After 4 months in the boat yard, our IMOCA ‘Gitana80’ has finally made it out of the shed and into the water!
Once all the winter refit modifications had been completed, the yacht was painted white, with the keel and rudders in red.
With the help of a wee truck and lots of pushing, we slowly moved the boat out of the shed, through the marina to the waters edge and into the hoist.
Here she was lifted so the keel and rudders could be attached, before being lowered into the water. It was a miserable day – grey, windy and rainy so unfortunately we didn’t manage to get the drone up.
Once she was in the water, Ollie motored her round to a berth ready for the next stage.
A team from Marine Rigging Services came over from the UK to help step the mast. In between the squalls, they craned the mast into position above the deck. The mast is gently lowered and fixed into place.
Simultaneously the forestay is fixed to the bow, the shrouds to the sides and the back stays to the back and all have to be carefully tensioned to keep the mast upright.
Finally, the boom was re-attached and all the ropes are run into their proper places.
Quantum Sails Brittany delivered our new headsails complete with fresh branding of our two premium partners Burgerstein Vitamine and Portier Yachts and we were ready for action.
Finally, the sun smiled on us for our first test sail. It’s soooo good to be back on the water!
There is two weeks until our first race of the season, so we're now busy testing and tweaking and getting everything ready!