Farewell to Odyssee (Chapter 1)

And just like that our 3 months afloat have come to an end. With Steve heading back to the UK, Sam and I started the winterizing process, getting Odyssee ready for several months unoccupied.

First things first we had another good clear out, now that we had a bit more of an idea what we actually wanted and needed. It soon became apparent that the previous owner had never had the heart to throw out any rope he'd encountered. After finding spare lines in cupboards, under beds and even in the bilge we laid them all out, a grand total of 45 (including one that he'd told us had been bitten in half by a dog, rendering it unusable)!! Unfortunately, it seems that Sam is a Jean-Marc in the making and at least 30 of said ropes came back on the boat....

The next job to tackle was to take down the sails so they could be stored out of the elements for the winter season. A surprisingly satisfying job, whether we'll remember how to put them back up next year remains to be seen.

The weather was a little more variable resulting in some rather beautiful sunsets! We also had several rain showers to contend with, although these turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it revealed that our boat is not as rain-proof as we'd assumed! Having sourced the leaks to the speaker housing in the cockpit and a crack in the wood by the main entry hatch we set to work sealanting and varnishing to reduce the risk of coming back to a flooded boat!

It wasn't all work and no play though and with a good wind forecast we hopped on our bikes and Sam finally got a chance to go kitesurfing on our final day!

After a few final checks we locked Odyssee up for the winter and caught the bus to the airport and miracle of miracles finally had a flight leave on time (and fly to the right airport)! So that's a wrap for this year. The odyssey will continue in 2023!Read more