There's a nervous excitement about joining a new boat. What will the yacht be like? Who will be the other crew? Will we get on? What will my bunk be like? What will my cabin mate(s) be like?
Blogging this is made harder in the age of GDPR when issues like "permissions" and "rights" have to be taken into account, and hence identities protected.
In this case the answer to the questions were all favourable. The yacht was large and comfortable (maybe too so, more on this later), the crew all friendly and everyone got on, the bunk (below) was cosy (and when not feeling well, a refuge) and my cabin mate an instant friend.
You can read all about the yacht Valiente as at time of writing its details were still up on the internet here.
While large, comfortable and with a strong steel hull, I must admit I struggled to connect to this yacht. It was designed to be managed by a retired couple and everything was push-button. With 14 on-board and two watches there were 7 per watch and to be honest at least 5 with nothing to do. We did raise sails by hand but that was for exercise as there was a button right next to the winch we could have pressed.
But having a wheel house was great - could watch the world go by in warmth and the saloon was a great place to read a book or doze.
The cooking facilities were electric hob (a bit like what Delos have just put in) and there was plenty of facilities such as showers (though as always there were some things not working, including the sensor to activate pumps to extract water from the heads).
Anyhow, bags were stowed, we practised putting on the sea survival suits, lines were cast off and we headed out to circumnavigate Spitsbergen...
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