Dear readers,

Spending days wandering through well-filled halls with equipment and new yachts and getting paid for it - the majority of sailors would probably swap places with me in a heartbeat, but somehow I don't have my head free this year. In addition to my professional curiosity about the new products from the boot Düsseldorf thoughts all too often revolve around the long list of winter jobs still to be done.

The autumn had started in a relaxed manner. During the Baltic Sea hurricane, our Bianca was already safe and dry in the hall, and we had done the most important things straight after the crane appointment. Thanks to decades of care, there was nothing to do apart from polishing and a fresh coat of antifouling. "We don't have much to do in winter," I said proudly over an evening beer with friends who were also sailing. That was the end of the topic of winter storage, and the conversation turned to: what if? In short, it was about possible boat types that we could imagine as an alternative to the current vessel. Basically a completely hypothetical question, after all our Bianca 107 has been in the family for a good 30 years, she sails well, is in top technical condition and has taken us to great destinations from Norway to northern Sweden. She is also our boys' second home. "Dad, you must never sell her so that I can sail on her with my children later," said my eight-year-old just recently.

We didn't want to either, but of course there are one or two boats that I could imagine as an alternative. And especially in winter, it's easy to surf through the used boat adverts on the sofa in the evening. It came as it had to: the friends had one of the boats I mentioned on the YACHT website and that right on my doorstep and at an amazingly good price. Just to save face, I had no choice but to arrange a viewing appointment. But that was just the beginning of the problem.

It was already clear after the phone call with the broker that the boat needed maintenance and care. The owner no longer had time to look after the boat and hadn't moved it all season. But that's what I'm good at, and I've always enjoyed tinkering with boats, plus it should look much better after a thorough exterior cleaning. So the inspection went well, the necessary work and costs were calculated, the price was adjusted and we suddenly became the owners of an X-37. "It would just about fit on our berth," I said over a beer ...

From a sailing point of view, the boat was convincing from the very first miles, and even a place in a winter storage shed was surprisingly available. However, the relaxed winter programme was over. To get everything working as intended again, everything from the anchor winch to the exhaust had to be tinkered with. The boat currently resembles a 1,000-piece puzzle of electronics, interior fittings and engine parts. The neatly packed screws from the various dismantled panelling and built-in parts alone fill a shoebox, while the obsolete wiring from electronics that have long since stopped working fills several more boxes. To get to grips with the situation, evening surfing is currently limited to the search for special spare parts. After all, the zenith of dismantling seems to have been passed. On the last weekend before the trade fair, the new heating system went into operation, and the engine's cooling water and exhaust system are also ready for use again. Most of the electrics are also already working as they should.

But the visit to the trade fair is somehow on autopilot, the new boat ownership ensures a certain saturation, at least in terms of private interest in the yachts on display. All that remains is professional curiosity and the confirmation of having bought a very nice second-hand boat. After all, the chandlery halls are all the more exciting now, and from tomorrow it's back to winter storage instead of the exhibition hall.

Hauke Schmidt,

YACHT editor

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SEQUENCE 3

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