Sailing 2023 – Mirco's blog

It slowly starts to become real. I quit my job and bought a sailboat, in a couple of months it’s time to start sailing! (Sound’s a little bit cheesy, I know, but it has been my dream for a couple of years, don’t judge me for that)
The boat is currently lying in Ardrossan (Scotland) on the hard. There are still some things I need/want to do before the journey can start. I need to get a liability insurance for the boat, get my radio license (SRC), register my boat under Swiss flag, check / buy / upgrade safety equipment, actively wait for the spring, upgrade to lithium batteries, install solar panels, and surely a dozen of other things I’m not yet aware of.

The boat

Who is she? Where does she come from? Is she easy to tame? Well, I don’t yet know her that well, I’ve only seen her twice for a couple of hours. She is a beautiful example of a Contessa 32. As the name suggests, she is 32 foot long (9.75m), has a full keel, was born in 1973 (happy 50th anniversary!), responds to the name Lady G (psst, don’t tell anyone but I’m going to rename her), and has a facial tattoo (she did that during her midlife-crisis, we have to be comprehensive).

Let’s take you through a tour of the boat, from stern to bow. The boat is steered by a tiller, which for longer passages it can be controlled by a wind vane. Then, there is a solar arch, ready to host a solar panel. The cockpit has space for four people to stay comfortably. Going inside, we find the galley to port with a gimballed oven with a two burners gas stove. Next to it a fridge and a sink. To starboard there is a navigation table, behind it a quarter berth. Then, there is the saloon with a table which can be detached and used in the cockpit. A door separates the saloon from the head to port and a wardrobe to starboard. And finally there is a V-berth. What do you want more?

There a surely things I forgot to mention but I’m sure I’ll post some pictures next time 🙂 Ah, and there is also a windlass!

The plan

There is a plan on where to go, what to do, but it has already changed a couple of times, so don’t believe what I’m going to say. The last plan was to descent the west coast of Scotland until south England, cross the English channel, proceed along the coast to Denmark, and then go up north following the Norwegian coast. As all good plans, they have to be flexible, so we might not do that at all! The idea is to sail for about 1 year and then decide what to do next with my life.

The next steps is to go to the boat (probably in the beginning of February) to move the most important stuff, get a clear picture of what has to be done, define the priorities, and start executing!

The crew

As I’m not an experienced sailor, afraid of solitude, and shared adventures are more fun and memorable anyway, Saskia will be at my side. And there is obviously you! Friends and family are always (I’m going to regret that) welcome to stay for a week. As it’s a small boat, more than that will start be difficult for all of us. If you want to join us be prepared to stay in a marina or at anchor for a whole week if there is no wind or if the weather is bad. Further, there will no guarantee that we will be at a certain place at a certain time. You will probably receive the precise coordinates of the meeting point of a couple of hours in advance.