Boatwork en más

When we went on our first sailing trip with the Aegir to the north, our motto was: We're testing the ship and the crew! Following the first year of travelling with AEGIR, we also have some ideas for improvements to the ship. To do this, we spend five months over the winter in South Holland with a break from sailing.

In addition, we use the time for visits and some skiing in Switzerland. We meet up with our friends and family in Germany and Switzerland several times. It is a great pleasure for us to be warmly welcomed everywhere and to always have somewhere to stay. We also have our "home base" with Traudi - Christine's mum. This solution is very much appreciated and living together works very well. In our new/old home country of Germany, we have also organised our healthcare. We can make the relevant visits to the doctor during this time. And we can vaccinate ourselves - so we both stay in practice. The proximity of our harbour in Holland to our home base in Germany is very convenient for us, as we can also make short trips to Germany in our hire car. This also includes a visit with an interview appointment at the US consulate in Frankfurt for the B1/B2 visa, which we will need to enter the USA with our yacht.

Towards the end of November, we look a little enviously at the many pictures and snow reports from the south of Germany and Switzerland. The winter pictures from northern Norway - snow, northern lights and whales - make us a little sentimental and we almost feel a little "homesick". But the anticipation of our ski touring week in February is growing. Thanks to the organisation of a friend, we will be able to spend time together with our friends in the Swiss mountains once again.

We have very intensive working days on the Aegir between the visits, around the holidays and the ski holidays. As soon as we arrive in Holland, the sails come down. We had the hydraulic pump for the bow thruster and the anchor winches professionally serviced and the hydraulic system improved with new hoses and pressure relief valves.

Besides the normal maintenance, we gave the main engine new injection nozzles and also had the compression checked - everything was ready for the next stages. One of our two water tanks had already been decommissioned and insulated with closed-cell foam. After the temporary anchor winch from Spitsbergen had held up well, Gregor replaced the worn-out shaft of the winch.

The anchor locker was enlarged and a new chain chute was installed to improve the running of the chain. A quick check of our air-conditioning gave us a positive outlook for warmer temperatures - whenever that may be. In January, Aegir comes out of the water for new sea valves and we paint the underwater hull with new antifouling. At the same time, we take the opportunity to measure our steel hull. It showed that the steel thickness is still great.

Gregor is still installing Starlink and Christine is busy repairing the teak deck, painting the Aegir and has a few sewing projects (covers, leeward sails, mosquito nets). We stock up on spare parts and craft materials and, surprisingly, still find a stowage space.

To summarise this part: we continue to get to know our Aegir in depth! Due to a number of parallel projects, we live partly in a building site, which we always tidy up in the evening and have a cosy home. We are also busy with the rest of our journey. The evenings are used for research and further route planning. A trip to Greenland would be great and we're toying with the idea of spending the winter in Canada or the northern part of the US east coast. The contact with other sailors is very enjoyable and inspiring. So we were definitely looking forward to our onward journey and all the work on board was even more "fun".

After our skiing holidays, we continue at full speed at the beginning of March to complete the remaining work. After almost five months, we leave the working harbour and move to the Cape Helius marina. From here, we tested the new sail wardrobe (genoa, jib and oxley parasailor) and looked forward to travelling with it. And now the Rexees are back on the water and you are welcome to follow us on our blogs.