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Painting today …which means inevitably I have just as much paint on my hands, my arms and face as I have managed to apply to the various parts of the yacht that were intended to be painted … But there is a very simple pleasure in standing in the sun and applying the finishing touches to a fresh coat of paint. Right now the weather in Tromso is showing its pleasant side and the warm air seems in direct contrast to the snow clad hills surrounding the boat harbour, and with each stroke of the brush I am one step closer to flinging off the tethers that bind me to shore. I think all this serenity is worth a little paint in the hair …

The sun has finally broken through the clouds and for the first time in days I was accompanied by my shadow as I took the 12 km round trip hike into town to pick up various items including a new starter motor. It seems that the small electrical fault I had been wistfully dreaming would be fixed in a morning was actually a broken starter …without which the motor simply will not run. Oh well. A few more dollars spent, and a bit more of my blood dripping into the bilge, and we are once again ready to roll!

The rest of the day was taken up with cutting a new inspection hatch in the fuel tank and generally cleaning the tank out so that it is sparkly clean at the outset of our big journey. A little harder than it might seem but rest assured, the cascade of sparks falling into the diesel dregs at the bottom failed to ignite any fires whilst I attacked the recalcitrant tank with an angle grinder! The tank is now thoroughly chastised after giving me a day of grief, and has bared its heart to me for a thorough scrub. And now, rather than having to lift he entire engine out as was necessitated by the previous system, I can get into the tank easily to solve the various problems that will inevitably not appear now that I have gone to this trouble.

There are still plenty of hours of sunlight ahead tonight … well 24 hours of them. I fear however that the bulk of the evening will be spent cleaning up the mess I have made. I think Leonie might have been right about that one…. Right now I am perched on a bench strewn with tools and can barely see the ground for oil soaked rags, spanners, electrical equipment and buckets holding dubious oily contents. Not to mention my grimy fingers working over the keys in front of me!

Well the good news is we are one step closer to hitting the water!

Here in Zürich things are getting more hectic everyday. In a little over two weeks I’m leaving for Tromsø, and in the meantime there are gazillions of loose ends to follow up. Today I spent hours at several Swiss governmental offices just to announce that I’m leaving the country, and of course they didn’t let me go without emptying my pockets. Thanks to Swiss bureaucracy there’s a whole lot more of administrative stuff I need to take care off, and of course there are tons of other things to do, like emptying my apartment and getting rid of most of my things, preparing for my PhD defence in a couple of days, arranging a PhD-party, resubmitting and publishing a couple of scientific papers, etc etc. Meanwhile Patrick is in Tromsø and not only struggling with the bad weather – our elderly boat needs to be in perfect shipshape before launching, and organizing everything in a remote arctic Norwegian town does not make things any easier. Well, not much more time, and we can leave all the struggle behind. Looking very much forward to finally setting sails!

Thirty knots of wind are rattling the rigging of Widdershins and a steady driving drizzle is descending from the snowy hills to the South of Tromsø. Meanwhile I’m hunkered down in the cabin with my hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee contemplating the list of tasks for the day. Anything outside is going to be a struggle right now, so it looks like this will be a chance to get the cabin organised, jettison some of the accumulated clutter that is not essential to the trip ahead and complete a provision list to ensure that Leonie and I are kept well in food and essentials.

It is surprising how much equipment is needed for our trip – photography gear takes up room in hard padded cases, piles of SCUBA equipment are crammed into every available hidey-hole, computers and electronics are mounted on every free flat surface, rolled up charts are tucked away in a few remaining spaces, and tools, wet weather gear and sundry other items are all packed tightly into what remains of our space. Widdershins is not a large yacht by any means and getting all this equipment stowed is quite a challenge! Still as long as there’s space for Leonie and I … and perhaps a bottle of fortifying spiced rum for those cold nights on watch.

The long days in Tromsø are filled with the myriad of tasks required to get Widdershins on the water and daylight round the clock ensures long hours of tinkering and organisation and this would-be explorer is pulling out all stops to get ready to set sail. My good old friend Murphy is playing havoc with many plans of course – anything that can go wrong will go wrong – but a good dose of determination and a willingness to work hard seems enough to get over pretty much any obstacle. The countdown is on now but there is still plenty of work to do!

The new sails are installed, the new electronics including radar, Man Overboard safety tags, HF radio antennae, satellite phone, anemometer (wind recorder) and the SCUBA compressor are all installed or will be shortly. In fact with all the new gadgets cluttering the yacht at the moments it’s a bit like being a kid in a candy shop right now. Unfortunately having fancy new toys is no consolation for actually setting sail, and we are both eagerly awaiting the moment when the hull kisses the water for the first time this summer and the sails fill with a gentle breeze blowing us north.

The budget of the trip is also looking a little thin at the moment with many donors citing tough economic conditions to reduce or withheld money that was going to help us get on our way. The trip is definitely going to empty the meagre coffers of our own accounts … but then again, what is the price of freedom? Come what may, we will soon be sailing.

Call it perversity if you will, but while doing this trip on a shoestring takes away the comfort of a financial buffer, it also adds something to our project. One of the major visions we had when planning the trip many years ago was to demonstrate that with a bit of grit and a healthy dose of will power anyone can cast off the lines that bind them to one port and explore the world on their own terms. We hope to bring the wilderness of the world into many peoples home during our journey, but the bigger hope is that we encourage people to realise that the world is a big beautiful place and making small changes in the way we live will pay big dividends. Our lifestyle during the two in the blue journey will best be described as frugal …. but our lounge room will be the open ocean, our ceiling the blue sky and rather than taking our daily dose of wilderness filtered through TV documentaries wilderness will be our home for the next two years.

Of course all the major expenses have already been paid and our main financial wants relate to food, provisions and fuel at this stage…. But then again the seas are filled with fish and the wind is free. That’s not to say we aren’t still looking for additional funding to help us on the way! Every bit helps more than ever at this point, but knowing that we will sail come-what-may is a comforting thought. The wide open ocean awaits and we are ready to take up the challenge!