In our last post we updated you on arriving at the boat and discovering the amount of work that we needed to get done in order to launch MAD 2. Overall the work was done in a timely manner according to Greek standards, and done very well. They seem to leave everything till the last minute, including testing our auto-pilot which turned out to have a SeaTalk failure. The boys were there bright and early on launch day running new wire and getting er done!

Work done for launch included of course new anti-foul, grinding rust spots on the keel, rudder bearing replacement, bow thruster removed and serviced on the bench (plus all the carbon dust from the bow thruster cleaned to the best of our ability, new wind indicator, boat wash down. The decks were quite marked up as the ropes had been laying out for the whole time in a dusty, dirty environment so we had to scrub and scrub to get them looking half decent. Auto-helm sea-talk error cable replacement, all batteries replaced (found another one hiding in the stbd locker we hadn’t noticed because the rudder and steering was laying around in the locker and we didn,t want to dig around too much in their way (bow thruster batteries x 2, starter and 3 service batteries), additional seacock under galley sink with a Y fitting was replaced and the plumbing lines bullet proofed as it looked a bit dodgy. New battery charger monitor installed. Whilst the crane was brought over for the new wind indicator replacement, a rig check was performed and all in good order as well as a peek to see if a mast tri-light could be installed. Unfortunately only two wires indicating when we re-rig and have the mast down we will need to run the wires to accommodate a tri-light (at a later date). Fix on the port navigation light. Figuring out the sail and line configuration, where does this line go, where does that line go, (labelling and marking undertaken) swap them around to suit us. BTW we write all this stuff as a kind of running log for ourselves 🙂 Dingy went up on the davits which was a challenge given that the boat is on the hard stand and the lines didn’t reach all the way to the ground. Managed to do it after a couple of tries and gave our new neighbours a show while we worked through the logistics of it. We spent a lot of time crawling around in the different areas of the boat getting to know everything we could …. and then comes Launch Day!

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The Launch

The wind has been blowing hard from the northwest ever since we arrived in what they call a meltemi wind pattern and the boat launch is right on the north side of the island directly into it. Not ideal, so we watched the weather and picked the 19th as the optimal day for a launch meaning we had spent 19 days on the hardstand getting her organized (7 days in a cheapy accommodation riding to and from the boatyard on the electric bikes, 7km each way, and the rest on MAD2).

The launch from Artemis boatyard went along without a hitch. The crew on hand were very capable and knowledgeable. We had the technical manager George on board to coordinate everything. Even to checking all the seacocks and bleeding the stern-gland (MAD had a sail drive versus a shaft drive on MAD 2). Good thing as we weren’t exactly sure how to go about that, check that off the list and add it to boat knowledge.

After the engine started (first turnover) and found out that she floats OK! We were off from the dock but obviously not before paying the hefty bill for all the work completed which didn’t come as a complete shock, we were totally aware when you buy a boat sight unseen and on the hard stand things will need to be fixed and budgeted and priced, everything as per the surveyors notes, which I can say did a fabulous job and would highly recommend William Walsh to anyone for a boat survey in Greece.

The instructions from the boatyard crew were very straight forward, back out until you are beyond the last mooring buoy and then a sharp 180 degree turn and follow the channel. Didn’t quite make it to the mooring buoy, things went south (Ok new boat, no idea how she reverses, bit of the jitters happening) half way there and Cap’n Jac said nope, we are doing the 180 right here in the channel, it wasn’t a problem with the newly serviced bow thrusters and deft maneuvering from Jacqui and away we went. There is always that nagging feeling that we are going to discover something we had overlooked on the hardstand when we launched so decided that we should just go around the corner to a bay that we had found on one of our cycling trips and recheck everything that I think we had already checked just in case. Eventually, when we were comfortable all was well we went ashore to where we could see a road that led up to an old WWII lookout point and now is used by the goat herders. Good view of the bay, definitely see anything coming to the island from that vantage point. The bay was very calm and gave us a chance to do a once … or twice … over on the boat to make sure it still floated and to prepare for our NAMING CEREMONY the next morning.

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The Naming Ceremony

In order to rename a boat there a number of prerequisites. Bottles of champagne (3) or sparkling wine. The new name that we had already applied to the boat while we were in the boatyard and covered it up so as not to piss off and gods of the sea (See above pic of MAD 2 transiting into the water, good old garbage bag taped over all the names). A piece of metal with the old name that we could sink to the bottom of the sea forever, the right words to be spoken at the event and we needed friends to witness said event. Since being here in Greece we haven’t had the opportunity to make friends so we needed to rent some remotely, Pete and Deb were gracious enough to be our rent-a-friend over a virtual connection. Problem was or maybe not so much a problem is that it was 9pm in Vancouver and 6am here in Greece. Okay for them to accept a cheers with some wine but a little different for us chugging away on some sparkly wine at 6am, because of course you need to drink it as well as offer it to the gods of the North, East, South and West. By the end of the ceremony I think we were both slurring our words… All in the name of superstition we completed our ceremony, whited out any traces of the previous names on documents onboard and MAD2 now proudly flies the Canadian flag …… yippie

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MAD 2 Interior

Next post we get the sails out and play around with this sailing lark, but until then here are some interior pictures of MAD 2 she is a beauty thats all I can say soooooo happy with her.

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