Hull Number 86

Well this weekend has been another busy one, we have been in contact with Maggie and Ivan who are also buying a Mahe 36 (Hull No 75) and will be picking up the boat at the end of April from La Rochelle, Maggie had sent us an email with contact details to have a chat and discuss what experiences they have been having, Jo had a long conversation on Sunday morning and hopefully, we will get to meet them before we both set off.

Karen form M.I. Cats has confirmed our hull number (86) and the serial numbers of the Volvo engines. Karen also informed us of the new delivery date, which has now changed from the 28th March to the 10th of April, this has caused some major changes to our plans, we had flights booked etc, which we now need to cancel. Plus we will need to re-arrange the van hire and the ferry tickets. More money!

Oh, yes we have also paid for the boat, some 5 weeks in front of the contracted date, which states that the final payment is due 7 days before delivery. Apparently Fountaine Pajot need to book the services of the police escort from the factory to the commissioning key and this now changes any previous agreement on the final payment. Hmmm 5 weeks interest on that amount of money probably will pay for the police escort!

I have also booked the services of an experienced skipper, Tim Bassett, who runs a company called TB Marine. Tim will be assisting us from La Rochelle to the Canaries. Tim has done 100,000 delivery miles on various vessels. After a few conversations and from what I have managed to read about Tim, he seems to be the perfect choice in joining both Paul and myself before we set off on the 25th - 26th April across the Bay of Biscay, weather permitting of course.

It is all now beginning to seem very real, we had some friends come round last night Laura and Ash, who basically came to take us out for a meal and spend some time with us before we set off to pick up the boat. Enjoy your skiing holiday you two and don’t break a leg!