You can relieve yourself of the stress: for example, by taking over a charter yacht at the end of the long season on Saturday afternoon and then starting a 1000-mile long haul on Sunday at 4 p.m. Almost 24 hours to put a boat that has been marked by the season through its paces - and then get it regatta fit, i.e. quickly. Actually insane, right?
Found the YACHT reading crew for the race too and therefore decided early on to charter the boat two days earlier in order to take over, purchase, fine-tuning etc. in peace and also to complete one or two test strokes before Biograd. Because doing is more than enough. If a normal charter check-in with us takes an hour, this time we plan on half a day. After all, repairs on the high seas are nothing - even if the organizer sends a team to Lefkas to fix possible problems during the stopover.
Finally, there are defects that could lead to the race being stopped. You have to take a critical look at the sails in particular. Small cracks or open seams can quickly become a problem if you get caught in a strong autumn or thunderstorm. Liekleinen clamps are often defective, tell-tales are blown with the wind. All Bavari45 start with the standard furling sails, so the same blunt weapons, one could say. We just pray that ours are still reasonably good and not already have the dreaded bag shape of some charter towels.
Fastening the try sail is also part of the preparation
Dilapidated pods, torn out couchettes, half-dead batteries, defective position lights, broken display lighting, jammed logs, striking wind indicators - the list of things that can get really annoying at sea is long. And then there are of course the many considerations that you have to weigh up before the route: what and how to relocate? This is only possible to a limited extent, the anchor and chain must remain in place, the sprayhood and bimini can be folded up but not dismantled. In general: All equipment of the boat has to stay on board - probably a nightmare for offshore regatta sailors.
But you can understand that the Pitter people have no desire to find half-cleared Schapps on every ship after the race and to look for the equipment that has been "relocated" in cars while the crews celebrate their adventure. But at least there are a few freedoms: pods can be exchanged and barber haulers installed, the water tanks can be emptied if you don't want to wash. The gangway and the dinghy may remain in the port of departure. If you like, you can scrub the underwater hull.
Most of the work is finished with the starting gun - then we "only" have to sail
With the theme weight, of course, the question is how much effort you want to make. Damming after tacking on close-hauled courses? Do you really always sit on the edge, even at night? Your own equipment too? Questions about questions that should be clarified.
And of course there are also the many small details that have to be taken care of: Posting watch plans in the ship, labeling Schapps of what is stowed there, hanging out emergency rolls, sticking trim straps in the sails, marking points and of course doing trim strokes beforehand. Float stiffness with WD40 or other lubricants. Attach start numbers, do the paperwork, declare, report to the regatta office, helmsman's meeting - and, and, and.
It becomes critical with the ThemMast, for example: Nobody on board feels that competent to assess how well it is trimmed. Anyone who has ever set up and adjusted a multi-saling rig with intermediates knows how much work that is - and how difficult it is to assess whether it has worked out well. But at least: We now have three days to do just that. And we're pretty sure: they won't get boring.