Photo gallery 2023


This photo-page covers our 2023 activities
Please scroll down to the bottom of the page for the narrative and description that accompany the photos...




Narrative accompanying our 2023 pictures above - Starting at the top left-hand corner...

As in 2022, the year started with Ngahue IV still being stored on land in the boat hall of Yachtservice Van Swaay in Bruinisse. And like 2022 the plan was that after returning to the water, Ngahue IV would return to Nieuwpoort via the Faeroes. The trip hadn't quite worked out in 2022, but with that experience under our belt we hoped for success in 2023. A dark and gloomy Danish television fictional series on crime in the Faeroes was an extra inducement to go and admire the scenery... But before then, there's still a lot of maintenance to be done to the boat!

In 2022, our Force 10 oven suddenly erupted in flames, so, given its age and use, we decided to replace it. A new one has been installed: much the same as the old one, but cleaner and this one isn't missing the plastic cover of the locking mechanism. To avoid nasty scratches, we used a champagne cork instead of the official plastic cover...New hoses, regulator and gasbottle holder have been installed too and the gaslocker itself slightly improved with the rubber mat no longer blocking the water exit!

Inside the boat Yachtservice Van Swaay has been busy with the maintenance of the bowthruster (including the motor - you can still see the black signs of the motor burning out under the previous owner) and two seacocks and their assorted through-hulls. We removed the one and only "crazed" (= excessively affected by scratches)window we have on the boat. It will join our friends of HR53 Anna (formerly Mr Christoph Rassy's own Bamsen) who are having all their windows and hatches refurbished. Meanwhile work continued in Bruinisse to replace the old AGM batteries by GEL ones and to install the various bits and pieces for "hydraulicising" our cutter stay... By April the boat was more ore less ready to move outside and from there be launched.

Once launched a few (new) problems appeared: the fittings on the port running backstay broke and the buttons for the (new) hydraulic furler has been fitted in a very strange and inconvenient place. Both issues were remedied at the beginning of May: a new panel with all sail-handling buttons logically grouped; and our backstay fittings replaced and the line redirected to the cockpit for easier handling.

... this page will be added to throughout 2023



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