>> PREPARING
Getting Iris ready for the long voyage was completed in two phases. The first phase was from October to April where Iris was on the hard, and the second from April to our departure in Juli. In this section you can read about some of the work done outfitting Iris before she was relaunched in April. In the menu on the right you can read in detail about Kaare's work refitting, updating and installing equipment onboard Iris.
Relaunch of Iris
For 6 months every weekend was spent travelling back and forth between Birkerød and Nykøbing Sjælland. Iris have been stored inside one of Yacht Service Sjælland's sheds which enabled us to get a lot of the work done during the winter. After more than 7000km and a lot of hard work we reached our first milestone: the relaunch into the water.
Eventhough we were a bit tired after a long and intensive week leading up to the relaunch, all that vanished when Iris Easter Saturday was taken to the quay where Søren and Susanne from Yacht Service Sjælland with great precision launched her into the water.
The launch marked the start of the last phase in the work getting ready for our departure July 17'th.
Easter Sunday the mast was stepped and the sails mounted. After 7 hours of concentrated work, and a well deserved large ice cream, Iris was finally ready and was straining at the mooring lines eaiting for Kaare and I to let go and sail her back to Skudehavnen. At 4pm we let go and left Nykøbing Sjælland. That was yet another great moment, and was done in the most fantastic spring weather imaginable.
All through Easter the sun was shining from a cloudless sky, and a gentle cool wind from the northwest caressed the busy harbour and all the many nice people we talked to during the weekend - what more could you wish for.
The status for the outfitting of Iris is that she have had all her under-water throughulls and seacocks changed, new watermaker, hydrogenerator, new electronic suite (chartplotter and all instruments), IridiumGo satellit unit, new freezer, ventilators, and new LED lights from bow to stern.
At present the bigger tasks left are mounting the targa arch together with the solar panels, and the bimini. Apart from that there is a long list of smaller tasks all waiting to get done. Hopefully most of these will be done before our departure date.
