Back in November 2009 the hull was dry ice blasted to remove multiple layers of antifoul and expose the bare hull. This was a great idea in theory, but left me with a major job to repair damaged areas where the blasting had removed previously applied filler.

Due to work commitments I struggled to even start on the hull until January, and by then the temperatures had plummeted so I struggled to find days warm enough to start applying epoxy filler to the damaged areas. I spent days lying under the hull filling small areas of damage from the bow all the way to the stern. I then applied three coats of Gelshield to protect the hull before two coats of black anitifoul.

Two years later and after two voyages to the Netherlands I was praying my hard work had paid off when Sanity was lifted out in October.

After nearly an hour and a half of pressure washing on the lift most of what was left of the antifoul had been removed, leaving a remarkably clean bottom.

I have been very lucky with the weather, I have managed to polish the hull and all being well once we fit some new anodes and slap on a couple of coats of fresh antifoul we should be back afloat very soon!

After the excitement of our failed attempt at the return crossing to Grimsby on the 19th July our first priority was to arrange an engine repair and then I needed to return home.

Eric called our Volvo Engineer (Paul Street) who was very helpful and recommended we try and get the part welded, something he has done before and proved successful. Paul also priced up a new part for us from his local chandlery down in Lymington.

Eric managed to find a Volvo engineer at the marina, completely by accident as it happens! He was walking along the pontoons heading for the Marina Office when he spotted a guy on a bicycle and the box on bicycle had a Volvo Penta sticker on it, so he approached and asked for assistance.

It transpired that this chap had seen us leave the previous night and had already concluded that something was up when we re-appeared alongside in the morning.

Eric handed over the Exhaust Pipe Elbow, that we had managed to remove and also mark up both sides of the break, and it was taken away for an ‘expert’ welder to assess.

The picture below is of the exhaust pipe elbow on the Port engine.

I managed to secure a flight out of Amsterdam departing at 1850hrs (I won’t divulge the price of the ticket!) so after a shower and some packing, I planned my journey from Sea Port Marina to Schiphol Airport so I knew what time I would need to leave.

As it was such a lovely sunny day Eric decided he would come with me so at 1430hrs with bags on shoulders we left Sanity and walked round to the Marina Office which is right on Ijmuiden beach.

We hopped on the Number 82 bus for a 15 minute ride to take us to Velsen Zuid where we purchased a single and a return ticket on the Fast Flying Ferry. This is a service that runs twice an hour and takes just 30 minutes to get to Amsterdam Central station, a journey that on Sanity, with the speed restriction on the North Sea Canal, takes around 2 hours!

We had a short wait for the next ferry to arrive and then managed to secure seats right at the front, which from my research, are the best seats on this boat come airplane.

It did feel a little like being in an airplane cabin, the captain sat in a cockpit and the seats were in aisles. Our seats right at the front had safety belts, which were mandatory! Not quite the acceleration of plane on a runway but as the speed increased the bow eased out of the water and the stern followed and before long we were up on the hydrofoils.

These vessels can travel at up to 65kph, that’s 35knots! We flew past all the commercial tankers, yachts and cruisers and within 25 minutes we were outside Amsterdam Central Station. After the obligatory coffee from Starbucks I left Eric and hopped on a train at 1656hrs direct to Schiphol which took all of 10 minutes.

My flight was on time and I arrived back in Birmingham at 1915hrs (UK Time) where Tara picked me up and drove me home to Burbage. I returned to work on Thursday and Friday and Eric remained onboard with visits from the engineer to double check the positioning of the required weld to the exhaust pipe elbow.

Now the waiting game begins…heavy winds forecast for over the weekend and into the early part of next week, the earliest opportunity to attempt the crossing looks like Thursday 28th July.

The winds came over the weekend and yet again Sanity was pounded by gusts of up to 48knots! Eric had a sleepless night on Saturday having to continually check on ropes and fenders.

Our new parts are due for delivery on Monday and the weld has been completed. I am booked on a flight from Birmingham at 0640hrs Thursday morning so let’s hope by Sunday we can get Sanity back to her home berth.

