I don't know if this is the case in other boat yards, but where we are, the main part of the conversations is about when you hope to be back in the water. The cruiser next to us says that he’s been saying next week since August, but maybe he’s been a bit too optimistic! So far we've only said next Monday twice, but mid this week we already started saying Monday or Tuesday. I just really hope that next week I don't have to write: Another week at the boatyard!

Capibara is getting ready to be launched, though. The guys who are working on the boat finished the inside Saturday, so we've been able to sleep in the front again, which has been like sleeping in a king size bed in a 5 star hotel compared to sleeping in the main cabin.

(Nothing makes you appreciate your situation better than a situation that is worse!) Now
they’re doing the last touch ups on the outside, and we’re generally very happy with the
result. If it wasn't for the fact that we've signed a paper from the insurance company saying that we'll never ever contact the owner of the powerboat, his family, friends, or ancestors, I would write him a letter saying how nice everything looks again.

Normally, we don't stay places for a longer period of time to do repairs on the boat, and this is the first time we've been at a boatyard. Usually, Henrik only fixes things that are broken or necessary for us to keep going, so maintenance has never been a priority for us. However, we've both had a taste for it during these past weeks, and we're already talking about the things we want to do next time, we're on the hard. So even though we would have preferred not having a hole in the boat and instead been sipping G&T’s in the Bahamas by this time, it has all in all been a good experience for us. The other day, though, Henrik made it sound like I had lived in Palm Beach for two months (Lucky me!). I thought that was a quite an exaggeration.

Living on a 30 ft. sailboat in a boat yard close to Palm Beach is really not the same as living in Palm Beach! And I can't even get him to go with me there! I will not let him get away with it though. Yesterday he admitted that he had me doing all the work that he didn't want to do himself – that ought to give me an afternoon in Palm Beach!

Signe Storr freelance journalist and friend of Boatshed