Handover Day 3 - Paperwork & Boxes

We woke after a short but wonderful first night's sleep in our new home to be greeted by a flurry of activity on our last official day of handover.

The day started with a review of all the Oyster manuals which took up a cupboard and a half - they cover the detail of every system on the boat, include drawings, manuals, installation notes as well as warranty certificates and laminated copies of key documents - its fair to say they are thorough and extensive!!

Meanwhile the boys brought down all our boxes that we had shipped from Australia and piled them on the dock next to the boat and we continued to test the systems.

Just before lunch we decided it was time for a bit of light relief so Will demonstrated the dinghy davits (for non sailors they hold the dinghy on the back of the boat and electronically lower it into the water). Andrew and I couldn't resist taking it out for a 'fang' on the River Orwell - it certainly goes!

It was a beautiful day once again and we can't help but keep taking a few minutes to admire her, before it was back to reviewing all the spares we had ordered to ensure all were present and correct.

We have had a few minor issues; the table in the Saloon had a knock and the vanity top in the aft cabin are examples, so these are going back to Wroxham to be fixed up, however when we found that the gin securing spot wasn't the right shape for the latest Gordon's bottle the chaps were right on it - phew that could have been disastrous!

Then it was serious unpacking and provisioning - this became such an extensive job that took all of the following day. We have an app that records all storage locations and allows you to categorise, photograph and scan bar codes - it's quite full on to get everything loaded but we hope it will be worth it in the long run. 

By the end of the day on Friday we made the saloon all neat and had a relaxing drink - yay this is home! Our wedding champagne flutes came out for the celebration.....

Handover Day Two - Sailing & Oyster Owners

It's fair to say we were pretty excited this morning and woke early to get down to Fox's Marina in good time. Amazingly the sun was out again, although it was a bit chilly.

No sooner than we were on board the lines were slipped and Will expertly held Askari alongside the dock to demonstrate the handling, he gently took her astern and with a little bow thruster held her in the fairway before backing her out past a 62 foot Oyster and around the sharp corner and out of the marina entrance which was pretty shallow at this state of tide. Then Andrew took the helm and we motored down the River Orwell until we got a good angle to put the sails up.

Andrew's first helm

Andrew with John and Will

Carolyn raises the ensign

First view of the main sail

Carolyn's first helm

Then we tacked down the river and out paced another boat; which was alot smaller than us but in light airs we were pretty excited.

Close hauled and looking good

Powering along

Checking the sail trim 

Carolyn loves to sail downwind

We sailed out towards the river entrance and turned downwind to sail by Harwich and noted Trinity House who are the body responsible for all light houses in the UK. John took the helm and as we gently sailed up the Stour River Will demonstrated all the other systems, including the generator, water maker and radios. Then we rigged the spinnaker pole and sailed wing on wing directly down wind.

Testing the davits

The cover on the dinghy was neatly installed and we were curious as to how we would get it back on so thought we needed to test that the davits would take my weight, or perhaps a good hiding place!

John looking pretty relaxed sailing down the Stour wing on wing

Andrew enjoying having crew 

Our favourite point of sail

First glimpse of our beautiful cockpit table - referred to as 'the small car'

 We anchored up for lunch on the Stour in a beautiful spot with a view of the Royal Hospital School. At that point we told John we were delighted with Askari and were keen to take ownership as we were not giving her up now. So we signed the paperwork and opened the champagne!

John and Andrew celebrate our new boat

Carolyn and Will

After lunch we upped anchor and sailed all the way back to Fox's Marina, while testing the storm sails and ensuring that we had noted all the instructions correctly in our notebook.

Storm Sail Set Up 

Andrew took the helm and Carolyn was able to furl all the sails easily with the help of power winches! The sails are all amazing, we just needed to add a stop to the genoa to lift it up a little to clear the guard wires - fabulous job by Dolphin Sails.

Andrew then brought Askari back into the Marina and gently alongside, with only a little bit of guidance from Will. Then John presented us with the Blue Oyster Owner's flag  (to replace the grey commissioning flag) and a silver key ring.

Oyster Owners

We shared a beer as the sun went down and couldn't resist moving on board that night. So went and fetched a couple of our boxes with bedding and emptied our AirBnB cottage into the car, grabbed pizza then crashed into the comfiest bed exhausted once again but so very happy.

Handover Day One

We arrived at Fox's Marina at 9.30am to be met by John our Project Manager from Oyster. He walked us down the jetty to Askari and we stood for a while on the dock checking everything that had changed since our sneak peak on Monday afternoon - both of us wanting to go aboard but also a little anxious about seeing our interior come to life.

Our Askari in the sunshine on day one!

