• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • My Account
  • Cart

Sailing Britican

Helping you to become a sailing cruiser!

TwitterYoutubeFacebookLinkedinPinterestInstagram
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Checklists For Sailors Guide
    • Sailboat Buying Guide For Cruisers
    • VHF Radio Checklists & Templates
    • Week Long Sailing Experiences
    • Our Etsy T-shirt Store
  • Life Aboard
    • Life With COVID-19
    • Hurricane Season
    • Galley
      • Recipes
    • Getting Started
    • Making An Income
    • Kids On A Boat
    • Marina Life
    • Racing Your Home
    • The Boating Lifestyle
  • How To
    • Buying A Boat
    • CopperCoat
    • Electrical Systems
    • Kit
    • Maintenance
    • Major Upgrades
    • Organization & Cleaning
    • Passage Planning
    • Safety
    • Sailing, Maneuvering & Mooring
  • Destinations
    • Atlantic Crossing
    • Bahamas
    • Bermuda
    • Caribbean Sailing
    • Charleston
    • Florida
    • Mediterranean
  • Our Journey
  • Sailing Experience
  • More…
    • Our Story – From The Beginning
    • Freebies
    • The Crew
    • The Yacht
    • Best Sailing Quotes
    • Sailing Q & A
    • Disclaimer
    • Contacting Us

26. Sell up and sail away preparations – we successfully took possession of your new yacht

Sell up and sail away preparationsSell up and sail away preparations

Just before Christmas we returned from our epic first trip on our 2003 56′ Oyster. The trip was full of highs and lows. We were joined by pods of dauphins in the moonlight, survived a Force 10 ‘perfect storm’ and everything in-between. Our days were filled with excitement, adventure, and a massive learning curve.

Taking possession of our future home

Taking possession of our future home required a 3-4 day sail from Palma, Mallorca to Gibraltar. Aside from me, the crew onboard included my husband, 3 ½-year-old daughter, and a professional skipper.

Due to taxation issues, we had to buy the boat in international waters and sail her to a non-European Union country. When buying a boat the tax may or may not be paid. If it’s not paid, the new buyer takes over the liability. From Gibraltar, a tax haven, we could then determine our best option regarding the payment of tax. Believe it or not each country will value the boat differently so one strategy is to find a country that will value the boat at the lowest value to effect the lowest tax liability. Another strategy is to set the boat up with a leasing scheme but I’ll leave these tax issues for another article! Back to the adventure…

Problem solving and investigations

As the journey progressed issues would pop up and we’d all go to work to solve them. Issues included figuring out where and how to slip our lines, manage the bow thruster, get diesel, de-lodging the main sheet from the top of the mast (yes – we had to send someone up the mast in a boysen chair!), finding the diesel dipstick, fixing a busted reefing line, grading the seriousness of an engine leak and short-term fixes, determining the result of switching on/off various circuit breakers, starting up the generator, working the shower, getting freshwater rather than saltwater into the toilets, turning the oven on – that one took a quite a while to figure out; inside a cupboard was another switch that we inevitably missed!

Sell up and sail away preparations

And in between the issues, there was usually a bit of time for investigations. Below deck, I’d enquire, ‘What’s under that floorboard? What does that switch do? What does that button do?’ and above deck we’d play with the various sails – changing cart positions, reefing the main, putting sails up, and pulling them down. We played with the AIS to determine where the various vessels in our area were and the ships details. I’d open the various lockers and inspect a whole slue of things – cleaning agents, hoses, spare parts, and on the list goes. The previous owner left us all sorts of goodies.

The learning curve felt overwhelming but the key, for me, was to just keep keeping on

The boat seemed to teach us what we needed to know when we needed to know it. I just needed to stay cool and remind myself that everything unfolds as it should do. Rather than let my mind wander and ask ‘what if’ questions, I kept bringing myself to focus on the task at hand and more importantly to remind myself to enjoy it.

Amidst all of this new learning and experience, I turned green with mild seasickness

By day two of our voyage and after consuming my allotted anti-motion sickness pills I became fairly useless. When the Force 10 hit I was completely incapacitated. I simply laid in bed completely unable to raise my head off the pillow. Lucky for me, my daughter was content to play on the Ipad and amuse herself while I was turning various shades of green and yellow.

Sell up and sail away preparations

During the storm my husband would duck down, covered in rain and saltwater, offering an update. First, he announced we hit a Force 7 and the boat was holding up really well and an hour later, he came down saying, ‘Kim, we’ve maintained a Force 10 for quite some time now so officially, we’re in a Force 10 storm!’ I think he mentioned 50 or 60 mile/hour winds and then returned to the deck.

From my perspective I only cared about one thing – our estimated time of arrival. Up until the last couple hours I held it together but as we neared the huge rock of Gibraltar I became stir crazy. Using all my energy and massive effort, I put my waterproofs on and went up on deck. Thankfully the winds subsided slightly and the fresh air helped pump me with a bit of life.

Although I was feeling terrible, I couldn’t help but feel an amazing sense of awe

There stood, before my eyes, the rock of Gibraltar. There was rain, spray, loads of tankers, and boating activity. It was weird. For once in my life I couldn’t say, ‘yeah – this area is just like …..’ My attention was so heightened. I felt so ill yet so alive. Such a contradiction. I didn’t know the human body was capable of feeling two opposing ways at once. I must admit, however, that if giving the chance I would have preferred my awe to be spent with a good feeling body. Oh well.