I have been studying the weather forecasts all week to look for our opportunity to make the crossing from Grimsby to Ijmuiden. There have been some strong winds across the UK and the sea state off the East Coast has been far from encouraging for a comfortable passage.

The winds will be dying off on Saturday afternoon and the forecast is for a 10 knot South Westerly wind on Sunday reducing to 5 knots later on in the day.

This is our window, High Water at Grimsby on Sunday morning (10th) is at 0127hrs and my plan is to depart Grimsby at 0100hrs and use wind with tide for a (hopefully) comfortable start to the passage.

Monday actually has the better sea state, but we are already eating into the available cruising time in the Netherlands so this is a compromise to ensure we can try and stick to the original plan.

We will be heading out of Grimsby, staying the South side of the traffic separation lanes and then once clear of the firing practice area setting a course of 108 Degrees for 66NM before adjusting to 119 Degrees for a further 85NM to meet the entrance channel to the North Sea Canal at Ijmuiden.

The last 12NM will be a heading of 100 Degrees taking us through the harbour entrance and then into Sea Port Marina.

More to follow…

First job of the day was to replace the barrel locks on both cockpit lockers. The previous replacements were never really up to job and final the straw was having a key break off in one of the locks. Luckily the lock was in the open position at the time.

Next job….cabling! So, how much cable can you fit in a 42 foot motor boat? Well I don’t know the answer to this but I am pretty sure Sanity would top the charts on comparison. I seem to spend far too much time trying squeeze into the most awkward spaces to feed cables throughout the boat. Copious amounts of 12v/24v electric cables, audio cable, Cat 5 Ethernet, Coaxial and VGA Monitor cables, we’ve got them all! Today it was 2 new HQ VGA Cables to support the overhead display screens at the helm. 10 metres each routed through the fly bridge, down the port bulkhead cable run and through into the port forward cabin for connection to the on-board PC.

Cables in and tested the next job was to fix our fly bridge helm wheel which has has suffered from the weather, so much so there is a real risk that it could actually come off in my hands! The fix may not be pretty but it’s now secure and functional so that’ll do for me.

Caught in the act, it actually looks like I am taking it easy in this picture but I am working hard…honest!

A short break for a late lunch and then the most important job of the day…oil change! 15 litres extracted from each engine and then 15 litres of nice new oil straight back in. We are actually quite efficient at this now, the additional access hatches I fitted in the saloon floor last year make such a difference and as a result the job was complete in under an hour.

Oil change and a couple of defects ticked off the list made for a successful day. We accept the fact that our defect list will never actually reduce but it’s all about prioritisation to ensure we are always able to cast off and head out to sea!

Still a lot to do though, I have a new onboard computer to fit and also I need to configure the GPS tracker for this site ahead of our departure.

To be continued…..

Everything was absolutely perfect; one of my fondest memories of the day was Tara on the dance floor swishing her dress from side to side with a big beaming smile on her face.

A huge thank you to everyone that attended and especially to those who travelled a substantial distance to be with us in the evening.

We got to see most of the island, had a lovely sunset cruise, spotted some dolphins and even had a go a zip lining in the rain forest!  The rest of the time was spent relaxing in hammocks in our favourite spot just off the beach listening to the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean. We finished off the honeymoon with a lovely meal in the Boucan restaurant in the recently opened Hotel Chocolat which is built on the Rabot Cocoa Estate (…and yes there is a chocolate theme running through each course).

Married life is great, although getting back to the reality of working for a living is proving a struggle!

As well as writing novels, Llewellyn has published half a dozen children’s books, and works as a journalist for British and American newspapers and magazines such as the London Times and Daily Telegraph. He is a keen gardener, with added interests in ornithology and history and has also sailed yachts – several of which he built himself – all over the world. He now lives with his wife, award-winning children’s writer and novelist Karen Wallace, and their two sons in a medieval house in the Welsh border country.

So far I have read these two books and from the first page of both I was hooked. I love Llewellyn’s writing style and his extensive knowledge of all aspects of boating and navigation!

I will be reading more!

Sam has his own website which can be found here:

Sam Llewellyn

You can check out his Sailing Thrillers here:

Sailing Thrillers