What a difference a day makes. OR How to create stress on a sailing holiday

1 July was the date Moondance sold. Comiserating the event in a bar I was informed that we had made a mistake and the advantages of meandering around the Greek Islands were too good to be ignored.
No worries – you can solve that problem with only a little money, so 17 July God willing we will move on to Wild Indigo – a 2001 Beneteau 40CC.  It all appears rather a sudden decision, but is based on a wealth of experience.

1.       I don’t care where I am sailing

2.       I have owned a Beneteau 40CC before

3.       Happy crew, Happy boat

4.       Hopefully a popular yacht that will retain some value.  

No photos as yet – they will follow.

Could write a book on stress creation and insomnia.  

Moondance was sold privately, so chasing transfer of funds from English banks is a nightmare. Very limited in the way you can deal with banks that do not employ real people. There is also a rather complicated mobile card reader used by the account holder, but it is not sufficient to provide the security required to have the transaction completed.  So, purchaser flew Corfu London Corfu possibly via Athens to sort it out.

Buying a replacement yacht. There were two Beneteau 40CC’s for sale in the area so a trip to Preveza (3 hours by ferry and car on the Greek mainland to view). There was also a Moody 425 in Athens just to provide angst. Moondance was fabulous so the 425 although older was a big attraction.

End decision came down to newer yacht in immaculate condition and small increase in price over   Moondance.

Again we had fun with International Fund transfer, but ASB are far more realistic than Barclays – just have to deal with the time difference and believe midnight phone calls are fun. 

So, to introduce Wild Indigo

Larger than Moondance but only by 2 feet. Some of the features of Moondance are missing – like being a much more seaworthy yacht, having two holding tanks instead of Wild Indigos one and no bowthruster, cast keel instead of preferred lead. (bored yet? – I think it is fascinating.) However, there is more deck space on Wild Indigo (but some is covered in teak – eek) and larger cabins.

So – we have a period ashore and it is getting boring. Filled in some time with an airconditioned  hire car and exploring Corfu is always fun. Village roads winding up steep hills - only 2 donkeys + panniers wide.  And that includes between the 2 storied houses in the villages. No room to park or pass. Thankfully the traffic is sparse and courteous.  We drove from one end of Corfu to the other.

Catching up with cruising friends from times past and other voyages is also fun. Checking facebook vigilantly is not fun and as with trying to complete the sale and purchase slow or non existent internet adds to the frustration.  Having an airconditioned apartment with a pool and two swims a day eases any shore based pain.

So, we are looking forward to continuing to explore the Ionian with the few months we have left.