. We soon had most of the equipment on board and were settled into the apartment we were staying in for the next 4 nights.

In the shed

Finishing the antifouling

Out of the shed for a wash down of winter dust

The next three days were spent painting, polishing and refitting in preparation for relaunching on Friday. Fortunately everything went according to plan and the rain held off and the boat made it back into the water and back in the marina alongside Bunny B and Clive and Jane in their Halburg Rassey and Neil and Jill in Mowennal.  Pat and Pam from Phun also stopped by before moving to a nearby anchorage. A celebratory meal in The Golden Anchor was called for and we were joined by Clive and Jane, together with Andy from Hoppetosse and Douglas from Galatea who were moored up in different parts of the harbour. We had been moored alongside Douglas in Stralsund at the start of last year’s CA rally.

 Plenty of chaos below decks

Out of the water it seems a long way up

Saturday and Sunday were spent attempting to finish the jobs and reconnecting everything, as well as provisioning and studying the weather forecasts. Strong easterlies seemed to be forecast to come in on Thursday/Friday and if we weren’t careful we would get stuck somewhere we didn’t really want to be. In the end we decided to leave early on Monday, when the wind should be OK and see where we could get to. Bunny B was also planning to leave on Monday morning and they entertained everyone to farewell drinks on Sunday evening.

 Preparing for the lift

Touching up the anti-fouling

Hoping it’ll float!

The moment of truth

Preparing the mast for re-stepping

The Harbourmaster is in control

This was before the bow warp came undone and the boat shot backwards! But it all ended happily