Since we last saw her, every aspect of her had been polished and on this perfect UK spring day in full sunshine she just sparkled on the water. We stepped aboard and the cockpit cushions were in situ and looked amazing as Carolyn oood and arrrghd Will, the Commissioning Manager bounced on deck to great us. Gingerly we came below and wow! I actually don't have the words to describe how this felt, I just walked around the boat speechless and gave Andrew a big hug; I couldn't believe this was our boat.

We had seen most of the woodwork before but not the floor, the doors, the upholstery or way it just all came together. So totally stylish with a hint or two of sparkle.

The headboard and mattress in the aft cabin were a highlight

Then it was down to work as John and Will took us from bow to stern of the interior with a couple of breaks for tea (and biscuits), plus lovely lunch of sole and local scallops at a fabulous local pub.

Andrew thinks he patented this table idea!

Carolyn took 20 pages of notes, one page each of shopping items and things for us to do, and just one page of things we noted for Oyster; most of which were so minor that they could be fixed up by Neil, while we were out at lunch! There are a few things that just need a bit more investigation to satisfy Andrew's hard questions but overall we were delighted. The headlining was pulled down, filters were opened, secret cubby holes were highlighted and maintenance tips were shared. We also got a great cheat sheet from Neil on how to rectify scratches in the avonite and a special tool from Joe at Wroxham that he and Andrew discussed in February, that he had handcrafted. Then there was the special things like the storage for the sink tops, additional safety features and the care that had been taken to calibrate tanks, gauges, and equipment that impressed us so much.

What a wonderful day - tomorrow we go sailing..... yippee!

Arrival in Ipswich - Handover Starts tomorrow

We have had 10 days in the UK, with family in Cambridge, Chichester and Manchester. Andrew had his last day at work on 29th April in London now it is all things Askari for the next few weeks. It has been ridiculously cold; we had snow in London and heavy hail in Manchester but when we arrived in Ipswich the sun came out and we took a sneaky peak at Askari.

First glimpse of Askari on the water and she has a swan guarding her

Selfie with our new girl

Fremantle!

She looks huge

Showing off!

 After all the excitement we went to Manningtree to see the Stour River and have a relaxing drink in the pub

Stour River from Manning Tree

Possibly the smallest sailing club in the UK....

UK Arrival

We were totally spoiled on our flight to the UK, including being given a Bon Voyage card made a signed by all the crew and plenty of champagne - Airline Crew all certainly love travel so when they learned our plans we couldn't stop them quizzing us for all the details.

We now have 10 days until we start the handover and will be spending a few days with family around the country collecting the belongings we have stored for Askari - first stop with Jon and Nat's in Cambridge and the sun was out for a beer by the river.

Card from Etihad Crew

Champagne at 40,000 ft

Beer by the River in Cambridge

Test sail

Sneak peak from on board the test sail on the River Orwell - thanks to Nick for sharing.

AIS live on Marine Traffic

It's quite exciting tonight as Askari is out for a test sail so we are tracking her on Marine Traffic - doing 7.1 knots out into the North Sea!

A good send off

We had a wonderful send off at Fremantle Sailing Club, this included a presentation of a FSC flag for Askari from the Commodore. We have made some amazing friends in the 8 years we have lived in Fremantle  and it was fantastic to celebrate our next adventure with them.

Andrew, Carolyn & Commodore Baker

  Thanks to Alain from CG for the picture.

Of no fixed abode!

It's official we are of 'no fixed abode', today we moved our treasures into a storage unit 3m x 1.5m and are staying at a friends place until we fly to the UK. We noted that it is actually due to be 17 degrees and sunny (yes sunny) in Ipswich today, where as we are starting to get autumnal weather here so definitely time to go!

The list is also down to the last few items, none of which are really a big deal like scanning my favourite recipes and updating all Andrew's frequent flyer accounts. But one that has been nagging us for a while is 'learn French'.... hmmm not sure we are going to get that done before we go but we made a start last night at Fremantle Sailing Club.

Meanwhile in Ipswich Askari is about to go on her test sail and we have approved the position of the boom vinyl showing her name - yes we are into the small stuff now.

19 days to go!

Not much furniture left.....

A week until we move out of our rental house and it's fair to say we haven't got much furniture left - nearly everything has been sold or given away! Andrew doesn't care - he's got a camp chair, a beer and a sailing mag....

She has sails

We just woke up to see these pictures shared on Facebook Dolphin Sails - click the link for the full suite but here are a few highlights.

We went for Graphite Weathermax 80 fabric and the Sails are Grey Taffeta DYS Laminate - we are pretty excited...... 31 days to go!

Floating on Facebook...

Just came across these pictures today on Facebook from Dolphin Sails and Fox's Marina!

Sprayhood fitted

Arriving at Fox's Marina

The comment from Fox's Marina "Another stunning, new Oyster 475 yacht arrives at Fox's Marina & Boatyard where she will be rigged by the team at Fox's Rigging and commissioned ready for handover to her lucky new owner." 

Yay that's us!