Eventually, we entered the marina and had the help of two attendants to moor the boat

I threw an aft line and pulled up the ‘slime’ line (lazy line) and attached it to the bow of the boat. We cleaned up a bit and then went straight to the bar. Before sitting down I ordered a Savion Blanc and said, keep them coming. The amazing thing is that after feeling so ill I immediately returned to a fully functioning person within seconds of being in calmer waters. I didn’t even have to get off the boat to regain my composure.

The celebratory drink and meal were anti-climatic. We were all tired and overwhelmed by the journey. I kept telling myself to stop thinking. At one point I told hubby that an Atlantic crossing is out the window for me. He reminded me that I was tired and irritable and he was right. I drank my wine, ate my beef stew and went to bed with a smile on my face.

Sell up and sail away preparations

Our yachting journey around the world has started!

Next Chapter: 27. Preparation for our around the world sailing trip couldn’t get more exciting!

Previous Chapter: 25.Things got worse

Or…if you’d like to carry on reading all about our journey from selling up and sailing away, you can purchase my book, ‘Changing Lifestyles – Trading the Rat Race in For A Sail Around The World,’ 

Changing LifestylesREADER REVIEW
"I finished your book this week and absolutely loved it! It was great to read about your early days in many places we also sailed. I loved the way you combined your blogs/real life scenarios with advise on boat maintenance, letting go of your previous life and about your honestly throughout. I enjoy your style of writing Kim, and I loved the little Sienna quotes." Jayne Eames-Thornton, s/v Delphinus
Share
Tweet
Pin
Buffer
Reddit
Share
Pocket
19 Shares

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel

Recipe Rating




sidebar

Page Sidebar

Changing Lifestyles: Trading in the Rat Race for a Sail Around The World (my book). Chapters:

  • 1. That’s it – I’m selling everything and sailing around the world!

  • 2. Oh crap – Are we healthy enough to sail around the world?

  • 3. House sold, price on yacht almost negotiated – just need temporary housing now!

  • 4. Before I sell up and sail away I need to clean out my closet (in many ways)

  • 5. Getting the boat of our dreams – will we or won’t we?

  • 6. Negotiations 56 Oyster Yacht have finished but not without massive pain

  • 7. Everything was going well until we got this phone call…

  • 8. Quick, quick – we need to sell our current boat. We need a place to live. We need to…

  • 9. My new normal and dealing with giving up all our possessions

  • 10. Going from sailing Selene to selling Selene so we could afford to buy our 56′

  • 11. Sea trials and the survey – the night before we meet our dream yacht

  • 12. Hours before we meet our new yacht…our new home!

  • 13. Sea trials on the Oyster 56 were a success – we love her!

  • 14. Getting a yacht lifted out for a Marine Survey

  • Extra: Sell Up and Sail Away Video – Sea Trails & Survey

  • 15. After sea trials and the survey I ran a marathon (accidentally)

  • 16. What does homeschooling, the paleo diet, writing, and photography have to do with sailing?

  • 17. I’m so freaking frustrated – the world is broken

  • 18. Saying goodbye to my old routines and old lifestyle

  • 19. Life has slowed way down – is it the calm before the storm?

  • 20. A lesson on stopping the ‘what-if’s’ from taking over my life!

  • 21. Serious issue – we can’t take our yacht to Barcelona, Spain as planned – YIKES!

  • Extra: Sell Up and Sail Away Video 2 – Our thoughts, feelings and move day!

  • 22. The day before we purchase our 56′ Oyster

  • 23. My first trip on our new yacht – Dolphins included!

  • 24. Feeling excited, sick, and in awe are not mutually exclusive when sailing on the seas

  • 25.Things got worse

  • Extra: Sell Up and Sail Away Video 3 – Palma Mallorca to Gibraltar

  • 26. Sell up and sail away preparations – we successfully took possession of your new yacht

  • 27. Preparation for our around the world sailing trip couldn’t get more exciting!

  • 28. Two months to go before we set sail for our world adventure

  • 29. We got a gun, but not the kind you’re probably thinking of

  • 30. The contrast of sailing around the world and cancer

  • Extra: The reason I decided to sell up and sail away (video)

  • 31. Courses, becoming British, putting our remaining possessions on a pallet and what else?

  • Extra. No – we did not win the lottery!

  • 32. Less than 3 weeks to go before we sail off into the sunset

  • 33. Ten days to go before we set sail on our grand adventure

  • 34. Will this sailing adventure turn me into a dreadlocked, pot smoking, whale saver?

  • 35. In 2 days we will set sail around the world sailing adventure

  • 36. Leaving Gosport England today to start on our around the world sailing adventure

  • 37. Life aboard our new yacht with the BBC, Daily Mail and Times in tow

  • 38. Feeling amazing, scared, overwhelmed and useless

  • 39. Sailing Gibraltar To Malta

  • 40. I’m honoured to introduce Loryn Bennett – Britican’s Chef

  • 41. I still can’t even believe this is happening

Footer

Contact Us

We help people to take the exciting leap from living on land to becoming full time live-aboard sailors. If you would like to get in touch or having any questions, here are our details.
WhatsApp: +44 787 940 1425 Email: info@SailingBritican.com

Payment Information

We accept PayPal and all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB Diners Club, credit and debit cards. Transactions are performed via a SSL server to ensure your privacy.

Credit-Cards

Want to become an Affiliate?

If you would like to earn a commission on promoting our t-shirts, guides, club or experience, join our affiliate program.

To apply, you must be a registered user on this blog. If you have an existing account on this blog, please log in. If not, please register

Check Us Out On Social Media

TwitterYoutubeFacebookLinkedinPinterestInstagram

Site Developed by Gary Fox

Sailing Britican, All Rights Reserved