Yes indeed! It's getting close and the excitement is building. Hazel and I were up at the boatyard yesterday. The trim tab is basically fitted - I just have one more bearing block to drill and secure and the upper bearing block to fabricate and fit. It's looking good :) We also offered up the swim ladder and that looks as though it should be straightforward. Basically, we're well on target to be ready for launch. Then we should be a week or two in the slip, doing a few bits of deck work and provisioning, etc. We'll be keeping a weather eye open ..read more

Pilot; 1975; Ah!! And it is. The snow seems to have finally buggered off now, but unsurprisingly, it's hardly toasty. Epoxy basically takes a day to set off, so you do a bit and then have to wait 'til tomorrow before you can progress on that piece. And the boat is a one and a half hour drive away instead of being conveniently in the back garden, where you can just nip out and do a bit if the sun feels like shining for a few minutes. Other than that, everything is brilliant ..read more

I've just noticed we have an 'X post' button thing on the bottom of the blog posts now. I assume that's the X formerly known as Twitter. Allow me to say right here that I have absolutely no interest in that nonsense. Actually, although I do post occasionally on Facebook, I am seriously doubting that even that is worth bothering with. Its one benefit (as I see it) is that some of you can post things to the SV Tapatya Friends page - Frans posting AIS tracking updates is a fine example of something I appreciate and has real value. I guess, thinking about it as I type, I shall carry on putting a b ..read more

They keep on rolling by! We spent the Christmas week in England; took in a footy game, spent some quality time with family, ate too much; had a twelve hour drive each way; and then came back in time for new year. Meanwhile the winter project list is progressing quite well. I have built the foresail sheet horse come dinghy storage - this will be a big improvement as it gets the dreaded inflatable dinghy out of the lazarette and into a safe storage location on deck, thereby freeing up significant room in the laz :). I've purchased and received a very good looking and fairly pricey new tiller pi ..read more

Well, between the boat work, I've managed to release a new single! I actually recorded it just before setting off on the sea trials, but I've only just completed the finishing touches. Hazel mastered it for me and I'm very pleased with the results. It's an easy-listening type song and marks a return to guitar-based music for me. You might recognise it, as I've used bits of it in the last few Tapatya YT videos ..read more

And I've done all the work ..read more

We've been out conducting sea trials now for the past 2 months. This has involved the pure hardship ;) of cruising around in the very beautiful islands of Southern Denmark. Naturally, we're living aboard and testing every aspect of Tapatya as a live-aboard cruising vessel as we do so. I'm drawing up a list of upgrades and improvements that are needed. This winter will be a busy time as I attempt to get as many as possible of those things sorted. Initially, Elizabeth sailed with me, in fact for the bulk of the sea trials. She has now headed home and I'm finishing this sailing season alone. Ba ..read more

We've only gone and done it! Tapatya is now truly SV Tapatya :) :) We launched exactly 3 weeks ago today in the company of some of our fantastic patrons who were able to attend. The launch all went very smoothly and the guys at the yard who did the actual work of launching and putting the masts in their rightful places were absolutely brilliant. She floats, a little deeper than my guessed waterline, but not too much, and the waterline will be corrected this winter. The motor started easily - I had to do a bit of adjustment on the throttle linkage later on to get full revs and a good tick ove ..read more

Well, I'm very pleased to report that the move up to the marina went smoothly. I documented the entire procedure in Episode 284 of my YouTube series, and I have to say that I was extremely pleased and impressed with the boat movers; the way they managed the loading onto a smaller trailer, offloading in the driveway and then loading again onto the street trailer was outstanding :) Now, we're in the yard of the marina up on the Baltic coast of Germany. I'm driving up there most days, hauling kit and stowing it, and preparing the boat for launch. As things stand, I've completed the epoxy primer ..read more

So, the second attempt to move her up to the marina will begin later today. The plan is to just relocate her in the back yard to a position where the big truck/trailer rig can get to her without having to manoeuver  too much. The big rig should come tomorrow for the big move! I've dropped the bimini again and packed her up ready. We'll see. Fingers crossed ..read more